With over 26,000 total students and 34 elementary schools, the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) said it's serving about 3,600 less students since 2017 and expects enrollment to decline another 1,700 students over the next f ive years.While no decisions have been made, district leaders said those numbers are prompting a broader conversation about how to plan for the future.BVSD cites declining birth rates and fewer families moving into the area because of the high cost of housing as reasons for the decline.We have lower housing stock for younger families to move in, and then just the affordability of Boulder Valley School District. It makes it really hard for young families with children to move into our school district. So, families are choosing to move to areas where more affordable housing opportunities exist, BVSD Assistant Superintendent Rob Price said.Just this past year, enrollment dropped by more than 500 students, which came as a surprise to the district when they were only projecting about half of that.Public schools are funded based on how many students are enrolled, so fewer students mean less money for districts to work with.It would be about a $26 million loss over the next five years, Price said. BVSD seeks community input as enrollment decline threatens resourcesAs enrollment drops, staffing adjusts as well. Some BVSD schools now have one class per grade, combo classes and part-time staff, creating what the district said is growing inequities between schools.Those are the challenges we're starting to see across the system, and that we really need to address. It shouldn't depend on what school you go to or on what resources are available. That's, right now, the system that we've created by not addressing the climate enrollment sooner, Price said. Some of it is not even about what happens today but thinking about five years from now. Those same schools won't have the resources they have today, five years from now, if we do nothing. The problem is only going to get worse for us if we don't address it now.The district has been seeing the continued decline in enrollment since 2017, as well as more years of projected decline. That is now having district leaders want to be proactive by starting conversations with staff and families before any decisions are made.The district said no specific options have been developed yet and they are turning to staff and families for feedback on possible options.We're hearing loud and clear from our teachers that student experience is their top priority, and that's why we're doing this work, and that's why this when I talk about the biggest impact of declining enrollment, we're not talking about the dollars associated with it, we're talking about the student experience and what we hope for a high quality student experience into the future for this district, and how can we set that to be sustainable throughout the next ten years," Price said.District leaders will be gathering feedback from teachers and families over the next few months before they bring options to the board, but the district says any changes wont happen until August of next year.Expect clear and transparent communication as we move forward. The idea here is we didn't come out of the gate with options, and we did that on purpose. We are stronger as a district when we work together with our community, and we have proven that time and time again, Price said.In 2003, BVSD faced a similar situation with declining enrollment.At that time, they closed two elementary schools and a middle school, Price said.Back in August 2025, BVSD considered boundary changes for the first time in 40 years to combat low enrollment.Several other school districts have also recently seen a drop in enrollment.This is not unique to Boulder Valley School District. We've been seeing these demographic trends for a while in the state. A number of school districts across the state and across the nation, are dealing with enrollment declines, and what we're seeing right here in Boulder Valley School District, decline in birth rates is a significant factor, Price said.Denver Public Schools is down 10,000 students this school year compared to the year prior, but DPS leaders said the districts budget is stable for now, thanks to years of fiscal planning. Still, they acknowledge more changes could come if enrollment continues to drop.In November 2024, the DPS board voted to close seven schools and cut grades at three others due to declining enrollment. ...read more read less