Boulder County Case Study

Erika Chado

Colorado State University

 In America we strive for freedom and free choice in all areas of our lives. This includes

the school that we go to and why we choose to go there. Most of the time people go to a high

school based on where they live, but when these schools are unable to meet their needs, people

typically want to change schools. The school a person decides to go to is based on a variety of

reasons. Some of these reasons include location, graduation rate, diversity, funding, sports, and

reputation. Changing schools should be available to every student but is not quite as simple as it

sounds and is usually a very annoying and random process. Students in a specific boundary get

first choice to go to that school, but if they do decide to change then they have to fill out an

application and hope their name gets picked. Boulder Valley school district was one of the first

counties to bring up school of choice. Looking at three different school districts in Colorado,

(Jefferson County School District, Boulder Valley School District and Douglas County School

District) we witness this type of situation happening throughout the state.

Looking at Boulder valley school district we see a case from the late 1900s to the early

2000s that dealt with open enrollment and free school choice. In Boulder students were able to

choose what school they wanted to go to even if they didnt live in the boundary that the school

they attended was in. At first this was a great idea that allowed children to go where it would

benefit them in the best way, but then students started pulling for the best schools, the richest

schools, the schools with the best test scores, which made the schools greatly unbalanced.

Parents who wanted the best for their children began to get upset because they didnt live in the

best schools boundaries and started moving their children to the different schools or actually

moving into those boundaries to be guaranteed a spot. This greatly affected the lower

socioeconomic status children because they were not able to move or get transportation to the

best schools. Now with all of this we see how unfair the situation really was and why parents
were fighting for their children to be treated fairly. Schools tried to fix this problem by

introducing a lottery system to try and make getting into the schools more fairly, but with a

limited amount of spots there is still no real solution. Looking into multiple counties in the state

of Colorado we can see a trend in which schools begin to provide a version of free choice for

their students.

Jefferson County is the second largest school district in Colorado with 148 public schools

serving approximately 86,011 students, 39 of those are public High Schools. The overall

graduation rate for Jeffco was 85.3 percent for the 2013-2014 school year with very different

percentages based on diversity (Jeffco Public Schools). Jefferson County Public School district

publishes completion rates of the district by ethnicity and gender, allowing prospective parents to

gauge how successful their child will be in what school based on their gender and ethnicity.

Although Jefferson County Public Schools publishes reports on their diversity every year, they

do not have much diversity in the county. There is a 67.44 percent population of white students

with an 88.1 percent graduation rate while the African American student population only makes

up 1.15 percent with a 77.1 percent graduation rate for the 2013-2014 school year (See figures 1

and 2). When you compare White student graduation rates to African American student

graduation rates, it is evident that the African American students have a much higher graduation

rate because they have such a smaller population, so their ratio is larger. Based on this

information, African American students may consider going to school at a Jefferson County

School District compared to another district because they have a higher graduation rate which

means they could be more successful in the future, however, they have the risk of experiencing

white flight first hand. For example, I witnessed a fellow student switch schools in Jefferson

County Public School District because he did not want to be in a school where he was not part of
the majority. This student did not want to attend a specific high school because it was 97% white

at the time, he had the option to attend the school he wanted because of free choice of school.

Douglas County School District includes 66,230 students, making it the third largest

county in Colorado. There are 89 schools located within the Douglas County Boundaries and 13

of those schools are public high schools. Douglas County high schools have an 89 percent

graduation rate and a very low 2.8 percent dropout rate. Douglas County School District has

very little diversity. There is a 76 percent white population in this county and only a 1.7 percent

African American population (see figure 3). Douglas County is mostly controlled by its white

population which could be harmful to the other cultures and races attending their schools.

Douglas County is known for being a very wealthy county and because of this their schools and

students are well taken care of and around $7,000 is spent on each student every year. Each of

the 13 public high schools in Douglas County has a certain area around them of students that are

supposed to go to that school. This becomes a problem when certain schools in the same district

are better than others. The better schools are based on graduation rates, sports, diversity,

funding, and reputation. Parents who want their children to go to a school other than the one in

their neighborhood have to fill out a form to apply for that specific school and hope they get

picked. It is known as a lottery because they are picked randomly to go to the school they

apply for.

Boulder Valley School District is 7th in colorado for kids going to the schools inside the

area, with 30,541 students and counting. This district includes 8 high schools that are very close

in academic standing. With a 90.01% graduation rate the Boulder Valley school district is one of

the top graduation rates in the city. With a funding cap at $362,869,000 ranging to about an

average of $12,185 per student, which is quite high in the state funding for schools. The diversity
of this county is not the most of the counties we have analyzed but in Figure 4, you will visually

see the diversity of the Boulder Valley School district. However, to transfer to a high school in

the Boulder Valley School District there is a lengthy process of 30 days to process an application

that needs to provide a specific reason for the transfer and it depends on the age of the student. It

is more likely for a freshmen student to get approved through this process than a junior or senior,

it depends on the value that the student will bring to the new school.

Looking at all these school districts you can see that many schools are going towards free

choice and are all trying in different ways to provide the option to choose where they go to

school. After evaluating the Boulder County Public Schools - School Choice, White Flight, and

Resegregation court case it clearly shows that students should get that choice to go to the school

that fits them best. With this extra choice and having those reasonings why one school is a

better fit for them personally may begin to correlate a higher passing rate because the student

would be enjoying their education at a higher level. Also, comparing the counties that we chose

in Colorado can find different characteristics that support this side of choice. Being able to chose

your own future makes reaching those goals of success an easier and more efficient ride to the

top.

Figure 1:
Figure 2:
Figure 3:
Figure 4:

Work Cited Page

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