Faced with declining enrollment and tight campus budgets, school leaders across Denver Public Schools have laid off more than 900 teachers since 2022, The Denver Gazette has learned.
Over the same period, school leaders cut just 16 assistant principals, district data obtained under the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) shows.
Although teachers account for roughly 40% of district employees, they comprise — on average — 65% of the annual staff reductions. This suggests teachers are bearing the brunt of district layoffs.
And parents have cried foul.
During a budget process for next school year that began in January, parents argued that, if declining student enrollment demanded fewer teachers, it should also require fewer administrators. Angry parents have not just sounded off in public meetings. They’ve also filed grievances with the teachers’ union to try to compel school leaders to reverse course and joined student walkouts.
While researchers have long deliberated on the best teacher-student ratios for optimized learning, scant research exists on the suitable number of principals for a campus.
A Denver Gazette analysis of budget data found district-run schools have, on average, one principal or assistant principal for every 220 students.
The newspaper’s evaluation relied on publicly available 2023-2024 budget data from the district, published reports by the Colorado Department of Education and two CORA requests on staff layoffs. After combining multiple datasets into a single database, a University of Colorado Boulder researcher ran the information through Stata — statistical software for data science.
Given that officials recommended closing schools last year with fewer than 215 students, the findings imply that district-run schools — which do not include charters — might be top heavy.
“It’s a fair question that schools, especially with ESSER gone and declining enrollment, have to answer,” said Cesar Cedillo, the district’s chief of schools. “And the district, we have to help with that.”
ESSER refers to the federal stimulus funds provided to school districts across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. The state received $1.8 billion and Denver Public Schools got $331.4 million, according to the Colorado Department of Education.
These federal funds expire nationally on Sept. 30.
Cedillo told The Denver Gazette that his team began analyzing principal-student ratios earlier this year and anticipates the district will provide staffing guidance to school leaders for the next budget cycle.
There is a financial implication with having more principals because the more money a school spends on administrators, the less it has to pay teachers to educate students. The average salary and benefits package for an assistant principal is about $135,000 compared to $108,000 for teachers, according to the district.
“We’re living in declining enrollment,” Cedillo said. “It always comes back to that. So, we have to adjust accordingly.”
Education experts, however, are quick to point out that, with roughly 500 principals and assistant principals across the district and more than 6,200 teachers, there are not enough administrators on campus to save every teaching position.
‘You need a bench’
The number of assistant principals across the nation exploded between 1990 and 2016.
A 2021 Vanderbilt University study found over that time schools in the U.S. added more than 81,000 assistant principals, an 83% increase.
No one knows exactly why.
But Ellen Goldring, a Vanderbilt professor of education leadership and policy who co-authored the report “The Role of Assistant Principals,” theorized the reason could be related to creating greater visibility in schools with another adult on campus to address conflicts and challenges.
Like teachers, principals wear many hats. And the lives of students outside the classroom can significantly impact their role.
“All the complexities of society are at the doorstep of the school,” Goldring said.
But there could also be another reason.
Because assistant principals often become principals, Goldring said the marked growth could reflect a strategy to grow the pipeline.
“You need a bench,” Goldring said.
Unlike the voluminous number of studies showing smaller class sizes raise academic outcomes, there is a dearth of research on the ideal ratio of principals for a given campus.
The state has no standard, said Colorado Department of Education spokesperson Jeremy Meyer.
Unlike a teacher-to-student ratio, determining the appropriate number of principals on a campus isn’t as straight forward.
For example, should principals — who control the hiring and firing of staff at their school — look at the number of students, or teachers, or both?
Cedillo and others said both.
Jamie Lofaro, a retired principal who served on both traditional and alternative campuses, said a principal’s oversight function of teachers and students means both should be considered when crafting any guidance.
“I just think the asks of people have been more and I think that’s probably why you’re seeing more administrators,” Lofaro said.
Guidance is appropriate and welcomed, Lofaro said, so long as it’s not a mandate.
“The asks of the district are the same whether you have 100 kids or 1,000,” Lofaro said.
‘There should be best practices’
While the state has no “true rule of thumb,” districts may create a ratio for developing budgets when opening new schools, said Melissa Gibson, deputy executive director of the Colorado Association of School Executives.
Among the larger school districts in the metro area that The Denver Gazette reached out to, only Douglas County School District has a principal-to-student ratio.
Douglas County has fewer administrators on campus by far. Its average is less than half that of DPS’ at 1:450.
