Denver school board considers "risky" proposal to cap enrollment at popular elementary schools

The Denver Board of Education discussed on Thursday night a proposal which would cap each elementary school at 600 students.

That would mean directing some students to lower enrolled schools.

The school district-- like others in the state and nation -- is grappling with declining birth rates. And trying to figure out how to best serve fewer students.

A longtime DPS observer who's also its former enrollment leader is concerned the proposal may actually contribute to declining enrollment.

The elementary school your child attends, can make a big difference in their life.

In the form of executive limitations, or guardrails within which the school board would like the superintendent to act, the board wants to change boundaries and put caps on enrollment at the most popular schools.

Brian Eschbacher, a former executive director of planning and choice for DPS, said, "There can be roughly 700 families that now no longer get into one of their choice schools that would have in the past."

He feels by putting enrollment caps on the most popular schools, it could cause frustrated families to leave the district or choose not to enroll in Denver from outside DPS boundaries.  Furthermore, he worries it could lead to further segregation.

Eschbacher said, "By reducing the amount of choice into these schools, it can actually segregate them more because now low income students would not be able to choice in. "

The school board is studying two proposals that would direct the superintendent to examine the school attendance boundaries every four years.  Xochitl Gaytan is the board president.

She told us that the board wants to "look at root causes of the inequities, gentrification, discrimination, segregation

within the system."

DPS is trying to determine if capping enrollment at the most popular schools will channel students into those who are losing them.

Eschbacher said the proposal is risky, "At the end of the day, you either listen to families and give them the schools that they want, or you restrict access to the schools they want and hope they're going to go along to another school."

At the board meeting on Thursday Board member Scott Baldermann suggested that rather than cap enrollment at the school level, the district could begin to direct students to other schools by capping kindergarten class sizes at large schools.  The board's Carrie Olson did express concern that capping enrollment would affect spots available at popular schools for low income students.  She cited the Latino Education Coalition's recent report on segregated schools.

The school board will have a session for community feedback on September 18.  Community members are also encouraged to provide feedback at board@dpsk12.org