Housing spike drives declining Aspen School District enrollment, official says

Rising home prices are driving young families out of the Aspen School District. 

The average cost of a Pitkin County single-family dwelling has increased by 183% in the past six full calendar years to $13.3 million, prompting a decline in school district enrollment, according to data provided by Pitkin County and the district. 

“A major contributor is the lack of year-round, affordable housing within our attendance area,” Aspen School District Superintendent Tharyn Mulberry said in a prepared statement.

The average Aspen School District enrollment has recently dropped by 6%, according to the data. Between the 2020/21 and 2024/25 school years, the average enrollment was 1,570, dwindling from the 1,665 average between 2014/15 and 2019/20 school years. These numbers include Aspen Community School enrollment. 

The decrease follows a declining Aspen Elementary School kindergarten enrollment, which has seen a 12% average downturn from 91 to 80 students during the same time frame. 

Sixty-five incoming students have registered for next year’s kindergarten class, a drop from 78 tallied this school year. But the district won’t know next year’s exact enrollment numbers until the school year begins, Mulberry said. 

“There is a broader demographic shift happening — fewer children are being born in our community, a trend that mirrors state and national patterns,” he said. 

The state last year recorded its lowest overall pre-K-12 public school enrollment since 2013. 

Locally, the enrollment downturn has also harmed the district budget.

“In Colorado, school funding is largely based on per-pupil counts, so when enrollment declines, our overall budget is reduced,” Mulberry said. “This puts pressure on how we allocate resources and requires us to be more strategic and efficient with staffing, programming, and operational costs.”

The district has run at a deficit four of the past five years, according to Mary Rodino, assistant superintendent of business and operations. Its financial reserves have dropped from $8.1 million to $2.8 million between the 2017/18 and 2022/23 school years. 

Matters got worse in the 2023/24 school year, when the district lost $6 million after Colorado reorganized its school aid, deeming Pitkin County’s assessed property values high enough to remove state contributions. The district expects to lose $5 million in additional aid over the next several years, according to Rodino.

The district works to boost its funding situation through new and renewed taxes, deliberating the addition of four ballot measures in the upcoming election. The district has proposed a bond of between $20 million and $120 million, as well as a mill levy override increase to enable the it to levy 47% over the per-pupil state funding cap but has not yet finalized either for the ballot.

The district is also contemplating Aspen and Snowmass Village public education fund renewals, which would carry on a 0.3% Aspen sales tax and a Snowmass Village property tax.

To minimize its expenses, the district seeks to cut seven to 10 staff positions through attrition.

Regarding the cuts, Marnie White, president of local educator’s union Aspen Education Association, said the union is committed to working with the district to ensure staffing decisions reflect the real needs of the union’s schools and students.

“We hope that these attrition cuts continue to be part of a dialogue about sustainable staffing levels, which positions have the most impact on students, fair compensation, and thoughtful allocation of resources that support both educators and student success,” White said in a prepared statement.

Skyler Stark-Ragsdale can be reached at 970-429-9152 or email him at sstark-ragsdale@aspentimes.com.