[{"_1":2,"_99":-5,"_100":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76,88],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6104563,"mediaKeyId","2790495-a7a3923f0d6739bcfd29d3044b8f491f","parentId",2790495,"title","Committee approves bill setting statewide rules for school library reviews and protecting librarians","audioSeconds",5789,"startMs",4416000,"endMs",10205000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2790495-a7a3923f0d6739bcfd29d3044b8f491f&start=4416&end=10205","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2790495-a7a3923f0d6739bcfd29d3044b8f491f/thumbnail_4416000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6104563/Colorado/Committee-approves-bill-setting-statewide-rules-for-school-library-reviews-and-protecting-librarians","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6104563-18b650ff37b09083fa50368ba94dcc24/orig.mp4?Expires=1771117693&Signature=aEJFwyBi49n9MvBhYjESdf9g5I2AxoW2VLCN1Di0G9MpcerEsu0iBwmKw0bM~nBJJ8mtX0L6E9QJnVGCaC0hbPlCgGuuhP06rqU4cPaZhoqCPOnWVmOOi2LkFYUpdZcd~5hulMMyb56lXl-~zhsIq8IR52NyRCVPU5Rmp8gesZcQlybGg85Hc6ZbVTUPZUn7MViU-6kBMKdjKL67lvMoB6VdNK0kdglJVAzn8re-AlYiwMqBVPTnU7Ch35nNGvQmqZdMi7yN8FRc~eO9waJQZZN0w2dV2OI3hjj3Osh4s1sv6EaYG92f5iMzmPeyWMX9rzDoNrRx7X4j6c8-8GtIPA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Colorado Legislature","date","2025-03-26T00:00:00Z","article","The House Education Committee voted to advance Senate Bill 63, a bill that requires school districts to adopt transparent library-resource review policies that prohibit discrimination, limit who may file challenges and protect library staff from retaliation.

Sponsors Representative Garcia Sander and Representative Wilford said the measure is intended to preserve students' access to diverse viewpoints and to ensure that decisions about school collections follow consistent, nondiscriminatory standards and documented procedures. \"This bill is not a ban on bans,\" Rep. Garcia Sander said; \"it establishes and upholds our commitment as a state to ensure that discrimination does not occur in our schools, whether on the shelves or in the classrooms.\"

Key provisions include requiring districts to adopt written collection-development and review procedures, allowing only a student's parent or legal guardian who has a child in the school to initiate a review, prohibiting anonymous challenges, protecting librarians and staff from retaliation when they follow the district process, and limiting how frequently an item can be re-challenged following a completed review (the bill language sets a review interval). Sponsors and witnesses said the policy is intended to respect local control by requiring districts to set the operational policy while ensuring that removals are not motivated by discriminatory intent.

The hearing drew extensive public testimony spanning district leaders, public- and school-library staff, authors, parents and students. Supporters said school librarians are degreed professionals who select age-appropriate materials after needs assessments and should be protected from retaliatory removals; they argued that children benefit when they can see themselves in books and access diverse perspectives. Opponents and some committee members raised concerns about local control, the definition and adjudication of obscenity, and the ability of boards to take immediate action in cases where a community views material as pornographic or otherwise inappropriate for minors.

Committee members discussed the relevant legal precedents, including the Supreme Court's Island Trees v. Pico decision and federal obscenity standards (the Miller test), which several witnesses and members referenced during questioning about the proper threshold for removing material. Sponsors said the bill was revised following stakeholder work and that the measure preserves local school boards' authority to set collection policy while adding nondiscrimination and transparent processes.

