Enrollment In Colorado Public Schools Drops By 3.3% In 2020-21 School Year

DENVER (CBS4) - The State of Colorado has finished an official count, and it shows a dramatic overall decrease in enrollment in public schools this school year. The overall enrollment dipped by 3%, with the biggest drop being in the lowest grades. Education officials point directly to the coronavirus pandemic as the culprit.

"The state student population had its first decrease in year-to-year enrollment in over three decades due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic," read a news release sent out by the Colorado Department of Education on Friday. The last time the state registered a drop in annual enrollment was in 1998.

The count was done in October for students in preschool through 12th grade across the state in the 2020-21 school year. The state recorded a total of 883,199 students. That was 30,024 fewer than in the 2019-20 school year.

The largest decreases came from the following grades:

- 8,009 fewer students in preschool (23.3% drop)
- 5,800 fewer kindergartners (9.1% drop)
- 13,833 fewer 1st through 5th graders (4.2% drop)

On the opposite end of the coin, enrollment in online public educational programs jumped by 43% this school year. There are currently about 32,000 students enrolled in those programs. Home schooling also got more popular (15,773 in 2020-21 vs. 7,880 in 2019-20).