AURORA | Aurora Public Schools and the Cherry Creek School District had the fourth and seventh largest declines in school enrollment this fall, according to new data released by the Colorado Department of Education.
That dip could cause each district to lose millions of dollars in revenue during a year where they have already been hard hit by budget cuts brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The department released a report Tuesday based on preliminary data from the Student October Count which found that for the first time in 30 years the state’s public schools had a decline in enrollment from the previous year. Overall, there was an estimated 3.3% decrease in public school enrollment from 2019, adding up to almost 30,000 fewer children.
In raw numbers, Douglas County, Jefferson County and Denver Public Schools were the districts with the first, second and third largest decreases in student enrollment.
Aurora Public Schools followed in fourth with 2,181 fewer students than in 2019, a 5.5% decrease. The Cherry Creek School District had the seventh largest decrease with 2,053 fewer students, a 3.6% decline.
By percentage, the Colorado Springs School District 11 had the largest decrease, with a whopping 8.2% fewer students enrolled this year than in 2019.
By race, Alaska Native and American Indian students had the largest decrease in enrollment at 5.8%, followed by white students at 4.1%. Black and Asian students both had an enrollment decrease of 2.7%, and Hispanic and Latino students a decrease of 2.6%.
Statewide, the youngest grades saw the largest decreases in enrollment, with 23.3% fewer students enrolled in preschool and 9.1% fewer in kindergarten.
It appears that the pandemic is driving the decline, as twice as many students were reported as being homeschooled this year compared to last year. The number of students enrolled in online educational programs rose almost as much with a 44% increase from 2019.
The decline does not come as much of a shock, as local and statewide educators were already well aware of the decrease early in the school year. In September APS superintendent Rico Munn joined a news conference with Gov. Polis to try and urge families to enroll their children in school.
However, it still comes as a blow to districts that are already struggling to balance budgets that have been drained by pandemic losses.
Cherry Creek spokesperson Abbe Smith told the Sentinel that the enrollment decrease could cost the district an estimated $5 million in the current year’s revenue.
“This could become an ongoing negative impact if our enrollment doesn’t recover,” she said in an email. “We call on the legislature to not cut funding to school districts based on declining enrollment due to the COVID pandemic.”
Munn didn’t have an exact number but said that the loss to APS will be significant.
“It’ll be a multimillion dollar impact,” he said.
APS was already struggling with declining enrollment before the pandemic and had an enrollment decline that was twice what it projected this year, based on its own enrollment data presented to the school board in November. Following the statewide trend, its largest decreases were in preschool and kindergarten.
Munn said he did not yet know what the best way to try and address the problem would be.
“I think we’ll have to look at all the different ways that districts are funded and make sure our students are not impacted because of COVID,” he said.
Conor Cahill, spokesperson for Gov. Jared Polis, said that as per Colorado’s School Finance Act the governor will submit a supplemental education budget request in January.
“That supplemental request will consider all the relevant information including changing student enrollment and school district needs,” Cahill said in an email. “The governor also continues to advocate for additional federal aid for Colorado’s schools.”