After robust testimony and debate, the committee moved SB 63 to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation; the final recorded vote is shown in the Actions section below.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","House Education [Mar 26, 2025 - Upon Adjournment]","oneSentenceSummary","Senate Bill 63, which requires school districts to adopt public, nondiscriminatory library-resource policies, limits who may request reviews and protects staff from retaliation, passed the House Education Committee after extensive testimony for and against.","taxTitle","2025 Legislature CO, Colorado","taxId",77676,"location","Colorado","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6104568,"Education Committee adopts guardrails for school use of facial recognition, advances bill unanimously",2392,1919000,4311000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2790495-a7a3923f0d6739bcfd29d3044b8f491f&start=1919&end=4311","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2790495-a7a3923f0d6739bcfd29d3044b8f491f/thumbnail_1919000.jpg","/articles/6104568/Colorado/Education-Committee-adopts-guardrails-for-school-use-of-facial-recognition-advances-bill-unanimously","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6104568-ce1fd683982c53512e1b09e5ba3da786/orig.mp4?Expires=1771117693&Signature=CyifPmECvPmvsIzqHoKwhEbKa1MKwT5JQHW4733PnS2ZqvLUyEZNDceVn5mRAz~2Ww3FNjb4hTjRCsREce7SbLGjm1kRRjtZDY0QcUtMlD7grFbP7x7R3UvRPStuD6O7cd8ImvK3Mrrhn9PLgn1aOA4gRsJCKfQ4JiuWG~UkSU4dGkp5upz7ZOyZGTMXZu7qFfd43dQqQtwVfUGfDioeDanCtRnDDze7w5vO3muPYqtJ-waBbuojjjZRu6uJlxwARcj5d-EXLEuVK2VIcYdPsnEgMbaBH7t3vQOYehs3MKofl1SN9QOcy~ppwBOsNLUYtY0W5a5cY1H3aNmOhOexZA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","The House Education Committee unanimously advanced Senate Bill 143 after hearing testimony from school officials, civil‑liberties advocates, technology vendors and the Colorado Department of Law.

Co-prime sponsors Representative Armagost and Representative Carter described the bill as an attempt to \"strike a balance\" between school safety and student privacy, saying it permits limited uses of facial recognition for specific safety or instructional circumstances while seeking to prevent constant biometric surveillance of students and staff. \"When there is not a safety threat or appropriate curriculum use, we're not surveilling our students and teachers unnecessarily,\" Rep. Armagost said.

The bill builds on Colorado's prior prohibition on K–12 use of facial recognition and reflects a scheduled lapse of that ban next July; sponsors said regulations are needed before the prohibition ends. Key provisions discussed in committee included requiring parental or student consent before contractors may process a student's biometric identifier (the bill text specifies that for students in or entering kindergarten through fifth grade, parental consent is required), exceptions for time‑sensitive safety investigations, limits on retention, and requirements for vendors and school contracts.

Witnesses and committee members debated how the law would interact with law-enforcement processes and Fourth Amendment limits. ACLU and civil‑liberties witnesses said they preferred a full ban but supported the narrower, regulated approach in the bill; the Department of Law testified in support and said the bill complements the Colorado Privacy Act. School representatives and the Security Industry Association asked for clarity on operational burdens, consenting at scale, and how quickly schools could lawfully use the technology in an emergency. Representatives raised concerns about misidentification risks for children and the administrative burden of opt‑in consent systems for large districts; one district witness said securing permission for districtwide curricular tools is logistically difficult and could impede rapid safety responses.

The committee also heard that contractors should be barred from processing biometric identifiers without documented consent on the form described in the bill and that the bill does not appear to override judicial warrants for criminal investigations. Sponsors said they would continue stakeholder conversations about scope language and parental consent thresholds.

