Proposals to discount college tuition for undocumented students, increase college completion rates and allow carrying of handguns at schools and colleges were among bills formally introduced and assigned to committees on Wednesday.
Other bills of note that were “read across the desk,” in legislative jargon, include the school discipline reform bill and a proposal to require high school students to take a basic skills test in addition to the state-required tests they already take.
Here are thumbnail descriptions of the more interesting proposals:
House Bill 12-1001 – This is the bill to ratify the proposed regulations for implementation of the 2010 educator effectiveness law.
House Bill 12-1013 – The proposal directs school districts to consider interventions for middle school students who show risk factors for dropping out.
House Bill 12-1049 – The terms of this proposal would prohibit schools from penalizing students whose parents opt them out of statewide tests and disregard opted-out students when school performance ratings are issued.
House Bill 12-1067 – Rep. Beth McCann, D-Denver, is trying again with a bill to limit contributions to school board candidates, in the wake of last year’s high-spending Denver school board contests.
House Bill 12-1072 – This bill would direct the Colorado Commission on Higher Education to develop criteria for awarding students college credit for prior work, military and other non-academic experience.
Senate Bill 12-015 – The proposal to grant lower tuition rates to undocumented students is back this year in a revised form.
Senate Bill 12-025 – People who have handgun permits would be allowed to carry their weapons on school and college grounds under the terms of this proposal.
Senate Bill 12-045 – The so-called “reverse transfer” bill would require creation of a system under which students could combine credits earned at community colleges with those earned at four-year campuses in order to earn associates degrees.
Senate Bill 12-046 – The overall goal of this omnibus school discipline bill is to roll back tight zero tolerance school discipline policies, but the sponsors are still doing lots of work on this to meet interest group concerns.
Senate Bill 12-047 – The swan song of Sen. Keith King, R-Colorado Springs, this measure proposes to reduce college remediation rates by requiring high school students to take a basic skills test and schools to help students with low scores.
Get the full list of bills introduced Wednesday, including links to full bill texts, in the Education Bill Tracker. In addition to education bills, the Tracker includes selected budget, elections and other bills of interest to the education community. Of the 135 bills and resolutions introduced Wednesday, 22 were added to the Tracker.