880D586246E975158725839F00724A28 Hearing Summary

Representatives McCluskie and Roberts, co-prime sponsors, presented House Bill 19-1121, concerning fifth-year high school and Accelerating Students through Concurrent Enrollmen (ASCENT) program students. The bill establishes priority criteria for allocating ASCENT program slots and extends the grandfather clause for early colleges that was established in Senate Bill 18-225 for one year. Representative McCluskie distributed Amendment L.002 (Attachment A) and a letter from Colorado Mountain College regarding the amendment (Attachment B).

The following people testified on the bill:

Matt Gianneschi, Colorado Mountain College, testified in support of the bill and answered committee questions about the ASCENT program and the bill.  Dr. Gianneschi distributed an estimated direct cost comparison between traditional academic programming and early colleges in Colorado (Attachment C).

Kathryn Regjo, Colorado Mountain College, testified in support of the bill and distributed a concept map for integrated education for early college high school (Attachment D).

Carol Carlson, Colorado Mountain College Concurrent Enrollment Coordinator, testified in support of the bill.

Dr. Gianneschi answered questions from the committee regarding the fiscal impact of the bill and the cost of the ASCENT program.

Representatives McCluskie and Roberts made concluding comments on the bill, and committee discussion ensued.