Committee members voted unanimously to advance the bill to the Committee of the Whole. The department of law, ACLU of Colorado, the Colorado Education Association and several district and vendor witnesses provided testimony during the hearing.","The committee unanimously approved Senate Bill 143 to permit limited, regulated use of facial recognition technology in K–12 schools for defined educational and safety purposes while adding consent and retention safeguards.",{"_33":89,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":90,"_41":91,"_43":92,"_45":92,"_47":93,"_49":94,"_51":95,"_53":96,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":97,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":98,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6104572,"House Education Committee advances wide-ranging K-12 accountability bill with seven amendments",0,2481000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2790495-a7a3923f0d6739bcfd29d3044b8f491f&start=2481&end=2481","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2790495-a7a3923f0d6739bcfd29d3044b8f491f/thumbnail_2481000.jpg","/articles/6104572/Colorado/House-Education-Committee-advances-wide-ranging-K-12-accountability-bill-with-seven-amendments","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6104572-9d0d358bd463430d822cd77834959309/orig.mp4?Expires=1771117694&Signature=ZQ42SkPYPUdwcUdeq~-q5L2WX~2n81E1aU12pkLgmMb4R22zXCd3dym9auZqYjt7gM7~nd1MWhYve-0vjAI9GrLPQTMnUriQQpWaZ4yxma9xr2vYNyk6bRNhPR3kD~srThcdn9R5RY~mGIaZ~F5PinhJ-kMJI-ovn50SLNCG8n7VTbnTNkhampUJPSifuWoMYH0-NanMcbpxFpLlX-Qjq~I4MltaIQ4hu9EX-MbW7YIzKJPC9noyNABkE4eb4xyDKssAn9KCsnmRdu22-3q5pL7ErVxpi4isKdN3Yqx72e0J~nSCKzPBrTgcXhipcZmaQ2Cz3JgfBcrSLX8WEaf1yw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","The House Education Committee voted to advance House Bill 12-1278, a multiyear overhaul of Colorado's K-12 accountability system, sending the bill as amended to the Appropriations Committee with a favorable recommendation.

The bill sponsor opened the session by describing the measure as an \"extremely technical bill\" developed by a 26-member task force and said the package of seven amendments refines assessment rules, accreditation calculations, postsecondary and workforce readiness indicators, and the accountability-clock procedures. \"This bill is a culmination of a multiyear effort to reform and update the K-12 accountability system,\" the sponsor said, asking members for a yes vote on the amended bill.

Committee members approved seven amendments, labeled L1 through L7. Several were adopted without objection, while amendment L4 was adopted after a roll call (see \"Actions\" below). The major changes adopted in amendment form include 1) limiting certain uses of shorter assessment sections to students with IEPs or 504 plans, 2) altering how students with disabilities are counted in accreditation measures, 3) restructuring the postsecondary/workforce readiness indicator around three core metrics—industry-recognized credentials, work-based learning and postsecondary credit—while giving the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) discretion to define successful outcomes, 4) revising procedures after low statewide test participation and allowing a two-year grace period for fully remote schools, 5) changing study deadlines and codifying an accountability work group to advise CDE, 6) rewriting the accountability clock to add early-intervention supports and create a formal pathway plan and 7) requiring CMAS tests to be taken online except for accommodations tied to IEPs or 504 plans.

Representative Hamrick and others asked for clarification about how much discretion CDE will have in defining metrics and about the availability of underlying data; the sponsor said CDE would set metric definitions and offered to connect members with CDE staff. Representative Phillips raised objections to the two-year testing participation grace period for online schools adopted in amendment L4; that objection registered during the roll call on L4. Representative Johnson announced a \"respectful no\" on final passage to Appropriations pending review of the fiscal note.

The package also includes multiple study deadlines moved to November 1, 2026, with the postsecondary workforce readiness study due November 1, 2028, and a required report on external management partners (also called external support partners) moved to November 1, 2027. Amendment L6 also changed the accredited-with-distinction test-participation threshold from 85% to 75% for some ratings and included an appeal pathway for small rural districts.

The committee discussion repeatedly referenced stakeholder engagement with CDE, the Colorado Children's Campaign, Ready Colorado and task force members. Several committee members asked staff to produce participation-rate numbers and updated fiscal estimates before the bill reaches the full House.

The committee advanced the bill by roll call; listed member votes are in the Actions section below. The bill now moves to Appropriations for further fiscal review and possible reappropriation language.

The committee record shows sustained engagement by members and a number of technical changes intended to phase in new indicators and provide districts and charter institutes with additional supports and study time.

The Appropriations Committee will receive the amended bill next; committee members asked staff to provide clearer fiscal calculations and participation-rate data before floor consideration.","The House Education Committee on Wednesday approved House Bill 12-1278 as amended and sent it to Appropriations with a favorable recommendation after adopting seven floor amendments that change assessments, accreditation calculations, postsecondary readiness measures and the accountability \"clock.\"","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Committee approves bill setting statewide rules for school library reviews and protecting librarians

Education Committee adopts guardrails for school use of facial recognition, advances bill unanimously

House Education Committee advances wide-ranging K-12 accountability bill with seven amendments