Colorado

Ideas submitted so far include an indoor-outdoor sports complex, new locations for charter schools, and apartments for teachers.

The state is still in the midst of a comprehensive review ordered by a bipartisan 2023 law. But some lawmakers say the state should make an effort to reduce the time students spend on tests.

“Nobody in the state actually regulates how BOCES operate or what they can do,” said the leader of a membership group for public education co-ops.

Meanwhile, the Denver school board is debating its own policy that would similarly bar ICE agents from school property without a warrant.

Denver has offered free enrichment programs since 2013 through the MY Denver Card. Students hope lawmakers will create a similar My Colorado Card to expand access statewide.

Tuesday’s school board meeting ended in five minutes because of a dispute between two factions of the board

The bill would have required more localized elections. But opponents said it could lead to costly campaigns, more heated politics, and gerrymandering.

One bill revives part of a proposal vetoed last year. The other is in response to the Evergreen High School shooting.

One planning commissioner said he worried the school’s original industrial location could result in a child “ending up underneath a cement truck.”

Shana Engel tells her students that “wrong answers are still great answers, because through fixing our mistakes, we develop a greater understanding."

It’s unclear where Riverstone is located now since its building was shut down in late January.

Colorado lawmakers want to help prospective teachers who have run into legal trouble. A bill under consideration would only require licensure applicants to disclose misdemeanors that happened within the last seven years.

Students Demand Action’s Colorado chapter rallied at the Capitol to support legislation that would make it harder to create illegal guns. The group ramped up its presence at the Capitol after the 2023 East High School shooting.

The proposal would bar school police officers from ticketing or arresting students if doing so would put them at risk of deportation.

The Trump administration cut grant funding for Minority-Serving Institutions nationwide. Colorado lawmakers want to help many of those schools attract more students by creating a new designation.

Colorado passed a seal of biliteracy endorsement in 2017. Sponsors of a new bill that gained approval in the House Education Committee would create a new endorsement so students can prove their bilingualism.

It’s not clear if Riverstone is still providing instruction to students.

Democratic backers of the proposal, which the Senate needs to approve on a final reading, say it would help ease the process for educators seeking extreme-risk protection orders.