This article is part of EdTribune's series on Colorado districts that are reducing chronic absenteeism.

Source: Colorado Department of Education attendance and truancy statistics.

Manitou Springs^↗ET reported 1,154 students in 2024-25. Its chronic absenteeism rate fell from 31.6% in 2022-23 to 15.6% in 2024-25, a 16-point decline. The 2024-25 rate was 12.9 points below Colorado's 28.5% rate.

The decline came in two consecutive steps: 8.7 percentage points in 2023-24 and 7.3 points in 2024-25. The 2024-25 rate was also below the district's 23.2% rate in 2019-20.

High school rates were far below statewide comparisons

In 2024-25, Manitou Springs posted chronic absenteeism rates of 7.0% in ninth grade, 9.4% in 11th grade, and 10.0% in 12th grade. Each was below one-third of the statewide rate for the same grade.

The district's first-grade rate was 24.2%, and its eighth-grade rate was 25.9%. Both were above the districtwide rate of 15.6%.

Enrollment and subgroup context

The same attendance files reported 1,530 students in 2019-20 and 1,154 in 2024-25. That is a decline of 376 students, or 24.6%, across five years.

The 2024-25 chronic absenteeism rate was 25.0% for Hispanic students, 24.3% for students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, and 19.4% for students receiving special education services. Each was above the districtwide rate of 15.6%.

A volatile six-year record

The district's rate moved from 23.2% in 2019-20 to 11.8% in 2020-21, 30.2% in 2021-22, and 31.6% in 2022-23 before falling to 15.6% in 2024-25. That history establishes a sharp recent improvement, but it does not identify a cause or guarantee that the lower rate will persist.

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