With the introduction of Bill HB24-1448, Colorado once again plans to cut the budget of education with the outcry of teachers and parents alike.

With opposition from teacher unions, thousands of teachers throughout Colorado attended a protest at the state capitol building against the bill HB24-1448 which decreases the state’s education budget. This has led to each Colorado student being further underfunded from losing $4,000 to over $4,500  according to the Colorado Education Association.

Some districts such as Boulder Valley School District and Adams 12 Five Star Schools have cancelled classes in some schools. This is because teachers have been calling out of work in order to attend the protests. This is a state wide occurrence. Denver Public Schools closed more than 100 classes due to over 1000 teachers calling out and Aurora Public Schools closed their schools for all of Thursday.

These events are a reminder of the trend of permanent school closures in Colorado due to financial, enrollment, and staff constraints.

Jefferson County alone closed 16 elementary schools in 2022 with Denver Public Schools voted to close multiple elementary schools last year. 

These closures stem from a variety of issues that are plaguing both Colorado as a state and the country, such as the dropping population and the lack of resources required to operate these schools.

“The declining enrollment that we’re seeing, it’s not something that’s happened the last year or two. It’s been going on for about a decade now,” Scott Pribble, The DPS External Communications Director said to 9News. “You can take a look at the birth rates that have been declining for the last several years.”

There is a clear pattern between enrollment rates and birth rates in Colorado’s past 3 years- both falling. 

Colorado had 1,800 fewer enrollments since 2023, mostly being Pre-K to Elementary School between 2022 to 2023, while the birth rate fell by almost 1000 simultaneously. 

The 2023-24 school year has had the lowest enrollment numbers in a decade

The birth rate for the nation also fell by around 2% and the total enrollment rate fell by around 600,000 during the same period. 755 schools were also closed between the years 2021-22 throughout the nation.

Even though the enrollment fell by 1,800 students in Colorado, some schools lost more than what they gained from previous years and have been losing students more and more every year, which means that they would be forced to close schools that don’t reach their enrollment requirements since some districts fund schools based on enrollment numbers.

Denver Public Schools had 7,000 fewer elementary students enroll in 2023 since their peak in 2014.

Therefore, changes need to happen to stop the closure of schools throughout Colorado and the entire nation since the closing of schools is inherently worse for the country and will cause many problems in the future as more schools close.

Once a school is closed, a butterfly effect of problems for school districts and local neighborhoods will start creating issues in the long run.

It causes students to travel farther to larger schools since so many schools in the same districts are being closed. This then forces schools to accommodate more students than they can handle since thousands of students will be flooding into schools that aren’t closed. Then school districts will have plenty of school buildings that no longer have a use since school buildings don’t have a use other than being a school.

Despite that, these issues caused by the school closures can be prevented by providing more funding to schools, especially schools that are struggling with their budgets, and more encouragement for parents to enroll their kids in public schools.

Ultimately, schools have an important function in society, so when schools close, it will lead to kids having difficulties with getting an education. 

Without action, communities will further be harmed and kids will be deprived of education, and with further budget cuts, the future of Colorado schools doesn’t seem too hopeful.