COLORADO, USA — Over 11 days at the end of September and beginning of October, school districts across Colorado are paying extra close attention to who's sitting in their classrooms.
"When a student is enrolled and in attendance on an official count day, a district receives about $11,450 per pupil operating revenue, and it is a big part of all districts' funding," Department of Education chief district operations officer Sheldon Rosenkrance said.
This year, October Count Day fell on Oct. 1, but the state also lets schools use data from the five days before and after.
Rosenkrance explained school districts will project their enrollment at the start of the year, and after an official student count is made, budgets will be adjusted mid-year. While counts are taken in October, results aren't released to the public until late January.
Denver Public Schools reported the headcount accounts for 85% of its budget.
A current concern schools nationwide are facing is declining enrollment. Colorado isn't immune to these issues either.
According to the DPS 2023-2024 report of student membership, the district counted 995 fewer students between 2022 and 2023.
Rosenkrance said there are ways to work around this trend so districts can still get adequate funding.
"A school has their projected enrollment, which could be lower and they’ll have to make adjustments for that," Rosenkrance said. "We also have an averaging over several years that you can default to, so the impact isn’t so severe in one year if you lost a bunch of students. You’re allowed to make some changes over a few years. You’re able to absorb the impact of that possible declining enrollment."
He said there were 1,800 fewer students counted in the state between the previous two school years.
Last year, some districts also had to account for the students of newly-arrived migrants. Rosenkrance said 8,085 students arrived to Colorado after last year's October Count Day and through February.
In an effort to support the influx, state lawmakers approved $24 million to more than 80 districts, but this was one-time funding.
Rosenkrance said it's hard to say what will happen this year, but in the meantime, he encouraged students to go to school for their personal benefit as much as the financial futures of their districts.