21 Colorado Districts Hit All-Time High Chronic Absenteeism in 2025

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Twenty-one Colorado school districts recorded their worst-ever chronic absenteeism rates in 2024-25. The list includes the state's 7th-largest district, a statewide charter entity, and a cluster of rural communities where multi-year worsening streaks suggest structural problems rather than one-year anomalies.

The most consequential name on the list is Colorado Springs D11^↗, whose 45.8% rate represents 23,546 students and singlehandedly drove the statewide average higher. But smaller districts on the list tell equally urgent stories: South Conejos RE-10 at 46.7%, Otis R-3 at 66.8%, and several Western Slope and Eastern Plains communities where a quarter to a third of students are missing significant school time for the first time.

The 21

The all-time high list spans a wide range of sizes and rates. Colorado Springs D11 is by far the largest, with its 45.8% rate affecting more students than most districts on the list have enrolled. The Charter School Institute, which oversees a network of charter schools statewide, posted 30.4% across its 20,767 students.

Below those two anchor entries, the list shifts to smaller districts. Elizabeth School District (2,618 students, 29.4%) and East Grand 2 (1,295 students, 33.0%) are the only others above 1,000 students. The remaining 17 districts all enroll fewer than 1,000 students, with several under 200.

Otis R-3 stands out at 66.8%, meaning two-thirds of its 184 students were chronically absent. In a district that small, a handful of families can swing the rate dramatically. But 66.8% is 66.8% regardless of the denominator.

Multi-year worsening streaks

Not all of these all-time highs arrived suddenly. Meeker RE-1^↗, a 666-student district on the Western Slope, has worsened five consecutive years, the longest such streak in the state. Its rate climbed from 8.3% in 2019-20 to 22.5% in 2024-25, nearly tripling. South Conejos RE-10 has worsened four straight years to reach 46.7%. Wray RD-2 and Primero Reorganized 2 are each on three-year worsening streaks.

These multi-year patterns are more alarming than single-year spikes. A one-year surge can reflect unusual circumstances: a bad flu season, a single family's withdrawal, a data reporting change. Five consecutive years of worsening in Meeker suggests something in the community or the school system has fundamentally shifted.

The D11 outlier

D11's inclusion on this list is qualitatively different from the small rural districts. Its 45.8% rate set a new record after the district had posted one of the state's most impressive recoveries, dropping from 45.5% in 2021-22 to 29.2% in 2023-24. The all-time high is not a continuation of the pandemic peak. It is a second, distinct crisis that emerged after a period of dramatic improvement.

The V-shaped trajectory raises questions about whether D11's earlier improvement was sustainable or whether it relied on temporary factors that dissipated. Either way, the district now faces a chronic absenteeism rate worse than anything it experienced during the height of COVID-era disruptions.

What all-time highs mean

An all-time high in chronic absenteeism data that only goes back to 2019-20 carries a specific weight. It means these districts are worse now than during the pandemic, worse than during the immediate recovery period, worse than at any point in the dataset. The pandemic was supposed to be the floor. For 21 districts, it was not.

The concentration in small rural districts reflects a reality of Colorado's geography: dozens of communities with fewer than 500 students face attendance challenges that receive no state-level attention because their numbers do not move averages. A 46.7% chronic rate in South Conejos, population under 200 students, does not register in Denver. But it represents a community where nearly half of school-age children are functionally disengaged from public education.

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

Meeker RE-1 - EdTribune CO - Colorado Education Data

21 Colorado Districts Hit All-Time High Chronic Absenteeism in 2025

The 21

Multi-year worsening streaks

The D11 outlier

What all-time highs mean