DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Colorado State Board of Education
1 CCR 301-108 RULES FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE JOHN W. BUCKNER AUTOMATIC ENROLLMENT IN ADVANCED COURSES GRANT PROGRAM 

1.00 STATEMENT AND BASIS OF PURPOSE
The statutory basis for these rules is found in section 22-95.5-201 et. seq C.R.S. The John W. Buckner Automatic Enrollment in Advanced Courses Grant Program is intended to increase the number of students enrolled in advanced courses for subjects in which the student has demonstrated proficiency.
2.00 DEFINITIONS
2.01 "Advanced course" means an advanced course of study in any subject, including an Advanced Placement course; an International Baccalaureate course; or a course designated by a school district as an honors, gifted, or accelerated course.
2.02 "Department" means the department of education created and existing pursuant to section 24-1-115. 
2.03 "Grant program" means the John W. Buckner automatic enrollment in advanced courses grant program created in section 22-95.5-202. 
2.04 “Eligible score” means score that is equivalent to, or exceeds, demonstrating proficiency on the state assessment that was administered pursuant to section 22-7-1006.3.
2.05 “Local education provider" means a public school as described in section 22-1-101, a school district, or a board of cooperative services created pursuant to article 5 of this title 22.
2.06 "Parent" means a student's biological parent, adoptive parent, or legal guardian.
2.07 "Rural school district" means a school district in Colorado that the Department determines is rural    based on the size of the district, the distance from the nearest large urban/urbanized area, and having a student enrollment of approximately 6,500 students or fewer.
2.08 "School district" means any public school district organized under the laws of Colorado. “School district" does not include a local college district.
2.09 "State board" means the state board of education created and existing pursuant to section 1 of article IX of the state constitution.
3.00 APPLICATION INFORMATION

3.01 Application Timeline 
3.01(1) Annually, based on available appropriations, the Department will publish a detailed application timeline. Applications will be due no later than January 15 of each calendar year.
3.01(1)(a) The Department will notify local education providers of the detailed application timeline twice within three months prior to the release of the application in the first year, and at least once in each consecutive year.
3.01(2) The Department will announce grants awards no later than April 1 of each calendar year. 
3.01(3) The Department will release a simplified application for rural school districts that will prepopulate any available data related to student eligibility.

3.02 Eligibility Requirements
3.02(1) A local education provider is eligible for the grant program if the local education provider automatically enrolls each student entering the ninth grade or higher in an advanced course based on any of the following criteria: 
3.02(1)(a) The student achieved an eligible score for the preceding academic year, as follows: 
3.02(1)(a)(i) Students who achieve an eligible score in a subject related to mathematics must be automatically enrolled in advanced courses in mathematics; 
3.02(1)(a)(ii) Students who achieve an eligible score in subjects relating to reading and writing must be enrolled in advanced courses in English, social studies, humanities, or other related subjects; and 
3.02(1)(a)(iii) Students who achieve an eligible score in a subject related to science or social studies must be automatically enrolled in advanced courses in science or social studies; or 
3.02(1)(b) Any other measure, applied to all students enrolled in a local education provider, that, in the judgment of the local education provider, is an indicator that a student demonstrates the ability to succeed in an advanced course. 
3.02(2) In addition to the requirements in Rule 3.02(1), an eligible local education provider is encouraged to use automatic enrollment for courses in subjects not listed above. 
3.02(3) In addition to the requirements in Rule 3.02(1), an eligible local education provider is encouraged to automatically enroll each student entering the fourth through eighth grade in advanced courses. 
3.02(4) If a school district submits an application and is eligible for a grant, a school operating within that district may not submit an application.  If a school district does not apply, an individual school within the district may apply if an application is submitted by the chief administrative officer and, if the school is not a charter school, the school notifies the superintendent of the school district of the school’s application. 
3.03(5) An eligible local education provider shall permit a parent of a student to remove the student from an advanced course in which the student has been automatically enrolled. A local education provider may permit a parent of a student to exempt the student from any automatic enrollment in advanced courses.

3.03 Application Requirements
An application submitted by a local education provider shall include the following:
3.03(1) A description of the local education provider's existing advanced courses and any planned advanced courses, including courses that may be implemented with money received from the grant program;
3.03(2) The local education provider's plan for automatically enrolling students into advanced courses, including the costs associated with implementing its plan, the number of students it expects to automatically enroll in advanced courses, and the grade levels it expects to serve through its plan;
3.03(3) A description of how the local education provider will use any grant awarded consistent with the requirements of Rule 3.05; 
3.03(4) A description of any additional support systems that the local education provider intends to implement to ensure the success of the eligible students who have been automatically enrolled in advanced coursework; and
3.03(5) An assurance that the eligible local education provider has automatically enrolled all eligible students into advanced courses based on the criteria in 3.02(1), and will use grant funds solely for the approved use as stated in 3.05. This assurance will be used to verify eligibility for the program.

3.04 Grant Awards   
3.04(1) The Department will award funds based on the following formula:
3.04(1)(a) The Department will use the aggregate information provided by each applicant eligible local education providers under Rule 3.03(2) to determine an overall average cost per student. 
3.04(1)(b) The Department will apply the average calculated in Rule 3.04(1)(a) to each eligible local education provider by multiplying the overall average cost per student times the number of students served.
3.04(1)(c) The Department will award an amount to each eligible local education provider based on the number of students and average cost per student served under Rule 3.04(1)(b) 
3.04(1)(c)(i) If the total funding requested in an eligible local education provider’s application is less than the award determined under Rule 3.04(1)(c), then the local education provider’s award will be equal to the total funding requested in its application.
3.04(1)(d) Additionally, supplemental funding based on the number of grade levels served may be included in the award.
3.04(1)(e) If the total amount appropriated by the General Assembly in a given fiscal year is insufficient to fully fund awards as determined under Rule 3.04(1)(c), the Department will reduce each eligible local education provider’s award by a proportional amount.

3.05 Use of Incentives 
3.05(1) A local education provider that receives a grant under the program shall use the funding for:
3.05(1)(a) Expanding the number of advanced courses offered in the local education provider, including the use of technology to increase the number of advanced courses offered; 
3.05(1)(b) Incentivizing teachers to teach advanced courses, including teacher training and professional development in areas relating to advanced course instruction; 
3.05(1)(c) Developing advanced course curriculum; or 
3.05(1)(d) Expanding parent and student engagement with the local education provider as it relates to advanced course availability and enrollment and student success in advanced courses.  
3.05(2) A local education provider that is awarded a grant may not use the grant money for the purpose of hiring new teachers.

3.06 Reporting Requirements
3.06(1) A local education provider that receives an award from the grant program must submit an annual report to the Department that includes the following information: 
3.06(1)(a) The number of students enrolled in advanced courses before and after implementation of the grant program; 
3.06(1)(b) The number of students automatically enrolled in advanced courses by the local education provider before and after implementation of the grant program; 
3.06(1)(c) Demographic information of students automatically enrolled in advanced courses, including grade, race, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic information before and after implementation of the grant program;
3.06(1)(d) The number of students in grades 4-8 automatically enrolled in advanced courses before and after implementation of the grant program if applicable; and
3.06(1)(e) The ways in which grant dollars were utilized.