House committee backs bill to ease school reporting burden, removes one evaluation provision

Sponsors told the committee that House Bill 12‑99 takes "small steps" to reduce administrative burden on schools by modernizing certain data flows and allowing limited flexibility for small districts. The bill includes five main elements: electronic transmission of missing‑children lists from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to the Colorado Department of Education for automated cross‑referencing; repeal of a now‑obsolete requirement to adopt policies for paper‑and‑pencil assessments; expanded flexibility for combined unified improvement plans (UIP) for small districts or charter networks with 1,200 or fewer students (with CDE permission); an originally proposed waiver for duplicative educator‑evaluation reporting (removed as amendment L001); and clarifications to prevent mandatory reports from being treated as voluntary collections.

"This bill is another attempt to take baby steps toward administrative relief burdens," a sponsor said, describing the bill as a practical, incremental approach to reduce duplicative reporting demands on districts and charters.

Witnesses from the Colorado League of Charter Schools and the Colorado World Schools Alliance testified in support, saying educators are too often "buried under a growing web of data reporting requirements" and that the changes will free school leaders to focus on instruction.

Several members, notably Rep. Veil Bacon, pressed sponsors about combined UIP language and whether permitting a single plan for a charter network or collaborative might obscure a failing ("on the clock") school within a network. Sponsors and witnesses emphasized that CDE must grant permission for any consolidated plan and that schools identified as red or otherwise subject to federal/state improvement requirements would still need to meet applicable UIP procedures; sponsors removed section 5 (the staff‑evaluation reporting relief) after stakeholder feedback and to avoid a fiscal note, moving the amendment L001 which passed without objection.

Rep. Garcia Sander moved the bill to the committee of the whole as amended; the motion was seconded and the committee passed HB 12‑99 unanimously.

The bill will now proceed to the committee of the whole.