BEST Capital Construction Grant

The BEST Capital Construction Grant, managed by the Colorado Department of Education, offers competitive funding for capital construction projects in public school facilities. This initiative supports school districts, charter schools, and other educational entities, enabling them to build new schools or renovate existing ones. Established in 2008, the grant aims to enhance educational environments for approximately 886,517 students across Colorado, fostering improved learning conditions and accessibility for all learners.

Overview
As a dynamic service agency, the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) provides leadership, resources, support and accountability to the state’s *178 school districts, 1,927 schools, over 55,000 teachers and over 4,100 administrators to help them build capacity to meet the needs of the state’s approximately 886,517 public school students.
CDE also provides services and support to boards of cooperative educational services (BOCES), early learning centers, state correctional schools, facility schools, the state’s libraries, adult/family literacy centers, and General Education Development (GED) testing centers reaching learners of all ages. CDE operates the Colorado Talking Book Library which provides supports for people who have vision, print, and reading disabilities.
In addition, CDE provides structural and administrative support to the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind and the Charter School Institute.
CDE serves students, parents, and the general public by protecting the public trust through ensuring adherence to laws, strong stewardship of public funds, and accountability for student performance.
As the administrative arm of the State Board of Education, CDE is responsible for implementing state and federal education laws, disbursing state and federal funds, holding schools and districts accountable for performance, licensing all educators, and providing public transparency of performance and financial data.
Established in 2008 with the signing of C.R.S.22-43.7, BEST provides an annual amount of funding in the form of competitive grants to school districts, charter schools, institute charter schools, boards of cooperative educational services, and the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind. BEST funds can be used for the construction of new schools as well as general construction and renovation of existing school facility systems and structures.

Eligibility

Pursuant to 22-43.7-109(a) C.R.S., the Division may only provide financial assistance for:A capital construction project for a public school facility that the applicant owns or will have the right to own in the future under the terms of a lease-purchase agreement with the owner of the facility or a sublease-purchase agreement with the StateA capital construction project for a public school in existence for at least three years at any time before the board receives an application for financial assistance.An applicant that is operating or will operate in the next budget year in a leased facility that is:Listed on the state inventory of real property and improvements and other capital assets maintained by the Office of the State Architect pursuant to section 24-30-1303.5, C.R.S.; orState-owned property leased by the State Board of Land Commissioners, described in section 36-1-101.5, C.R.S., to the applicant.If the Actual Match on this request is less than the CDE Listed Minimum Adjusted District Match Percentage:A Waiver Application must be submitted with this applicationIf the Actual Match on this request is less than 75%:This project may need to comply with Colorado's "High Performance Certification Program", pursuant to 24-30-1301 and 24-30-1305 C.R.S. Please call your Regional Program Manager for additional information.