Ten Denver public schools could close their doors or limit the number of classes they serve at the end of the school year as the district grapples with declining enrollment, largely due to the decline in the birth rate and housing changes in the metropolitan area.

Superintendent Alex Marrero proposed closing the schools Tuesday night during a school board work session at the district administration offices in downtown Denver, presenting a plan that would remove about 4,000 vacant seats from DPS, the state’s largest school district.

The schools on his list include five elementary schools, one middle school and one high school. In addition, Marrero wants to restructure three DPS schools to provide fewer grades in each building.

He proposes closing Columbian Elementary School, Castro Elementary School, Schmitt Elementary School, International Academy of Denver in Harrington, Palmer Elementary, West Middle School and Denver School of Innovation and Sustainable Design. Marrero also seeks to limit Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy to a 6th through 12th grade school, eliminating grades 1-5; modify Dora Moore ECE-8 School to serve kindergarten through 5th grade, reducing grades 6-8; and scaling back the Denver Center for International Studies to 6th through 8th grades, eliminating grades 9 through 12.

Closing and changing grades at the 10 schools would allow the district to save an estimated $30 million — as officials expect DPS to bring in $70 million less in annual revenue in 2028 than in 2019-20, its peak enrollment year. Of the $30 million saved, the district would plan to reinvest approximately $24 million in schools and reinvest $6.6 million through the 2025-2026 budget process.

“This has been an incredibly difficult task for obvious reasons,” Marrero said at the start of the board work session. “Sometimes the easiest thing to do is to do nothing, but that’s not the best thing to do.”

Fifteen schools across the district have closed since the 2018-2019 school year: three district-operated schools and 12 charter schools. The district has stumbled over school closure considerations in recent years, with the board voting down Marrero’s recommendations, according to reporting from Denverite. The last time board members approved school closures was in March 2023, when they voted to close and consolidate three schools: Fairview Elementary School, Denver Discovery School and Math and Science Leadership Academy.

The district’s enrollment has been on a downward trend since 2019-20, although DPS saw an increase in enrollment last year with the arrival of immigrant students, Chalkbeat Colorado reported.

Marrero noted that the district cannot continue to rely on immigrant students to boost student enrollment.

“This proposal is intended to address our current status and ensure that we have a healthy system for the foreseeable future,” he said, adding that last year showed how much student populations can fluctuate unexpectedly.

According to district spokesman Scott Pribble, this year’s final enrollment figure is about 85,000 students. That is fewer than the more than 92,100 children during the 2019-2020 school year.

In deciding which schools to close, the district focused on regions more affected by declining enrollment: northeast, southwest, northwest and central Denver.

DPS looked at schools that use less than two-thirds of their building space and are in an area affected by chronically declining enrollment, said Andrew Huber, executive director of enrollment and campus planning for the district.

The district then merged the schools, analyzing schools with lots of empty space and smaller student populations. District officials also took into account factors such as the quality of facilities and choice patterns – with families choosing to send their children to school and schools they bypassed. They also took into account academic performance in schools, although that was not a top criterion that factored into their decisions, Huber said.

The district chose schools that face the greatest challenges with these factors to add to the list of possible closures.

All students attending closing schools will be given priority to enroll in another school of their choice, at any school in the district, district officials said. These students will receive assistance from district staff on the selection and enrollment team. Students learning English and those with disabilities are guaranteed enrollment in a nearby school with programs that can meet their specific needs, Huber said.

Board members echoed each other in describing the grueling, emotional process of closing schools. Board member Scott Esserman called it “a difficult and painful time.” He also praised the district for approaching the process with “a high degree of compassion” and “a high degree of listening.

The board will vote on Marrero’s proposal on November 21. Before then, both board members and Marrero will spend time at each school talking to students, parents and staff about why their school is being considered for closure and what support DPS will provide if they move to another school.

“This is also a difficult time for us,” said CEO Carrie Olson. “None of us want to close schools and we realize how difficult this is.”