Although Cedillo did not disclose what prompted the district to examine and create guidance for school leaders on the appropriate number of assistant principals, the move came as parents increasingly complained about a budget process that has cut teachers and protected administrative positions.
School leaders on at least two campuses — Denver School of the Arts (DSA) and Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy — refused to consider whether to cut assistant principal positions.
Both schools have principal-to-student ratios below the district average of 1:220, meaning these campuses have more administrators. DSA has one principal or assistant principal for every 208 students, while the ratio at Kunsmiller is 1:197.
In a move typically seen in response to school shootings, DSA and Kunsmiller students earlier this year staged separate walkouts in a show of solidarity with teachers.
“There should be best practices,” said Micah Klaver, a former interim and assistant principal at McAuliffe International, a middle school in the Park Hill neighborhood.
“And I think the best practice should be rooted in what’s best for students.”
Despite the criticisms the district has weathered over site-based budgeting decisions, not everyone believes the principal ratios are out of whack.
Jaci Tylicki, president of the Lake Middle School Parent Teacher Organization and a Collaborative School Committee (CSC) member, said she doesn’t think it’s a concern.
CSCs are statutorily required to provide guidance, evaluation and recommendations to the principal on spending priorities. The CSCs are also designed to promote family engagement, a key district goal.
But Tylicki also acknowledged that school leaders at Lake did not have to make the tough choice of laying off teachers this year.
“I don’t think we’ll be there yet, but I know it’s coming,” Tylicki said.
‘The needs are all over the place’
Budget data showing the full-time equivalent of principals by campus can and should be appraised in several ways, observers said.
This is because campus type (elementary, middle or high school) or learning format — whether traditional or alternative — can affect the demands placed on principals, they said.
And the data reflects this.
For example, the principal-student ratio does increase — meaning fewer administrators — when excluding “pathways” schools, which are likely to require more assistant principals to help meet the needs of troubled kids.
Pathways schools are those that provide an alternative educational approach for students who have struggled in a traditional setting.
The district’s ratio average rises from 1:220 to one principal for every 235 students on traditional-only campuses.
Elementary schools had the highest average, meaning fewer administrators, with one principal for every 249 students.
Alternative schools had the lowest ratio with the most administrators — 1:86.
Six of the 10 campuses with the lowest principal-student ratio are alternative schools.
“The needs are all over the place,” said Lofaro, who served five years at Prep Academy, an alternative school. “It’s harder to streamline.”
Additionally, when schools have a higher percentage of students with greater needs — identified as those in special education, receiving free and reduced lunch or racial minorities — those campuses tend to have more principals, according to a statistical analysis by Kimberly Strong, a research associate with the BUENO Center for Multicultural Education at CU Boulder.
Strong found a relationship between schools with a greater percentage of special education students and “being more admin heavy, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing.”
These schools also have smaller student-teacher ratios.
The Denver Gazette reached out multiple times by phone and email to the union that represents principals, the Denver School Leaders Association, for comment. Moira Coogan, who is the president of the association and principal of North High School Engagement Center, did not respond.
The local union is currently negotiating its contract with the district.
Scott Triebitz — a spokesperson for the American Federation of School Associations, the union’s affiliate — said the averages mask the needs of individual campuses.
“Educating students is not easily an average numbers game,” Triebitz said. “And too often we look at these things as an average learning game.”
‘Administrators have a vital role’
In the last three budget cycles, which includes the one underway now for next academic year, principals have laid off, on average, roughly 300 teachers.
This is despite the clear need for teachers, experts maintained.
The problem is that the demand for teachers doesn’t always match the need a campus may have for an educator with a certain subject expertise or on a specific side of town.
Each year, the district hires hundreds of new teachers to meet students’ educational needs, said Rob Gould, president of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association. The teacher’s union represents nearly 4,000 educators across DPS.
Gould estimated the district hires between 500 and 600 new teachers every fall.
Teachers in good standing and outside the three-year probationary window are guaranteed a job in the district after what’s called a “Reduction in Building” or RIB.
Roughly 43% or 128 teachers were rehired for next school year, according to district data obtained in a CORA request.
Of the 900 teachers laid off since 2022, 61% were rehired.
Administrators, Cedillo said, do not enjoy the commitment of a new placement if their position is eliminated in a reduction.
“Administrators have a vital role in the school, but at what point do we take a look and say: We don’t need this many administrators?” Gould said.
Gould added: “I do think there needs to be a standard. If you’re cutting teachers, you should be cutting administrators proportionally. A lot of times that’s not what’s happening.”
