Correction (October 28, 2026): An earlier version described an enrollment decline using attendance counts collected under different definitions. That comparison has been removed. State grade comparisons now use published attendance rates rather than fall enrollment as a substitute denominator. The prior statewide comparison has also been corrected. This update includes the most recent school year's results.

Source: Colorado Department of Education attendance and truancy statistics.

Manitou Springs^↗ET retained much of its recent improvement in attendance last school year, even as chronic absence rose. Its rate reached 17.4% in 2025-26, up from 15.6% in 2024-25. That left it 14.2 percentage points below its 2022-23 rate of 31.6%.

The newest published results put the district 10.1 points below Colorado's 27.5% rate. They also interrupt two consecutive annual declines: Manitou Springs' rate fell 8.7 points in 2023-24 and another 7.3 points in 2024-25 before rising 1.8 points last school year. The earlier 16-point improvement remains in the record, alongside the subsequent increase.

High-school rates stayed below Colorado

All four high-school grades had higher chronic absence rates in 2025-26 than in the prior school year. Each remained below the published statewide rate for the same grade.

Ninth grade rose from 7.0% to 14.3%. Tenth grade moved from 15.1% to 22.0%, 11th grade from 9.4% to 21.0%, and 12th grade from 10.0% to 17.5%. The statewide rates last school year were 29.6%, 31.8%, 34.5% and 41.0%, respectively.

The chart includes the full kindergarten-through-high-school range, rather than selecting the grades with the widest gaps. These are annual grade groups; they do not track the same students as they advance through school.

Fewer students in the comparable attendance population

The district's published population used to calculate chronic absence fell from 1,346 in 2022-23 to 1,113 in 2025-26, a decline of 233, or 17.3%. The count of students classified as chronically absent fell from 426 to 194 over that span, down 232, or 54.5%.

Those counts give scale to the rate change. Both the population and the number meeting the chronic-absence threshold were lower, with the latter falling faster. The records do not show how much of the difference reflects changes in who attended the district and how much reflects changes in individual attendance.

This comparison begins with the current reporting definition. CDE changed the denominator to exclude preschool students and removed duplicate counts. Earlier attendance populations therefore cannot establish a continuous enrollment decline across that break.

The districtwide figure also leaves different levels of need visible. Last school year's chronic absence rate was 26.6% among students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch and 23.9% among students receiving special education services, both above the overall 17.4% rate. Hispanic students' rate was 17.6%. These overlapping groups cannot be added together.

Manitou Springs finished the latest published year below its earlier high and below Colorado's rate. Its recent low did not hold. The statewide attendance files record that change, but do not identify a program responsible for either the improvement or the reversal.

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