(1) There is in the department of education the Colorado student leaders institute. The year-long institute shall operate a competitive residential summer academic program for students who are entering tenth or eleventh grade in the coming fall semester. The program operated by the institute must be for four weeks each summer during which time students who are accepted to the institute attend college-level classes, lectures, and seminars as well as enrichment activities, including concerts and theatrical productions. Each student who is accepted to the institute is encouraged to donate up to four hundred dollars to the institute to assist in meeting operational costs. Subject to available appropriations, up to one hundred students may annually participate in the institute. The host institution and the department shall not operate the Colorado student leaders institute in the 2025-26 state fiscal year.
(2) (a) The institute shall annually offer classes in at least the following two areas:
(I) Science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics; and
(II) International social studies.
(b) The institute shall annually provide enrichment activities for students who participate in the institute, which must include but need not be limited to activities relating to visual expression and music appreciation.
(c) In addition to participating in classes and enrichment activities, students who participate in the institute must:
(I) Complete a history research project for a competition held during the term of the institute; and
(II) Complete a public service practicum that includes a final report of findings and recommendations to the general assembly for legislative action.
(3) (a) (I) To apply to participate in the institute:
(A) A student who is enrolled in a public school that is not a charter school must be nominated by the superintendent of the school district in which the student is enrolled; and
(B) A student who is enrolled in a charter school or in a private school must be nominated by the principal of the school.
(II) A student who is participating in a nonpublic home-based educational program, as described in section 22-33-104.5, may apply without having been nominated.
(b) To apply to participate in the institute, a student must submit an application to the host institution that is in the form and meets the requirements established by the host institution. If the applying student is enrolled in a public school, the student must submit a copy of the student's individual career and academic plan, as described in section 22-2-136, with the application.
(4) The host institution shall award three hours of postsecondary academic credit to each student who successfully completes the institute. The school district or high school in which each student is enrolled is encouraged to apply the academic credit hours that a student receives for completing the institute toward academic credit hours earned in civics, to apply toward the completion of the student's high school graduation requirements.
Source: L. 2023: Entire article added with relocations, (SB 23-086), ch. 117, p. 423, � 1, effective July 1. L. 2025: (1) amended, (SB 25-215), ch. 115, p. 474, � 1, effective April 25.
Editor's note: This section is similar to former � 23-77-103 as it existed prior to 2023.
22-106-104. Colorado student leaders institute - state board of education - duties. (1) The state board of education, when operating the student leaders institute, has the following duties and powers:
(a) Oversee and direct the operations of the institute;
(b) (I) The department of education, on behalf of the state board of education, shall follow the applicable provisions of the Procurement Code, articles 101 to 112 of title 24, to choose a higher education institution to host the institute. The department may enter into a multi-year contract with a public or private institution of higher education, subject to annual review and renewal.
(II) The contract to host the institute must require the host institution, at a minimum, to provide the following services in managing the institute:
(A) Establish requirements for and create the form of the applications that students submit to participate in the institute and establish the timelines for submitting applications and selecting participants;
(B) Review applications received from students and annually select students to participate in the institute. In reviewing applications and selecting students to participate in the institute, the host institution must ensure that at least fifty percent of the students selected to attend the institute each year are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch pursuant to the federal Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, 42 U.S.C. sec. 1751 et seq., or would be the first in their immediate families to attend an institution of higher education; that the students who are selected reside in areas throughout the state and represent gender, ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic diversity of the state; that the students represent the educational program options available throughout the state; and that the students demonstrate through their individual career and academic plans a commitment to continuing postsecondary education after high school graduation.
(C) Annually solicit educators to participate as faculty for the institute and annually select faculty and courses for the institute;
(D) Provide space for classes, lectures, and seminars;
(E) Provide living and eating facilities for students who participate in the institute; and
(F) Collect any necessary data for the report and compile it as required under subsection (1)(d) of this section.
(c) The state board of education may appoint an advisory board consisting of persons in the community who are supportive of education to assist the state board of education and host institution in marketing the institute and soliciting public and private gifts, grants, and donations for the institute. Any persons appointed to an advisory board pursuant to this subsection (1)(c) serve without compensation and without reimbursement for expenses.
(d) Beginning in 2024, the host institution shall annually report to the state board and the education committees of the house of representatives and the senate, or any successor committees, the host institution's progress and success in implementing the institute. The host institution must, at a minimum, report the success of the institute as measured by the enrollment and progress of institute alumni in postsecondary educational programs.
Source: L. 2023: Entire article added with relocations, (SB 23-086), ch. 117, p. 424, � 1, effective July 1.
Editor's note: This section is similar to former � 23-77-104 as it existed prior to 2023.
22-106-105. Colorado student leaders institute - funding - cash fund created. (1) (a) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2025.)
(b) If the department of education does not spend the total amount appropriated pursuant to this subsection (1) by the end of the fiscal year for which it is appropriated, any amount not expended up to fifty percent of the total amount appropriated is further appropriated to the department for the subsequent state fiscal year for the same purpose; except that money appropriated pursuant to this subsection (1) for the 2024-25 state fiscal year is not further appropriated to the department for the subsequent state fiscal year. Any unexpended and unencumbered funds appropriated to the department of education for purposes of this article 106 must revert to the general fund on June 30, 2025.
(2) (a) In addition to the amount appropriated pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, the state board of education may solicit, accept, and expend public or private gifts, grants, or donations to implement the institute. The state board of education shall transmit any money that it receives pursuant to this subsection (2)(a) and any money it receives from participating students to the state treasurer. The state treasurer shall deposit the money in the Colorado student leaders institute cash fund, referred to in this section as the cash fund, which is created in the state treasury. If on July 1, 2025, gifts, grants, donations, or student contributions remain in the cash fund, the department, in collaboration with the host institute and the advisory committee created in section 22-106-104 (1)(c), shall return, no later than August 30, 2025, to the extent possible, money remaining in the fund to each grantor, donor, or student in an amount that is proportional to the grantor's, donor's, or student's share of the amount of gifts, grants, donations, or student contributions deposited in the cash fund.
(b) The money in the cash fund is continuously appropriated to the state board of education to carry out this article 106. The state treasurer may invest as provided by law any money in the cash fund that is not expended for the purposes of this article 106. The state treasurer shall credit to the cash fund all interest and income derived from the investment and deposit of money in the cash fund. Any unexpended and unencumbered money remaining in the cash fund at the end of a fiscal year remains in the cash fund and is not credited to another fund. If any money remains in the cash fund on August 31, 2025, the state treasurer shall, prior to the repeal of the cash fund, transfer all unexpended and unencumbered money in the cash fund to the general fund.
(3) Repealed.
Source: L. 2023: (3) added with relocations, (SB 23-086), ch. 117, p. 427, � 1, effective June 30; (1) and (2) added with relocations, (SB 23-086), ch. 117, p. 427, � 1, effective July 1. L. 2025: Entire section amended, (SB 25-215), ch. 115, p. 474, � 2, effective April 25.
Editor's note: (1) This section is similar to former � 23-77-105 as it existed prior to 2023.
(2) Subsection (3)(b) provided for the repeal of subsection (3), effective July 1, 2024. (See L. 2023, p. 427.)