Enrollment in

“A couple of class sizes are troubling,” said Dan Snowberger, 9-R superintendent, to the board Wednesday night. “Fort Lewis Mesa and Riverview both have a fourth-grade class with 29 students. While those aren’t the sizes of classes on the Front Range, it was still a shock to some families.”

No decisions will be made until after Labor Day, he said, because the district typically sees another wave of students after that. A 6 percent increase in students was recorded from the first week of school, which started Aug. 22, to a week later, on Tuesday.

“I’m wondering if some of that is Fort Lewis (College) kids,” Durango School District 9-R Board President Andy Burns said, because FLC started Monday.

As of Tuesday, the district had 4,748 students enrolled, about 100 more than the 4,672 in 2015. The budget had called for 25 new full-time students.

A big question is enrollment at Colorado Connections @ Durango, the district’s new online offering. The budget called for 250 students in Colorado Connections. It currently has 122 students enrolled, but this week and next are when the bulk of students enroll in the online academy. There are also more than 300 students wait listed for Colorado Connections Mapleton. The majority of those students are expected to shift over to Durango.

While additional students mean more per pupil revenue – the district receives about $7,300 per student – some schools are at capacity and don’t have room to add an additional class. There is also the possibility of shifting a teacher from one school to another, Snowberger said.

The official enrollment census the state uses to determine the number of students it will recompense the district for on per-pupil revenue will take place Oct. 1.

abutler@durangoherald.com

2015 vs. 2016 9-R enrollment (PDF)