Senate education committee advances bill to expand Office of School Safety advisory board oversight

The Colorado Senate Education Committee voted 4-2 to send House Bill 25-1173 to the Committee of the Whole, approving a technical change to move the advisory board from the School Safety Resource Center to the Office of School Safety and to expand the board’s review role to cover all three units of the office.

The bill would formally make the advisory board — originally created to guide the School Safety Resource Center — responsible for providing guidance and policy recommendations for the Office of School Safety’s resource center, crisis response unit and grants unit. "The Office of School Safety now also includes a crisis response unit, which not only trains in crisis related topics, but is available on a limited basis to respond to a school experiencing a critical incident," said Chris Harms, director of the Office of School Safety within the Department of Public Safety. Harms told the committee the change would broaden input to the office and "enrich our services to Colorado students and staff."

Sponsor Senator Kolker described the proposal as a technical update to align the advisory board’s statutory role with the office’s expanded structure and said the measure "is very simple." Committee members asked about membership language and representativeness. Senator Rich questioned a statutory provision that requires the board to "represent any parent group," calling that phrasing broad and asking whether the language could allow partisan skew. Harms replied that appointments are made by specified officials in statute — including the governor and certain department heads — and said she expected those appointing authorities to seek a "wide variety of perspectives."

Committee members also heard that the Office of School Safety, created in 2023 when the School Safety Resource Center was expanded, now includes five regional training consultants and the crisis response unit has been called to respond to critical school incidents multiple times a month. Harms said the office’s expansion and regional outreach have increased training and assistance to districts across the state. She also told the committee the bill would not require a fiscal note.

Votes: The committee recorded a 4-2 vote to advance the bill to the Committee of the Whole. On the record in committee, Senator Kipp voted yes; Senator Michaelson Genet voted yes; Senator Kolker voted yes; the chair voted yes; Senator Rich voted no; and one senator was recorded as opposed. The committee chair announced the bill would proceed to the Committee of the Whole.

The bill now moves to the Committee of the Whole for further consideration.