House Bill 1019  Educational Services for Children in Out-of-Home Placements
Sponsored by Senator Sandoval and Representative Casso
HB 1019 requires each school district to designate a person to act as the child welfare education liaison for the district. School districts must transfer education records for out-of-home placement students within two days of receiving a transfer request from the county department with legal custody of the student. Restrictions on the release of records due to unpaid fines or fees are waived for such students and the receiving school districts must immediately enroll students regardless of receipt of education information, records, immunization verification, or other records required for enrollment. The receiving school shall accept and apply towards completion of the grade level all work that has been completed at the sending school. Signed by the Governor 4/7.

House Bill 1024  Longitudinal Growth Model
Governor 2/14.Sponsored by Senator Windels and Representative Merrifield. 
HB 1024 modifies HB 07-1048 to create more flexibility for the Technical Advisory Panel on longitudinal growth and the State Board of Education to recommend a preferred model.  Signed by the

House Bill 1059  Property Tax Revenue Distributions
Sponsored by Senator Romer and Representative Liston. 
HB 1059 allows a county treasurer to distribute property tax revenues to school districts on an annual basis if the amount of taxes collected for the month is less than $50 and on a quarterly basis if the amount of taxes collected for the month is less than $100.  Signed by the Governor 3/6.

House Bill 1079  CO Vocational Act Clean-up
Sponsored by Representative Jahn
HB 1079 replaces the term vocational education (CVA) with career and technical education (CTE) and makes conforming amendments. It exempts CTE dollars from counting towards enterprise status for the Community College Board. It changes the distribution of CVA dollars from a formula based on estimates of student enrollment and costs to actual expenditures of the programs from the previous fiscal year. It conforms statute with the practice of the Board approving CTE programs prior to receiving funding. It also changes the date of the CTE annual report from November to February of each year. Signed by the Governor 4/7.

House Bill 1128  Signature Verification for Elections 
Sponsored by Senator Gordon and Representative Marostica
HB 1128 allows county clerks, recorders, and election judges to access digitized signatures to compare elector's signatures for verification purposes. In a statewide primary or general election, or a coordinated mail election,  HB 1128 requires election judges to compare an elector's signature for mail ballots with the signature in the voter registration system instead of the signature on file at the local clerk's office. Signed by the Governor 4/10.

 House Bill 1155  Certification Process for Voting Systems
Sponsored by Senator Gordon, Senator Johnson and Representative Marshall and Representative Balmer
HB 1155 authorizes the Secretary of State to amend or rescind any orders he issued on 12/17/07 regarding the certification of voting systems. It allows as part of the amending or rescinding the additional testing of voting systems and directs the Secretary of State to allow County Clerk and Recorder's office staff to operate the voting system during the testing. Signed by the Governor 2/11.

House Bill 1159  Concerning Institute Charter Schools
Sponsored by Senator Bacon and Representative Fischer
HB 1059 specifies that the state charter school institute and the state charter school institute board are subject to the open records and open meetings laws.  Signed by the Governor 4/17.

House Bill 1162  Military Spouse Interim Authorization for Employment in Public Schools
Sponsored by Representative Stephens
HB 1162 requires CDE to issue a "military spouse interim authorization" to a military spouse who is certified or licensed in another state as a teacher, special services provider, or administrator, but hasn't completed the licensure process in Colorado. Interim authorization would allow school districts to hire such individuals. Authorization would be valid for one year and can be renewed by CDE for one additional year. State Fiscal Impact: State conditional fiscal impact if CDE contracts with third party to conduct background checks. Signed by the Governor 3/19.

House Bill 1179  PERA Distributions Subject to Legal Process
Sponsored by Representative Gardner
HB 1179 allows the Department of Revenue to collect by distraint PERA distributions payable to a member when that individual owes the state taxes or license fees but refuses or neglects to pay. It states that any PERA member who terminates membership, and for whom PERA receives an order, warrant, or injunction based on allegations of theft, embezzlement, misappropriation, or wrongful conversion of public property, is prohibited from receiving a refund of their contribution account. Prohibition can be lifted by court order. Signed by the Governor 3/17.

House Bill 1224  Wellness in Public Schools
Sponsored by Senator Tupa and Representative Benefield
HB 1224 encourages school districts on or before 10/1/08 to expand their wellness policy to include such goals as increasing physical education offerings and hiring only endorsed and licensed physical education teachers; providing nutrition services; providing increased mental health services; and increasing the level of family and community involvement in developing health/wellness goals. It expands the "CO Comprehensive Health Education Act" to include funding for district wellness programs that incorporate the above areas. HB 1224 gives CDE authority to promote wellness programs and charges them with setting guidelines for district implementation of programs. It also requires CDE and the Department of Higher Education to develop course work or endorsements in physical education.  Signed by the Governor 4/25.

House Bill 1283  Supplemental Appropriation Department of Education
Joint Budget Committee
HB 1283 allows a reduction of $114 million general fund for school finance or 3.6% due to higher than anticipated local revenues from the mill levy stabilization and lower than anticipated enrollment. It also adds an additional $35,000 for legal fees CDE has incurred for charter school appeals.
State Fiscal Impact: $113,965,000 general fund increase. Signed by the Governor 3/17.

 House Bill 1336  Truancy Reporting and Resources
Sponsored by Senator Spence and Representative T. Carroll
HB 1336 requires the state board of education to adopt guidelines by 7/1/08 for the standardized calculation of unexcused absences of students from school. It requires a school district to report annually to CDE concerning the number of students who are habitually truant. It also requires the department to post this information on the internet. CDE may post information on the internet concerning effective, research-based, truancy and dropout-prevention programs for the benefit of school districts. HB 1336 allows a school district to include truant students when identifying students who are at risk of suspension or expulsion from school.  Signed by the Governor 4/7.

House Bill 1339  School Bus Safety Signals
Sponsored by Representative Scanlon
HB 1339 replaces current statutory equipment standards for a school bus with the current federal regulations. Signed by the Governor 4/10.

Senate Bill 030  Delegation of Public Securities
Sponsored by Senator Veiga and Representative Ferrandino
SB 030 increases the period for which a public entity may delegate to specified officers and members of the public entity authority to sign a contract for the purchase of securities and to accept a binding bid for the securities from 60 days to one year after adoption of the act of issuance, or such shorter period as specified in the act of issuance. Signed by the Governor 4/25.

Senate Bill 089  Early Intervening Services for Students
Sponsored by Senator Williams and Representative Gardner
SB 089 requires that administrative units use no more than 15% of their total Exceptional Children's Educational Act funding for early intervening services to students. It allows provision of early intervening services for a child not identified as disabled at the time services are provided. It defines eligibility for early intervening services as students in K-12 with an emphasis on students in grades K-3. It also requires administrative units to collect and annually report to CDE those students who receive early intervention services.  A legislative declaration was added stating the under-funding of special education on a state and local level. Signed by the Governor 4/25.

Senate Bill 129  Nutrition in Schools
Sponsored by Senator Gibbs
By September 1, 2008, SB 129 requires every school district to adopt a policy that contains limitations on school cafeterias, vending machines, fundraising activities, and school stores including prohibition on sale of beverages from any source unless the beverages conform to strict standards on size, calories, and sugar intake and limitations on types of beverages based on elementary, middle, and high schools. SB 129 encourages school districts to adopt a policy to ensure each student has access to age-appropriate, daily physical activity. Signed by the Governor 4/24.