Opinion: Charter schools are helping increase integration across Colorado as student diversity and public school choice flourish

It has been more than 30 years since the Colorado legislature passed the Charter Schools Act. In that time, we have seen families flock to charter schools because of the quality and flexibility they offer to meet the unique needs of our students. 

Today, more than one out of every seven public school students attends a free, public charter school in Colorado. If they were their own school district, Colorado’s charter schools would be 50% larger than Denver Public Schools, the largest school district in the state.

The most recent Harvard University analysis of academic performance reflected in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (commonly referred to as the “Nation’s Report Card”) ranks Colorado second in the nation for charter school student achievement. Yet Colorado’s charter school landscape has been erroneously lumped in with national data indicating that racial and economic segregation is increasing within charter school student populations.

While that argument is provocative, it is also inaccurate when it comes to Colorado. The Colorado League of Charter Schools conducted a comprehensive analysis regarding the demographic data of public school students in Colorado. 

This analysis of public data from the Colorado Department of Education, or CDE, shows that Colorado students are six times less likely to attend a highly segregated school and nearly twice as likely to attend a diverse public school with no racial/ethnic majority than they were in 2003-04.

Over the same time period, the number of public school choice options has increased dramatically. In fact, public school choice remains incredibly popular in Colorado across a wide range of geographies and ideologies.

Colorado public school demographics have shifted significantly over the past 20 years as the state has grown and birth rates have decreased. Between 2003-04 and 2023-24, public school enrollment has grown 16% from 757,668 students to 881,464 students, according to CDE data. 

Over the same time period, the proportion of Colorado students who identify as white has declined by 14 percentage points, while the proportion of Latino students has increased by 10 percentage points, and the proportion of students who belong to other racial groups has increased by four percentage points. Statewide, half of current public school students are white, and half are students of color based on the CDE data.

Based on our analysis, despite larger systemic issues and increased housing costs, there is very strong evidence of increased integration across Colorado schools as our state has become more diverse and public school choice has flourished.

Over the past 20 years, the percentage of public schools with no racial/ethnic majority has increased from 9% to 15% — an impressive and substantial increase of 155 schools. Similarly, the number of students enrolled in schools with no majority group has increased by more than 72,000 students over the same time period. Importantly, charter school students in Colorado are 1.3 times more likely to attend a diverse public school with no racial/ethnic majority.

On the flip side of racial integration is racial segregation, and one important measure of segregation is the percentage of schools where the majority group exceeds 90% of total enrollment. Over the past 20 years, the proportion of schools that are highly segregated has declined substantially from 16% to 4%. Similarly, the total number of students enrolled in highly segregated schools declined from 89,000 to 17,000, while statewide enrollment increased by more than 100,000.

Among those very few charter schools where more than 90% of students identify as the same race/ethnicity, many were specifically designed to better serve historically marginalized student groups.

One example is Kwiyagat Community Academy in southwestern Colorado. Open to all students, this charter school was developed in partnership with the Ute Mountain Ute community to provide a strong grounding in Nuchiu culture and language.

Over the past 20 years, Colorado has experienced significant growth, increased diversity among our student population, and expansion of public school choice options (including charter schools), all paired with increasing school integration rates and decreasing segregation rates.

Charter school critics would have you believe that these truths cannot coexist simultaneously, but a closer analysis of the CDE data demonstrates that they can and do. In 2023-24, public charter schools across Colorado enrolled more than 135,000 students. In addition, more than 100,000 students enrolled across school district boundaries in search of a better fit and better opportunities.

Therefore, the argument that public school choice and school segregation automatically go hand in hand, is demonstrably false in Colorado.

Kevin Hesla, of Denver, is the director of data strategy at the Colorado League of Charter Schools and leads the League’s research and data analysis work while also supporting the organization’s policy, communications and advocacy efforts.

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