Superintendent recommends DPS close or restructure 10 schools as enrollment continues to fall

Superintendent Alex Marrero recommended Thursday that Denver Public Schools permanently close or restructure 10 schools so that Colorado’s largest district can stave off the “crisis” that looms as K-12 enrollment continues declining statewide.

Marrero’s recommendation, which was presented during a meeting of the Board of Education, had been highly anticipated by families and educators ever since the superintendent last tried to close schools two years ago.

“This has been an incredibly daunting task,” Marrero told the board Thursday evening.

Closure conversations were reignited earlier this year after the board — which was in the past reluctant to shutter schools — passed a consolidation policy that paved the way for Marrero to once again recommend a list of buildings to close.

Under Marrero’s new plan, DPS would permanently close seven schools — five elementary and two secondary — at the end of the current academic year. Another three schools would be restructured so that they serve fewer grades, and, therefore, fewer children.

If approved by the school board in two weeks, the closures and restructuring will affect 1,844 students and 267 employees. Staff members at schools that close will be able to interview for other positions within DPS.

A meeting at which the seven-member board will take public comment on Marrero’s closure plan is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Nov. 18 at DPS headquarters, 1860 Lincoln St. The board is scheduled to vote on the closure plan Nov. 21.

A board vote is not needed for Marrero to restructure the three schools, which the superintendent said he could “potentially” do regardless of the outcome of the Nov. 21 vote.

The Denver Classroom Teachers Association released a statement expressing disappointment about the district’s community outreach around the proposed closures, and urged DPS to retain the teachers working at any schools that close.

“The school choice system created by Denver Public Schools over the last decade-plus has led to the rapid expansion of charter schools, diverting students and crucial resources from neighborhood public schools that need them most,” the teachers union said. “Without a sustainable, long-term vision, our public education system has become overextended, leaving underserved communities to suffer. We’re seeing the effects of this over-expansion now, evidenced by the communities who are being harshly impacted by these closures.”

What happens if schools close or are restructured

To make their recommendation, DPS officials looked at criteria, such as whether schools had a building that was using 65% or less of its capacity and located in a region with falling enrollment. The district has more than 200 schools.

Four of the schools — Columbian, Palmer and Schmitt elementaries, as well as International Academy of Denver at Harrington — were on the list of schools Marrero proposed closing two years ago.

This time, Marrero has included more schools that serve middle schoolers — a sign that as declining enrollment has persisted, the problem is not just affecting Denver’s elementary schools, but also the district’s secondary schools.

All but one of the schools on Marrero’s list are located in northwest, southwest and central Denver. Those regions have felt the brunt of falling enrollment.

Unlike two years ago, Marrero’s recommendation relies heavily on the implementation of new or expanded enrollment zones, which are boundaries that include multiple schools rather than a single neighborhood school.

Every elementary school on the list would either join a new zone or an expanded one if it closes. DCIS Baker, which would be restructured, also would join an enrollment zone.

In doing so, DPS is guaranteeing that students attending a school that closes will have a seat at multiple schools within an enrollment zone — and transportation to their new school. Affected students will also receive the highest priority possible at getting a seat at any school in the district when the school choice period opens in January.

The reason DPS has leaned heavily into enrollment zones and, therefore, school choice with its consolidation plan is twofold, Marrero said in an interview.

First, DPS is showing it has listened to families who were unhappy with the district’s recommendation two years ago, which guaranteed students at a closing school a seat at only a single new school, the superintendent said.

“That approach was clearly not received well by the community,” Marrero said. “So this not only encourages choice, but also provides an opportunity for our students that they probably never would have had in the past.”

Spanish-speaking students affected by a school closure who receive bilingual services via the district’s TNLI — Transitional Native Language Instruction — program will be able to access such programming at other schools in their boundary or zone, according to Marrero’s presentation.

Early-childhood education programs would also move to new schools, although details aren’t yet available as DPS officials are reviewing capacity across the district.

By creating and expanding enrollment zones, DPS officials are also attempting to save schools that might need to close in the future by creating an environment that could attract families to other schools with low enrollment, Marrero said.

Why DPS wants to close schools

Fewer students are enrolling in Denver’s public schools and in districts across the U.S. as fewer babies are being born. DPS has faced the additional challenges of gentrification and high housing costs, which pushed families from Denver neighborhoods.

Together, these challenges curtailed years of enrollment growth at DPS. Enrollment peaked at 92,112 students in 2019 and continued to drop until the last school year. DPS enrolled 88,235 students — 371 more than the previous year — during the 2023-24 academic year, thanks in large part to the arrival of hundreds of migrant students.

DPS would have proposed closing or restructuring more schools than the 10 announced Thursday if not for the enrollment boost provided by the influx of migrant students in the past year, Marrero said.

The superintendent warned the school board last month that closures are necessary to prevent “a full-blown crisis.”

Denver Public Schools is not alone in closing schools. Jeffco has closed more than a dozen schools in recent years. The Douglas County School District is expected to announce its consolidation plan in April, with schools closing at the end of the 2025-26 academic year.

The DPS school board voted to close three schools — Denver Discovery, Fairview Elementary, and Mathematics and Science Leadership Academy —  last year, a smaller number than the initial 10 closures proposed by Marrero in the fall of 2022.

Overall, DPS has closed 15 schools since the 2018-19 academic year. Of those, three were district-run schools and the rest were charter schools, according to Marrero’s presentation.

Declining enrollment has been most prominent in DPS elementary schools, where enrollment has fallen since 2014. But it has also begun affecting middle schools.

Schools receive less state funding when fewer children are in their classrooms, which can hamper their ability to not just provide adequate academic services, but also extracurriculars and other supports, such as mental health services.

DPS receives $11,750 per student in state funding each year. As enrollment has fallen, the district has lost a total of $107 million in revenue since 2019. District officials forecast that as enrollment falls in the coming years, DPS will receive $70 million less annually by 2028 compared to five years ago.

As that state funding declines, DPS is also having to provide budget assistance to schools with low enrollment just to keep them open, costing the district between $15 million and $20 million a year. 

Closing schools to prevent a crisis

If the school board approves Marrero’s plan, DPS would save nearly $30 million annually. A majority of that money — $23.3 million — would go to the district’s schools, including those that need budget assistance, according to the superintendent’s presentation. The other $6.6 million would be reinvested as district officials begin reviewing the budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year.

While DPS has a $1.4 billion budget, district officials forecasted a $2.6 million deficit for the 2024-25 academic year. (Though that figure could change after districtwide enrollment numbers are finalized through the state’s October count.)

But if the school board doesn’t approve Marrero’s plan, the district is headed toward the crisis the superintendent alluded to, which means schools on the list will be forced to close operationally because there won’t be enough student funding to keep them open.

In such a scenario, DPS leaders will “have the burden of saying that a school doesn’t exist anymore,” Marrero said.

“We will see several of these schools… that will be operationally closed in the near future,” he added.

Next week, board members will meet with school leaders, employees and the broader community regarding Marrero’s recommendation. The following week, Marrero will conduct his own community engagement, meeting with employees and families who would be affected by the proposed closures, according to the presentation.

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