HB 16-1429 Summary

• Reduces the student population threshold for alternative education campuses from 95% to 90% of students with individualized education programs or meeting high-risk student criteria.

• Expands the definition of "high-risk student" to include students with four or more unexcused absences in any one month or ten or more absences in a school year, including those due to suspension or expulsion.

• Adds criteria for high-risk students to include those adjudicated as court wards, involved in foster care, experiencing parental/sibling loss, and those with mental or behavioral health issues or significant trauma.

• Directs the Department of Education to work with stakeholders to develop methods for measuring qualitative performance aspects of alternative education campuses, with this requirement repealing July 1, 2017.

• Appropriates $43,896 to the Department of Education for the 2016-17 fiscal year to support implementation, assuming an additional 0.5 FTE position.