Suspended or expelled in Colorado: the hearing, the 10-day appeal, and the rules that protect you

Colorado's School Attendance Law says every child who turns six on or before August 1 must attend school until age 17, unless a listed exception applies. That is the compulsory attendance range: 6 to 17.

Suspension means being kept out of school for a short time; expulsion means being excluded for a set period, and in Colorado an expulsion can last up to 12 months. The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) lists the grounds in its Expulsion Laws and Proceedings sheet: things like possessing a dangerous weapon, drug use or sale, robbery, behavior that endangers others, or being habitually disruptive. Before expelling anyone, a district must weigh the student's age, disciplinary history, any disability, how serious the violation was, and whether a lesser step would fix it. A student who brought a firearm to school must be expelled for at least a year under federal law, though the superintendent can shorten that in writing case by case.

The youngest students get extra protection. Under a 2019 state law, a child in preschool through second grade can be suspended out of school or expelled only for a dangerous weapon, drugs, or conduct that endangers others, and an out-of-school suspension for those grades cannot exceed 3 school days unless a longer one is needed to resolve a safety threat.

In 1975, in Goss v. Lopez, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that a public school student facing even a short suspension must be told what they are accused of and given a chance to tell their side. That is the floor everywhere. Colorado builds on it for expulsions.

The student, the family, or the district can request an expulsion hearing. At least two business days before it, the district must give the family every record it plans to use as evidence. The hearing officer cannot have a conflict of interest: not someone who investigated the incident, and not a relative of anyone involved. At the hearing the district carries the burden of proof, meaning it must show by a preponderance of the evidence (more likely than not) that the student broke district policy.

If the student is expelled, the family has 10 business days to appeal to the local board of education. If the board upholds the expulsion, the family can seek court review: the board must issue a written order within 5 business days, the family must tell the board in writing within 5 business days of receiving it that they want court review, and a court must hold a hearing within 21 calendar days after a petition is filed. Students with an IEP get one more step first: a manifestation determination meeting within 10 days to decide whether the behavior came from the disability. If it did, the student cannot be expelled for it.

Colorado's CROWN Act, passed in 2020, says discrimination based on race includes discrimination based on hair texture, hair type, and protective hairstyles like braids, locs, and twists, and it applies in public education. In June 2024 the legislature added hair length to that list. A dress code that punishes a student in Colorado Springs for cornrows or an Afro is not enforcing a neutral rule; it is running into state law.

Every Colorado district must have a bullying prevention policy, and CDE publishes a model policy that districts build from. What that means for you: report bullying in writing to a teacher or counselor, ask for a copy of the district's policy, and ask what the school will do and by when. Retaliation against a student who reports bullying is itself a policy violation in the state model.