A group of 21 Republican lawmakers on Friday introduced House Bill 14-1157, which would give school boards and charter school boards the power to adopt policies allowing school staff members to carry concealed weapons on campus. Such staff members would have to hold concealed weapons permits.
The measure is a retread of Senate Bill 13-009, a bill that was killed early in last year’s legislative session following a long hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee (see story). This year’s version has been assigned to House Judiciary, where it’s likely to meet the same fate, given Democratic majority control of the House.
Current state law basically bans weapons at schools, unless carried by security guards or police working as school resource officers.
Two other education-related bills were introduced Friday. They are:
- House Bill 14-1156 – This measure would expand existing law that provides free lunches to PRE-2 students, regardless of whether they’re eligible for free- or reduced-price lunch. The bill would extend that policy to all students up to 12th grade but caps the increased cost at $3.5 million. The measure has only Democratic sponsors.
- House Bill 14-1154 – The bill is intended to improve compensation for part-time and adjunct community college faculty, primarily by requiring community colleges to maintain a single salary and compensation schedule for all faculty and by defining faculty workloads. It’s sponsored by Fort Collins Democrats Rep. Randy Fischer and Sen. John Kefalas. Fischer has been a longtime advocate for improving community college faculty pay and working conditions, but his prior bills generally haven’t been successful because of cost concerns. A group of faculty rallied outside the Capitol Friday in support of the bill.
Use the Education Bill Tracker for links to the texts of these bills and all other 2014 education measures.