Kemper Elementary School recorded 8 fewer students enrolled in 2024-25 school year than previous school year

There were 339 students enrolled in Kemper Elementary School during the 2024-25 school year, 2.3% less than the previous year's 347 students welcomed, according to the Colorado Department of Education.

Among the student body, 50.1% were boys and 49.9% were girls.

Data also showed that most of the students were white (177), representing 52.2% of the Kemper Elementary School total enrollment. Hispanic or latino students comprised the second-largest ethnic group, with 75 students (22.1%).

The grade level with the highest enrollment was fifth grade, with 73 students enrolled that year, accounting for 21.5% of the total student body.

The school is located in Montezuma-Cortez School District No. Re-1, and has a central office in Cortez.

In total, there were 881,065 students enrolled in Colorado during the 2024-25 school year.

Colorado’s K–12 enrollment has gradually declined each year since the pandemic, with about 3–4% fewer students in 2024 than the state’s peak enrollment in 2019.

The declines are concentrated in the early grades and certain rural areas, while some metro districts are holding steady or growing. Lower birth rates and pandemic disruptions are driving the trend. Colorado’s public schools are now serving the smallest number of students in a decade, a shift that has implications for funding and planning even as per-pupil resources increase to compensate.

Colorado’s teacher workforce faces persistent shortages and pay challenges. In the 2023–24 school year, nearly 7,000 teaching positions were vacant statewide at some point. Districts managed to fill only about 75% of those openings with fully qualified hires, leaving many to be filled by short-term substitutes, retirees, or emergency credentials for the rest, while 9% remained unfilled for the entire school year.

School	Total Enrollment
Montezuma-Cortez High School	598
Montezuma-Cortez Middle School	505
Mesa Elementary School	359
Kemper Elementary School	339
Southwest Open Charter School	131
Children's Kiva Montessori School	130
Lewis-Arriola Elementary School	125
Battle Rock Charter School	94
Beech Street Preschool	70
Pleasant View Elementary School	35