(1) Subject to available appropriations, up to one hundred teaching fellows per year, selected as provided in subsection (2) of this section, shall receive financial assistance in the form of a stipend in the amount of ten thousand dollars disbursed during the fellowship year. As provided in section 23-78-305 (3), the teaching fellow must choose whether the stipend is awarded as state-based financial aid or as wages for employment. In either case, the stipend is awarded without regard to need and is in addition to any other financial assistance that may be available to the teaching fellow. A teaching fellow may apply the stipend to pay the costs of attendance during the year in which he or she participates in the teaching fellowship program.
(2) The teaching fellowship stipends shall be paid fifty percent by the department of higher education from the amount appropriated for this part 3 and fifty percent by the participating institution of higher education. An institution of higher education that participates in a teaching fellowship program shall notify the department of higher education of the enrollment of each student who enters into a teaching fellowship program. Based on the level of chronic hiring difficulty and financial need demonstrated by each participating rural local education provider, the department shall annually select up to one hundred students enrolled in teaching fellowship programs to receive the stipend and shall forward to the institution fifty percent of the amount of the stipend for each selected student. The institution shall provide the remaining fifty percent of the stipend and disburse one hundred percent of each stipend to the selected teaching fellows as provided in section 23-78-305 (2)(c).
(3) If, upon completion of a teaching fellowship program, a teaching fellow does not accept an offer of employment made by the participating rural local education provider, or does not complete two full school years of employment as required in section 23-78-305 (3), the teaching fellow must repay the amount received as a stipend during the teaching fellowship year in accordance with terms established by the participating institution of higher education, and upon receipt of repayment the institution shall refund to the department of higher education the amount of the stipend.
(4) The general assembly shall annually appropriate to the department of higher education the amount required to implement the teaching fellowship programs as provided in this part 3. Any unexpended and unencumbered money from an appropriation made for the purposes of this part 3 for a state fiscal year commencing prior to July 1, 2020, remains available for expenditure by the department for the purposes of this part 3 and for the purposes of sections 23-76-104 and 23-76-106 in the next fiscal year without further appropriation.
Source: L. 2019: Entire article added with relocations, (SB 19-190), ch. 153, p. 1818, � 1, effective May 10. L. 2020: Entire section amended, (SB 20-158), ch. 198, p. 971, � 7, effective June 30.
Editor's note: This section is similar to former � 23-3.9-206 as it existed prior to 2019.
23-78-307. Department of higher education - review of agreements - report. (1) The department of higher education shall review each agreement, and any modifications to the agreement, that it receives from an institution of higher education to ensure that the agreement meets the minimum requirements specified in section 23-78-305. If the department finds that an agreement does not meet the requirements, it shall return the agreement to the appropriate rural local education provider and institution of higher education for modification.
(2) The department of higher education shall review the annual report received concerning each teaching fellowship program and submit an annual summary report to the state board of education, the Colorado commission on higher education, the joint budget committee of the general assembly, and the education committees of the house of representatives and the senate, or any successor committees. The department of higher education shall prepare and submit the summary report annually, notwithstanding section 24-1-136 (11)(a)(I), as part of the report required in section 22-60.5-121 (6). At a minimum, the summary report must include:
(a) Data concerning implementation of the teaching fellowship programs across the state, including:
(I) The participating rural local education providers and institutions of higher education;
(II) The number of teaching fellows; and
(III) The subjects and grade levels that the fellows are teaching; and
(b) An evaluation of the effectiveness of the teaching fellowship programs in reducing the shortage of teachers in the state, based at least in part on the number of teaching fellows who are employed by the participating rural local education providers at the completion of the fellowship, the number who remain employed through subsequent years, and the level of performance of the persons who are employed as teachers following completion of a teaching fellowship, to the extent the data is available.
Source: L. 2019: Entire article added with relocations, (SB 19-190), ch. 153, p. 1819, � 1, effective May 10. L. 2023: IP(2) amended, (SB 23-258), ch. 334, p. 2013, � 23, effective August 7.
Editor's note: This section is similar to former � 23-3.9-207 as it existed prior to 2019.
Cross references: For the legislative declaration in SB 23-258, see section 1 of chapter 334, Session Laws of Colorado 2023.