Students in Mesa County schools were truant 4.5% of the time in the 2023-24 school year, the Colorado Department of Education reported. This rate was higher than in the previous school year.
Overall, there were 21,494 students enrolled in Mesa County in the 2023-24 school year, of whom 958 were marked truant.
Statewide, Denver County schools suffered the most truancy issues (6.3%) in the 2023-24 school year. Meanwhile, Dolores County schools successfully recorded the lowest truancy rate in the region (0%).
Students are generally considered chronically truant if they miss 5% or more of the total number of school days in a year without acceptable excuses.
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.
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.
| Schools | No. of Students Enrolled | Chronic Truancy Rates | Attendance Daily Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Career Center Preschool | 31 | 0% | 100% |
| Grand Mesa High School | 43 | 0% | 95.9% |
| Monument View Montessori Charter School | 52 | 0% | 91% |
| Mesa Valley Community School | 170 | 0.1% | 99.8% |
| Monument Ridge Elementary School | 312 | 0.1% | 94.3% |
| New Emerson School at Columbus | 140 | 0.2% | 95.2% |
| Scenic Elementary School | 215 | 0.2% | 94.5% |
| Rim Rock Elementary School | 330 | 0.5% | 93.1% |
| Appleton Elementary School | 447 | 0.6% | 94.7% |
| Broadway Elementary School | 289 | 0.9% | 93.8% |
| Shelledy Elementary School | 398 | 0.9% | 93.8% |
| Taylor Elementary School | 301 | 0.9% | 92.4% |
| Independence Academy | 487 | 1% | 93.8% |
| Wingate Elementary School | 392 | 1% | 93.5% |
| Fruitvale Elementary School | 376 | 1.1% | 91.7% |
| Redlands Middle School | 594 | 1.1% | 93.5% |
| Dual Immersion Academy School | 303 | 1.3% | 93.4% |
| Loma Elementary School | 241 | 1.4% | 93.4% |
| Pomona Elementary School | 393 | 1.5% | 92.2% |
| Rocky Mountain Elementary School | 416 | 1.9% | 91.1% |
| De Beque PK-12 School District 49JT | 168 | 10% | 89.3% |
| Central High School | 1,443 | 10.1% | 84.6% |
| Grand River Academy | 516 | 11.4% | 86.1% |
| Caprock Academy | 895 | 2% | 93.3% |
| Gateway School | 19 | 2% | 94.5% |
| Chipeta Elementary School | 363 | 2.1% | 91.8% |
| Fruita Middle School | 459 | 2.1% | 90.9% |
| Plateau Valley Junior High School | 44 | 2.1% | 91.1% |
| Orchard Avenue Elementary School | 306 | 2.2% | 91.7% |
| Lincoln Orchard Mesa Elementary School | 316 | 2.3% | 92.6% |
| Mesa View Elementary School | 364 | 2.3% | 91.6% |
| Plateau Valley Elementary School | 145 | 2.3% | 91.5% |
| Dos Rios Elementary School | 285 | 2.4% | 90.4% |
| Plateau Valley High School | 78 | 2.7% | 91.2% |
| Tope Elementary School | 361 | 2.7% | 92.7% |
| Chatfield Elementary School | 372 | 2.9% | 92.3% |
| R-5 High School | 218 | 28.2% | 64.5% |
| Fruita 8/9 School | 591 | 3.1% | 91.4% |
| Clifton Elementary School | 375 | 3.2% | 91.3% |
| Pear Park Elementary School | 437 | 3.3% | 92.3% |
| Juniper Ridge Community School | 392 | 3.7% | 90.3% |
| Thunder Mountain Elementary School | 441 | 4% | 92.4% |
| West Middle School | 460 | 4% | 90% |
| Orchard Mesa Middle School | 581 | 4.2% | 89.9% |
| Nisley Elementary School | 350 | 4.6% | 89.2% |
| Mount Garfield Middle School | 562 | 5.3% | 86% |
| Palisade High School | 1,069 | 5.7% | 89.4% |
| Fruita Monument High School | 1,273 | 6.5% | 86.9% |
| Grand Mesa Middle School | 525 | 6.6% | 86.5% |
| Bookcliff Middle School | 565 | 7% | 87.1% |
| Grand Junction High School | 1,591 | 9.1% | 85.5% |
| County | 21,494 | 4.5% | 90.0% |
| State | 866,824 | 3.4% | 91.5% |
Information in this story was obtained from the Colorado Department of Education. The source data can be found here.
