Shortage of Enrollments in D51

Over the past year, the number of enrollments and students in D51 has declined. Within these few months, D51 has been trying to solve the problem with various planning and budgeting. Their discussions have been about the declining enrollment due to COVID-19 and other factors, like birth rates, and school populations. During a January board meeting, Shannon Bingham who is the demographer for D51 presented an overview of the current enrollment numbers and what those numbers are predicted to be over the next few years. A decline in enrollment has been happening all across the country and not just in our district. In the state of Colorado alone we are down over 3,000 students this year compared to last year, and down over 1,300 since the 2018-2019 school year. D51 is discussing their steps forward and their strategies to bump up the number of students in the district. Though some people want to blame the media for the decline, most believe that it’s because of more students doing the online programs that are offered. Palisade student Maddie Brown stated, “I wonder why fewer people are enrolling in school. It has been happening for a while now. It's weird.” Less people have been doing in-person school, but why is that? Nobody can say for sure, but what we do know is that it is harder for some students to be in-person due to anxiety and stress. While at home they’re able to work on their own time and don't have to interact with other peers. Why should it matter? More students give our district and other school districts more funding to work with, without students our school wouldn't get enough funding from the district.