Denver’s Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday evening to pass a policy on school consolidation and closures, paving the way for Superintendent Alex Marrero to again recommend school closures to combat declining enrollment.
The policy comes as Denver Public Schools, the state’s largest district, projects 6,338 fewer children will attend its schools within the next five years, with K-12 enrollment expected to reach 69,819 pupils during the 2028-29 academic year, according to the presentation DPS officials gave the school board earlier in the week.
Marrero on Thursday referred to potential school closures as “right-sizing” the school district.
The school board’s policy sets guidelines for Marrero to use should he propose another round of school closures. The previous school board was reluctant to close schools when Marrero first suggested shuttering 10 schools almost two years ago, but eventually voted in 2023 to close three schools because of low enrollment.
Under the policy, schools of any size are eligible for consolidation or closure — not just those with low enrollment.
Marrero must also propose a timeline for any school closures during the board’s August meeting ahead of the academic year and the superintendent also must present the schools recommended for closure to the board at a public meeting by October. The school board will then take action on the recommendations by November, according to the policy.
DPS is not alone in the declining enrollment crisis — fewer children are attending public schools across the U.S. as a result of Americans having fewer babies. The crisis presents a potential financial struggle for Colorado school districts, which saw enrollment hit the lowest point in a decade last fall, as fewer children in their classrooms results in less funding from the state.
DPS schools have also been hit by gentrification as high housing prices and the type of housing being built has shifted the city’s demographics as apartments have historically housed fewer school-aged children compared to single-family housing.
The shift in the city’s demographics is showing up in Denver schools, with fewer Latino students enrolled in the district. About 52% of the students enrolled in the district are Latino, which is down from 57% of pupils in 2014, according to the presentation the district gave earlier this week.
Movimiento Poder, an organization most known for its advocacy to end the over-policing of DPS students, sent a letter to the school board urging members to vote against the school closure policy and to commit to not close any schools.
DPS has not engaged the community adequately on the policy and the district’s “enrollment projections are flawed and ignore the influx of recent migrants to Denver,” Movimiento Poder wrote in the June 13 letter, which was sent along with Advancement Project, a national racial justice organization.
“School closures should be the last resort because of how harmful they are to students, families, and their communities,” Movimiento Poder wrote in the letter.
DPS schools saw a small, temporary jump in enrollment last academic year — the first such increase since 2019 — due to the arrival of more than 4,700 migrant students, many of whom came from across the southern border. But DPS leaders expect the migrant students to leave the Denver area in the coming years, meaning overall enrollment will continue to fall.
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