Denver Public Schools’ decline in enrollment continues to reshape district

Factors such as declining birth rates and families moving out of the city are contributing to declining enrollment at Denver Public Schools. In turn, it’s reshaping the district’s future.

“I think we’re in a good position, but it’s responsible for us to always be looking in the future and knowing we have to make some adjustments,” said Chuck Carpenter, the district’s CFO.

In a two-year span between this past school year and next, DPS expects a decline in enrollment of around 1,700 students.

“We haven’t really seen anything like this,” said Carpenter in response to the consistent decline.

Because of this trend, the district is facing a $28 million structural deficit over the next five years.

“We have a balanced budget now, and we’re not predicting that we’ll have an unbalanced budget in three years,” said Carpenter. “We’re saying we need to make adjustments over the next three, four years, so that our budgets are balanced.”

DPS’s Director of Campus Planning, Andrew Huber, told CBS Colorado in an interview last month that those adjustments will likely include closing down more schools.

“Additional school closures will be necessary in the upcoming years. When exactly that would be is hard to forecast right now,” said Huber.

The district’s CFO says his biggest takeaway from a recent round of closures is to make sure to give families options for what’s next.

“No one wants their school closed, but the second-best option isn’t going to be the same for every family,” said Carpenter.

This issue could be one Denver faces for years to come.

“We sort of say, how many kids are born here? Because in five years, those kids will be kindergartners,” Carpenter added.

The city’s birth rate peaked in 2005, meaning those babies have already graduated high school. And, according to the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, more young families move out of Denver and into surrounding counties than move into the city.

“I think school consolidation is very — I understand why people want to talk about it, but I think it’s more about, like, how do we make sure that the programs that are offered are rich programs,” said Carpenter.

Carpenter also says the district is closely monitoring some potential cuts to federal grants for students of poverty and language learners. He says those decisions will be made by October for the start of the new fiscal year, and cuts would have a “terrible” impact.