(1) The council shall inform, at a minimum, the early childhood councils, public schools, school districts, the state charter school institute, the department, the state board, the department of higher education, the Colorado commission on higher education, and the governing boards for the state institutions of higher education concerning best practices and strategies, aligned with the national Standard for family-school partnerships, for increasing parent involvement in public education and promoting family and school partnerships, including but not limited to best practices and strategies in the following areas:

• (a) Creating and implementing programs to effectively involve parents in improving their children's education and levels of academic achievement. To identify these best practices and strategies, the council shall review the programs implemented in other states and the results of state and national research conducted in this area.

• (b) Involving parents in programs to raise academic achievement, increase high school graduation rates, decrease student dropout rates, and close the achievement and growth gap;

• (c) Involving parents in response to intervention programs in public schools and school districts;

• (d) Involving parents in programs to raise academic achievement, improve the persistence rate, and improve the on-time graduation rate of students enrolled in institutions of higher education;

• (e) Increasing parent involvement in education-related committees at the local and state levels;

• (f) Designing and implementing parent education programs and centers and parent leadership training programs;

• (g) Creating and implementing family-to-school liaison positions; and

• (h) Establishing and implementing school-based parent information resource centers.

(2) The council shall recommend to the state board and to the Colorado commission on higher education plans for statewide parent involvement initiatives, which may include, but need not be limited to:

• (a) Requiring each school district and the state charter school institute, as part of the accreditation process, to increase the level of parent involvement in education; and

• (b) Initiatives to increase admissions to institutions of higher education and the degree-completion rate and to reduce the need for remediation.

(3) (a) The council shall provide training and other resources designed to help the school district accountability committees and school accountability committees increase the level of parent engagement with the public schools and with school districts, including increasing the number of parents serving on school district accountability committees and school accountability committees.

• (b) The council shall work with the department to provide regional training programs for school district accountability committees and school accountability committees. At a minimum, the training programs must address parent leadership and increasing parent engagement with school district accountability committees and school accountability committees, including best practices for parent engagement with school district accountability committees and school accountability committees.

• (c) The council shall work with the department to provide regional training programs for school districts and charter schools concerning best practices and skills for district and school personnel in working with parents.

(4) The council, in consultation with the department of education and the department of higher education, shall identify key indicators of successful parent engagement in education and use the indicators to develop recommendations for methods by which the department of education and the department of higher education may measure and monitor the level of parent engagement with elementary and secondary public schools and with institutions of higher education in Colorado.

(5) On or before December 31, 2013, and on or before December 31 each year thereafter, the council shall report to the state board, the Colorado commission on higher education, and the education committees of the senate and the house of representatives, or any successor committees, the council's progress in promoting parent engagement in the state and in fulfilling the duties specified in this section.

(1) (a) There is hereby created in the department the parent involvement in education grant program to provide moneys to assist public schools in creating and implementing programs to support greater parent involvement in the schools. The council shall assist the department in implementing the parent involvement grant program as provided in this section and shall provide advice to recipient schools to assist them in creating and implementing programs to ensure that the programs reflect the best practices identified by the council pursuant to section 22-7-304.

• (b) The school district of a public school, or a board of cooperative services or regional service council that operates a public school, that seeks a grant through the parent involvement grant program shall apply on behalf of the public school; except that, if the public school is a charter school, the public school may apply on its own behalf. To be eligible to receive a grant, a public school shall meet one or more of the following criteria:

• (I) A significant percentage, as defined by rule of the state board, of the students enrolled in the public school for the three academic years immediately preceding application were:

• (A) Eligible for free or reduced-cost lunch pursuant to the provisions of the federal "Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act", 42 U.S.C. sec. 1751 et seq.; or

• (B) English language learners, as defined in section 22-24-103 (4);

• (II) The dropout rate for the public school for each of the three academic years immediately preceding application exceeded the state average dropout rate for each respective year by a percentage established by rule of the state board;

• (III) For each of the three academic years immediately preceding application, the statewide assessment scores of students enrolled in the public school demonstrated that:

• (A) A significant achievement or growth gap, as defined by rule of the state board, existed among identified groups of students; or

• (B) The school was an academically underperforming school, as defined by rule of the state board.

• (c) The programs that a recipient school may fund with grant moneys received through the parent involvement grant program shall include, but need not be limited to, programs to establish:

• (I) Family-to-school liaison positions;

• (II) Parent leadership training opportunities;

• (III) Centers to provide parent education programs; and

• (IV) School-based parent information resource centers.

(2) The state board shall promulgate rules pursuant to the "State Administrative Procedure Act", article 4 of title 24, C.R.S., as necessary for implementation of the parent involvement grant program, including but not limited to:

• (a) Rules as specified in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section and subsection (5) of this section;

• (b) Rules establishing the time frames for submission and review of applications and selection of recipient schools;

• (c) Rules specifying the information to be included in grant applications; and

• (d) Rules identifying any criteria for selection of recipient schools in addition to the criteria specified in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section.

(3) The council shall review the grant applications received pursuant to this section and shall recommend recipient schools and the grant amounts to the state board. Subject to available appropriations, the state board shall annually award grants through the parent involvement grant program, which grants shall be paid from the parent involvement grant program fund created in subsection (4) of this section.

(4) (a) There is hereby created in the state treasury the parent involvement grant program fund, referred to in this subsection (4) as the "fund", that shall consist of such moneys as may be credited to the fund pursuant to paragraph (b) of this subsection (4). The moneys in the fund shall be subject to annual appropriation by the general assembly for the direct and indirect costs associated with the implementation of the parent involvement grant program. Any moneys in the fund not expended for the purpose of this section may be invested by the state treasurer as provided by law. All interest and income derived from the investment and deposit of moneys in the fund shall be credited to the fund. Any unexpended and unencumbered moneys remaining in the fund at the end of a fiscal year shall remain in the fund and shall not be credited or transferred to the general fund or another fund; except that any unexpended and unencumbered moneys remaining in the fund as of June 30, 2019, shall be transferred to the general fund.

• (b) The council shall seek and may accept gifts, grants, and donations from private or public sources for the purposes of the parent involvement grant program; except that the council shall not accept a gift, grant, or donation if it is subject to conditions that are inconsistent with this part 3 or any other law of the state. The council shall transmit all private and public moneys received through gifts, grants, or donations to the state treasurer, who shall credit the same to the fund.

• (c) Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the contrary, the state board and the department shall not implement the parent involvement grant program until such time as there is at least twenty thousand dollars credited to the fund.

• (d) In any fiscal year in which there is at least twenty thousand dollars credited to the fund, the department may use up to one percent of the moneys credited to the fund to offset the costs incurred in implementing the parent involvement grant program.

(5) (a) Beginning in the budget year following the first budget year in which the state board awards grants pursuant to this section, each recipient school shall annually submit to the council and the department, in accordance with timelines specified by rule of the state board, a report summarizing the amount of moneys received in the preceding fiscal year from the parent involvement grant program, the manner in which the moneys were used, and the results achieved through the use of the moneys. The report shall include such additional information as may be required by rule of the state board.

• (b) On or before March 15 of the first year in which the council receives reports pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection (5), and on or before March 15 each year thereafter, the council shall summarize the reports received pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection (5) and submit the summary, with any additional pertinent information, to the state board and the education committees of the house of representatives and the senate, or any successor committees.

Section at bottom on adult education initiatives