Briefs School Board

by Olivia Lueckemeyer

BOE approves resolution to create an HPF enterprise fund

At an April 4 meeting, the RE1J board of education moved to approve a resolution that calls upon legislators to create an enterprise fund to collect and disburse the state-mandated hospital provider fee (HPF) as a means of increasing general fund availability for RE1J in future years. Currently the HPF is classified as revenue and therefore increases TABOR rebates, which negatively impacts funding for K-12 education. Without HPF revenues, Colorado would not exceed its TABOR limit for the next several years. To back its resolution, the BOE referenced precedents in which the legislature created enterprise funds out of revenue collected and disbursed by state-owned businesses, such as the Higher Education Enterprises for tuition and College Assist for the student loan program, which under the guidelines of TABOR are not to be included in state TABOR revenues. The motion carried unanimously among board members.

School district approves resolution to recognize student contact minutes

The RE1J board of education moved to approve a resolution on April 4 that would establish all student contact minutes from the start of the school day to the end of the school day, with the exception of lunch periods, to be used in the calculation of student contact minutes for the Colorado Department of Education. RE1J recognizes that all minutes of the school day during which students are in session are part of the district’s educational process. The motion carried unanimously among board members.