Denver Public Schools weighs future of school closure policies amid declining enrollment

Denver Public Schools is seeing a sharper-than-expected drop in student enrollment, raising new questions about whether more school closures could be ahead.

The district projected a decline of about 1,500 students this fall, but preliminary numbers show enrollment is down by about 1,800 students compared to last year.

We're not just declining enrollment. We're declining enrollment faster than we expected, and that decline creates very real obstacles to the education that our students deserve when we allow it to go unaddressed for an extended period of time, DPS enrollment and campus planning executive director Andrew Huber said.

Its steepest losses are in southwest and northwest Denver, with declines even reaching the far northeast.

Watch the video report below: Denver Public Schools weighs future of school closure policies amid declining enrollment

Huber points to declining birth rates, fewer newly arrived immigrant students and families potentially leaving the state due to affordability concerns as contributing factors.

We were very fortunate to experience growth in students from about 2023 through 2024 as a result of the new to country arrivals that we welcomed into our system at that time. We're now seeing our lowest number of new to country arrivals enter the system in many years. I think we can only speculate at the state and very local level about what the reasons are. I think it stands to reason that immigration policy probably has something to do with that, Huber said.

The district closed seven schools and restructured programs in 2024, but continued enrollment declines are raising questions about whether that will be enough to address the districts long-term challenges. Huber told Denver7, they are down about 3,000 students from that time and are expecting to lose thousands more due to declining birth rates alone.

DPS said its the districts responsibility to make sure all of its schools have the opportunity to enroll enough students to provide a robust set of programming and options for kids in those schools.

At a certain point, the math doesn't work and you just have too many schools for the number of kids, and I think we're are approaching that level again despite having school closed schools just a couple of years ago. The right thing for the system over the course of the coming years and at the time that the board and superintendent deem it to be appropriate would be to close schools, Huber told Denver7.

A four-year moratorium was put in place to pause school closures through 2029. Now, the district says its school board is working to consolidate two policies governing school closures and enrollment boundaries.

DPS said its committed to ensuring schools remain well-resourced and able to offer academic and extracurricular programming. The district added that until the policy review is complete, it cannot speculate on whether additional schools may close.

DPS full statement to Denver7:

"Denver Public Schools remains deeply committed to providing quality learning environments for every student across our city. We are continuously monitoring demographic trends and enrollment patterns to ensure our schools remain well-resourced and capable of offering comprehensive academic and extracurricular programming. The DPS Board of Education is currently working through the process of consolidating Executive Limitations 18 and 19 which could change those policies. Until that work has been completed, we are not able to speculate on whether or not additional schools may be closed."

For now, there are no new school closures announced.