The Senate Education Committee confirmed three governor's appointees and advanced SB26-019, a bill consolidating Local Coordinating Organizations into Early Childhood Councils, over objections from LCO directors who argued the July 1 implementation timeline was too aggressive — particularly for the three counties where the two entities are separate organizations.
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Kelly Altizer (Adams County LCO) and Diana Herrera (Denver/DPP) requested a phased three-to-five year transition beginning no earlier than July 1, 2027, arguing the bill's July 1, 2026 deadline falls during peak enrollment and that the QRS refresh is 18 months to two years away. Herrera stated directly: 'I was actually involved in drafting the bill as a representative of the LCOs, and we did bring the concern for the timeline to the table, and we were not heard.' Senator Ball and Senator Bright maintained the July 1 deadline was driven by the expiration of federal stimulus funding and that subcontracting provisions would protect affected counties.
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“This bill removes the LCO statewide UPK backbone on a rapid timeline and lands exactly in the middle of our peak enrollment period, summer. With no clear plan for summer enrollment support, this will impact our priority populations most. This is like trying to restructure the foundation while a house is still under construction.”
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Sign in to subscribeThe first meeting of the Senate education committee for 2026 will come to order. Ms. Chris Phelan, will you please call the roll? Senators Bright. Here. Frizzell. Excused. Kip. Here. Michaelson. Janay. Present. Rich. Excused. Merchman. Excused. Mr. Chair, I am here. Thank you. We do have a full slate here today, but first we're going to start off with appointments. We have a confirmation hearing for the Executive Director of the Department of Higher Ed. So if those people would like to come down. Anyone here? J.B. holston. And looks like we have someone from the Governor's office, Allie Kimmel. Who would like to start us off. Ms. Kimmel, On the table. There you go. Yep. We do put a. A sign right there, so I don't know if it's. Perfect. Okay. All right. Go ahead and begin. It's my first day. Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the Education Committee. My name is Allie Kimmel, and I serve as Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Legislative affairs for Governor Polis. Is my honor to appear before you today to introduce JB Holston as the Governor's nominee for Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education.…
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