(1) (a) A board of education shall establish and maintain full-day or half-day kindergarten educational programs in connection with the schools of its district for the instruction of children one year prior to the year in which the children would be eligible for admission to the first grade. A board may prescribe courses of training, study, and discipline and rules governing the kindergarten educational programs. The kindergarten educational programs must be a part of the public school system, and the school district must pay the cost of establishing and maintaining the kindergarten educational programs from the general school fund. A school district shall not charge the parent of a child enrolled in a kindergarten educational program tuition to attend any portion of the program, except as provided pursuant to section 22-32-115 (2)(b)(I), and shall not charge the parent fees for the child to attend the program other than fees that are routinely charged to the parents of students enrolled in other grades and are applicable to the kindergarten educational program.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1)(a) of this section to the contrary, if the general assembly amends the Public School Finance Act of 2025, article 54 of this title 22, to count a student enrolled in kindergarten only as a half-day pupil, with or without the addition of supplemental kindergarten enrollment as defined in section 22-54-103 (15) for purposes of calculating the funded pupil count as determined pursuant to article 54 of this title 22, a school district may charge the student's parents tuition or a fee for the portion of the school day for which it does not receive funding for the student pursuant to the Public School Finance Act of 2025; except that the amount of tuition or fee charged must not exceed the amount of tuition or fee that the school district charged to attend a full-day kindergarten educational program for the 2018-19 budget year, adjusted for inflation and prorated by the percentage of the school day for which the student is no longer funded by the Public School Finance Act of 2025. As used in this subsection (1)(b), inflation means the annual percentage change in the United States department of labor bureau of labor statistics consumer price index for Denver-Aurora-Lakewood for all items paid by all urban consumers, or its applicable successor index.
(1.5) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2005, p. 433, � 6, effective April 29, 2005.)
(2) and (3) Repealed.
Source: L. 64: p. 588, � 20. C.R.S. 1963: � 123-30-20. L. 2001: Entire section amended, p. 561, � 4, effective May 29. L. 2002: (2)(a) amended, p. 1020, � 31, effective June 1. L. 2003: (1.5) added and (2)(e) amended, pp. 2139, 2128, �� 43, 20, effective May 22. L. 2004: (1) amended, p. 1394, � 14, effective May 28. L. 2005: (1) amended, p. 69, � 1, effective March 25; (1.5) amended and (3) added, p. 433, � 6, effective April 29. L. 2006: (3) repealed, p. 695, � 38, effective April 28. L. 2019: (1) amended, (HB 19-1262), ch. 245, p. 2394, � 3, effective May 21. L. 2024: (1)(b) amended, (HB 24-1448), ch. 236, p. 1532, � 42, effective May 23.
Editor's note: Subsection (2)(e) provided for the repeal of subsection (2), effective July 1, 2003. (See L. 2003, p. 2128.)
Cross references: For the legislative declaration contained in the 2001 act amending this section, see section 1 of chapter 174, Session Laws of Colorado 2001.
22-32-119.5. Full-day kindergarten - phase-in plan - report - legislative declaration. (1) (a) The general assembly finds and declares that:
(I) Rigorous research proves that full-day kindergarten is an effective way of improving a child's academic performance;
(II) Research shows that children who have academic success are less likely to drop out of school and more likely to graduate from high school and enter an institution of higher education, leading them to higher-paying jobs that provide for a strong economy in the state;
(III) Studies show that full-day kindergarten educational programs address achievement gap issues and promote student achievement;
(IV) All children in Colorado deserve the chance to attend a full day of kindergarten, as the benefits of full-day kindergarten continue throughout a child's educational experience and set the tone for future academic success.
(b) The general assembly further finds and declares that while the benefits of full-day kindergarten educational programs are evident, determining an approach to phase in full-day kindergarten educational programs is the first step toward potentially offering full-day kindergarten educational programs statewide. The development of a plan by each local board of education that is not offering a full-day kindergarten educational program as of the 2019-20 school year to phase in a full-day kindergarten educational program at the district level is essential to ensure that the appropriate mechanisms are in place to support and maintain high-quality, full-day kindergarten educational programs in Colorado.
(2) Each local board of education that is not offering a full-day kindergarten educational program as of the 2019-20 school year shall develop a plan to potentially phase in a full-day kindergarten educational program in the school district. In developing the plan, each local board shall consider the following:
(a) Available space in existing school district facilities for a full-day kindergarten educational program;
(b) The need and cost of new school district facilities necessary to offer a full-day kindergarten educational program, including but not limited to the cost associated with construction, acquisition, reconfiguration, or renovation of new or existing facilities;
(c) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2019.)
(d) Professional development and staffing needs;
(e) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2019.)
(f) A plan for parent and community outreach and enrollment processes; and
(g) The anticipated enrollment in a full-day kindergarten educational program, including the percentage of eligible children in the school district that will choose to enroll in the program.
(3) Each local board of education that is not offering a full-day kindergarten educational program as of the 2019-20 school year shall submit its plan to phase in a full-day kindergarten educational program to the department of education on or before July 1, 2020. A school district that has developed a full-day kindergarten plan within the five years before July 1, 2020, may submit the previously developed plan to the department in lieu of developing a plan pursuant to this section.
(4) Nothing in this section:
(a) Requires a child to attend a full day of kindergarten; or
(b) Prohibits a school district from offering a half-day kindergarten educational program.
(c) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2019.)
Source: L. 2007: Entire section added, p. 741, � 18, effective May 9. L. 2009: (2)(c)(IV) amended, (SB 09-163), ch. 293, p. 1542, � 43, effective May 21; (2)(c)(II) amended, (SB 09-292), ch. 369, p. 1963, � 61, effective August 5. L. 2019: Entire section amended, (HB 19-1262), ch. 245, p. 2395, � 4, effective May 21.