This budget cycle, which must be approved in June, marks the first time district officials told principals that they cannot increase the number of assistant principals on campus, Cedillo said.
“We try to protect teachers as much as possible,” Cedillo said. “When you start cutting teachers, it’s because you’re asked to do some deep cuts.”
‘Fewer students being born’
Denver Public Schools has lost nearly 4,000 students since 2019. The steepest declines have been among elementary schools.
While the ideal elementary school should have about 500 students — according to Cedillo — fewer than 15% of district-managed elementary schools actually do. And at least seven elementary schools have 215 students — the trigger for closure last year — or fewer.
Among district-run schools, the average elementary has 398 students with a principal-to-student ratio of 1:249, meaning fewer administrators per campus than the district average.
The number of administrators on campus holds implications for school budgets because every campus has built-in cost drivers, regardless of the student population. These outlays include utilities, facility maintenance, classroom materials and supplies, staff salaries — the bulk of the costs — and administrative overhead, among others.
“You don’t have economy of scales at the school level,” said Andrew Lefkowits, co-chair of the Park Hills Neighbors for Equity in Education.
Formed in 2017, the group’s mission is to raise community awareness about school inequities.
“Schools don’t grow and shrink in 300-kid increments,” Lefkowits said.
Excluding pathways schools, the district has 10 campuses that would be shuttered for critically low enrollment if the board were to use the same criteria as last year.
The district’s shrinking schools also have budget ramifications as funding in Colorado is tied to enrollment.
“Given limited resources, what we want to do is maximize resources to the classroom,” said Brian Eschbacher, founder of Eschbacher Consulting, which focuses on enrollment planning in school systems to increase student equity and access.
Eschbacher added: “Our goal is to spend money in the classroom, not in the hallway.”
Lower birth rates, skyrocketing home costs and gentrification have been identified by district officials as the biggest factors driving enrollment declines.
The decline isn’t expected to reverse itself any time soon, despite an unprecedented 3,807 immigrant students that have helped buoy the rolls as of April this school year. That increase coincided with the influx of 41,000 immigrants who arrived in Denver over the last 16 months after illegally crossing the southern border.
If historical trends hold, three quarters of these students — or about 3,000 immigrants — are expected to stay in DPS, Chuck Carpenter, the district’s chief financial officer, told board members earlier this month.
Officials project that the enrollment will drop another 5% over the next three years.
“There is, in fact, fewer students being born,” Carpenter said.
‘We have too many schools’
Because of something called “smoothing,” the district hasn’t really begun to feel the economic pinch.
Smoothing involves the state averaging the student population — for districts with declining enrollment — from the five previous school years to determine the funding allocation. Higher enrollment numbers in previous years means DPS has received more funding than the actual number of students during what’s informally called “the October count.”
Consider this school year: DPS had 83,222 students for the count in October. But the state actually funded DPS for 84,848 students, which is a five-year average. This “smoothing” — Carpenter said — resulted in the district receiving about $20 million more for students not actually enrolled in DPS.
“As our enrollment goes down and levels outs, we will be in a situation where we have the same number of kids, but our revenue is going to start dropping,” Carpenter told the board during a work session on May 2.
The board has been grappling with declining enrollment for several years.
To combat this, the district has closed seven schools — three alone last year — since 2020.
The seeds of troubles may have lay in the district’s unparalleled growth under former Superintendent Tom Boasberg.
In 2008, a year before Boasberg took the helm, DPS operated 146 schools with roughly 75,000 students.
A decade later, DPS had added nearly 17,000 students and 61 schools.
“Boasberg was like Oprah Winfrey handing out schools left and right,” said Lefkowits, with Park Hills Neighbors.
Lefkowits added: “We have too many schools.”
States have begun creating guidance for school leaders regarding the number of administrators.
Take California.
The Golden State limits the number of administrators to eight for every 100 teachers. With an average class size of 24.2, that would mean a ratio of roughly 1:302.
Board Director John Youngquist — who formerly worked as a principal at East High School — said identifying the ideal principal ratio is difficult because “it is so site specific.”
After being provided The Denver Gazette’s data, Board President Carrie Olson declined to comment, saying in a statement from the board of education that the issue is “an operational matter.”
Educators, past and current, with whom The Denver Gazette spoke, suggested that DPS has gotten top-heavy over time, particularly when the district was growing.
“In times of growth, not many people ask many questions,” said Klaver, formerly at McAuliffe International.
Klaver added: “Right size. That’s what I think is going to happen in times when we’re not growing.”