Senate Bill 19-066 Summary

• Creates a High-Cost Special Education Trust Fund administered by the Colorado Special Education Fiscal Advisory Committee to provide grants to school districts with extraordinary special education expenses for individual students.

• Transfers $2.5 million from the Marijuana Tax Cash Fund to the trust fund on July 1, 2019, with principal remaining permanently in the fund and interest/income available for grants.

• Administrative units may apply for grants if expenditures for a single student with an IEP exceed the lesser of $100,000 or 2.5% of the unit's annual audited operating expenses in the preceding budget year.

• Committee awards grants based on number of applications received, available funding, and special circumstances, attempting to distribute proportionally to documented need.

• Committee must report annually to the State Board of Education and legislative education committees on applications received, grants awarded, recipient names and amounts, and fund balance.

• Legislation expires July 1, 2027, at which time unexpended interest and income transfers to the General Fund and remaining marijuana tax revenue returns to the Marijuana Tax Cash Fund.