Possibly 18 next year. They are operating from 30% capacity to 60%. (Denver Post) Despite record high populations in the state and county, attendance is down by a third since the pandemic. Partly the lower attendance is due to Covid-19 paranoid families who prefer to home school or have their children learn online from national websites. But part of it is due to lower fertility. Jefferson County built their system of elementary schools based on 300 homes in the neighborhood. But with families declining from 4 children to 1 or less, there are too many schools. Another issue? Parents used to have kids when they were 18 or 22, now they are waiting until their 30's. That lowers fertility by a whole generation.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
