As students head back to school, I thought I would research some stats on education in Colorado. The Colorado Department of Education reports that, for the 2022/23 school year, student enrollment across the state was 883, 264, down from the previous year by about 3,000. The pupil-teacher ratio was 17-1, the average per-pupil funding was $9,596.
The total budget for the Colorado Department of Education was $6,432,027,105 in 2022.
According to gobankingrates.com, the Denver School District is the largest district in Colorado, with 88,889 students.
This, I thought was interesting. In the state of Colorado, the richest school district is Lewis-Palmer School District 38, with a median household income of $123,179, according to a U.S. News & World Report.
In 2022, District 49 was arguably the fastest growing school district in the state. I couldn’t find an exact source to confirm that information. The D 49 website states that D 49 is the fastest growing district in the Pikes Peak region, and one of the fastest growing districts in Colorado.
From a U.S. News & World Report, stats from El Paso County Colorado School District 49 include overall student body numbers. D 49 is 55.4% White, 4.7% Black, 2% Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander, 28.3% Hispanic/Latino, 0.7% American Indian or Alaska Native, and 0.3% Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander; 49% of students are female, and 51% of students are male.
Colorado housing prices and living expenses have exponentially increased in the past few years; however, Colorado still ranks just No. 26 on the teacher pay scale. The average teacher is paid $58,481, according to https://districtadministration.com. The average teacher salary in the county is $56,171.
Speaking of housing prices, Pete Gawda wrote a piece summarizing the state of real estate in Colorado at this time. I think I’m still shocked at home prices. Pete also covered an update on the state of roads post rain in the area. Rain had certainly been an issue this summer, and following those rains are washed out roads and crumbling bridges. We’ll keep you updated on the infrastructure issues as the county moves forward with permanent repairs.
Last month, I mentioned that the Pueblo Chieftain was shutting down their printing facility, at the direction of their parent company, Gannett. I scrambled to find a new printer. I’m still looking at options, but for now we are going with Focus Printers located in Aurora, Colorado. The Chieftain is still printing our August issue, but Focus will take over for our September issue.
Finally, it’s the dog days of summer, and we highlighted those days in Phun Photos and our front page. If you are ready for cooler weather, it won’t be long now. But enjoy the last of summer. This summer has been a wild ride for the whole country.
Good luck school bound people and parents.
See you in September.
Michelle
