Public school enrollment across Colorado fell by more than 10,000 students this school year, newly released data shows, the sharpest drop in the state’s student enrollment since the pandemic.
The dip, captured during the annual October count day for schools, extends a trend of declining enrollment in many Colorado districts that mimics a broader downturn in public school students across the country.
Colorado’s total count of kids in preschool through 12th grade fell to 870,793, down 1.2% from the 2024-25 school year, data from The Colorado Department of Education shows. Enrollment decreased in nine grades and increased in preschool and grades four, six and 12 by nearly 4,300 students altogether.
Nationally, enrollment is expected to drop to 46.9 million by 2032 from 50.8 million in 2019, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Colorado’s last major drop in student counts was during the pandemic, when enrollment decreased by nearly 30,000 students. Before the pandemic, Colorado’s population of public school students consistently grew for 30 years. Enrollment has continued to shrink since the 2022-23 school year.
Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Córdova attributed this year’s enrollment slide to a range of factors, including fewer births in the last 20 years, population decreases over the past decade in 30% of Colorado counties, and more students pivoting to part-time and online schooling as well as home school programs.
Fewer kids showing up to classrooms has introduced “incredible complexities” for districts, Córdova said, particularly since districts receive state funding largely based on the number of students in their schools. Even if a district loses enough students to eliminate a first-grade classroom, for example, those students likely didn’t all attend the same school but instead were spread out across the district. So eliminating one first-grade teacher and shutting down their classroom isn’t feasible.
“I do think it is bringing complexity to thinking about school schedules, thinking about enrichment activities, specials in elementary school we call them, or extracurriculars, all of the kind of courses that frankly I think are what create the engagement,” Córdova said during a media conference Tuesday morning. “As declining enrollment impacts schools and districts, I think leaders are really faced with lots of complex challenges. You lose some of the efficiencies and economies of scale as you see declining enrollment and I think in our larger districts is where you see far more conversations about school consolidation and school closures happening. Those are never easy conversations to have with communities.”
The state’s 10 largest school districts, stretched across the Front Range, all recorded enrollment slumps in the fall. So did many of Colorado’s smaller districts, which are often in more rural parts of the state. Nine of the 10 smallest districts in Colorado reported fewer students this school year, including Woodlin School District No. R-104 on the Eastern Plains and Campo School District RE-6 in southeastern Colorado.
Vilas School District RE-5, also in southeastern Colorado, was the outlier among small districts, gaining three students for an enrollment of 57 kids.
More diverse schools and more kids flocking to online, home school programs
The latest enrollment figures also highlight demographic changes in Colorado school districts. Schools are reflecting greater diversity, with modest increases in the percentages of Asian, Black, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and multiracial students and a drop of 7,318 white students, according to state data.
The state also saw its school population of Hispanic students decline, counting 4,395 fewer Hispanic students in fall 2025 than in fall 2024. State education officials say that drop is a notable reverse from fall 2024, when Colorado’s population of Hispanic students jumped due to a surge in migrants coming to the state.
“While we can’t determine precisely where these students went or specific reasons for the decline, the data likely reflects adjustment following unusually high enrollment from the previous year,” DJ Loerzel, chief information and innovation officer for the state education department, said.
Other significant changes include thousands of Colorado students opting for online programs or full-time or part-time home school in recent years. Between October 2024 and October 2025, enrollment in online schooling grew by almost 1,000 students to 34,617 kids, while the number of home school students jumped by nearly 550 to 10,367 kids and part-time home schoolers increased by about 2,750 students to 18,740. The number of online students and home school students in Colorado has consistently increased since fall 2022, according to state data.
Meanwhile, the state tallied more students with disabilities last fall compared with fall of 2024, gaining more than 1,800 students for a total count of 119,443 kids with disabilities. Other groups of students who often struggle more than their peers dropped in enrollment, including English language learners, homeless students and kids who qualify for free and reduced lunch — a federal indicator of poverty.
State officials say that the decline in the number of kids who are eligible for free and reduced lunch could be the result of the rollout of Healthy School Meals for All, a program that does not require families to submit forms to districts to demonstrate they qualify for free meals. That could translate to districts undercounting the number of students who are eligible for free or reduced meals.