Correction (July 21, 2026): The original article called these results all-time highs without consistently stating that the district series begins in 2019-20. It also called Colorado Springs 11 the state's seventh-largest district, although it ranked 14th by 2024-25 enrollment; described its 23,546 enrolled students as though all were represented by the 45.8% rate, when 10,782 were chronically absent; said D11 singlehandedly raised the statewide rate, although a constructed state rate excluding D11 also increased; and understated Meeker's 2019-20 rate as 8.3% instead of 11.5%. This version corrects those claims, applies a consistent six-year panel to the streak analysis and removes causal explanations the aggregate file cannot test.

Twenty-one Colorado school districts reported their highest chronic absenteeism rates in the six school years from 2019-20 through 2024-25. Each of the 21 had data in all six years.

The group included two districts or statewide entities with at least 10,000 enrolled students, two with 1,000 to 2,999 and 17 with fewer than 1,000. None fell between 3,000 and 9,999.

Colorado Springs 11 Had the Largest Enrollment

Colorado Springs 11^↗ET was the largest district in the 21-district group. It reported 10,782 chronically absent students among 23,546 enrolled students in 2024-25, a 45.8% rate.

Across all Colorado district rows in the file, D11 ranked 14th by 2024-25 enrollment—not seventh.

The Charter School Institute was the other entry above 10,000 students, reporting a 30.4% rate across 20,767 enrolled students. Elizabeth School District reported 29.4% across 2,618 students, while East Grand 2 reported 33.0% across 1,295.

Among the smaller districts, Otis R-3 reported the highest rate in the group: 123 chronically absent students among 184 enrolled students, or 66.8%. That denominator matters. The aggregate rate does not show how absences were distributed among schools, grades or individual students.

Six Districts or BOCES Had at Least Three Consecutive Increases

Meeker RE-1^↗ET had five consecutive annual increases, the longest current streak among districts reporting all six years. Its rate rose from 11.5% in 2019-20 to 22.5% in 2024-25, an 11.0-point increase. Meeker enrolled 666 students in the latest year.

South Conejos RE-10 had four consecutive increases. Three other districts had three: Arickaree R-2, Primero Reorganized 2 and Wray RD-2.

A consecutive increase is a coded description of the reported rates, not evidence of a cause. The file cannot determine whether a streak reflects health, transportation, housing, school practice, reporting changes or another mechanism.

D11 Fell, Then Rose 16.6 Points

D11's chronic absenteeism rate was 45.5% in 2021-22. It fell to 29.2% in 2023-24, then rose 16.6 points to 45.8% in 2024-25. The latest result was therefore a six-year high after two years of decline, not a continuation of an uninterrupted worsening trend.

Colorado's statewide rate rose from 27.9% in 2023-24 to 28.5% in 2024-25. D11 contributed many of the additional chronically absent students, but it did not singlehandedly create the statewide rate increase. Subtracting D11's reported counts from the statewide numerator and denominator produces a constructed rate that also rose, from 27.8% to 28.1%.

That subtraction is a sensitivity check, not a separate CDE statistic. CDE notes that its state, district and school figures use distinct counts and therefore do not necessarily sum one-to-one across levels on its attendance statistics page.

What a Six-Year High Means

Colorado defines a chronically absent student as one absent for at least 10% of the days enrolled during the school year, according to the state's attendance policy definitions.

The 21-district result means each district's 2024-25 rate equaled its maximum in the available 2019-20 through 2024-25 district series. It does not establish a historical record before 2019-20. It also does not mean every student in those districts was chronically absent or functionally disengaged from school.

The supported conclusion is narrower: 21 districts ended the latest year at the top of their six-year reported range, and most of those districts were small.

Detailed code that reproduces the analysis and figures in this article is available exclusively to EdTribune subscribers.