There were 4,550 white students enrolled in La Plata County in the 2024-25 school year, 11.6% less than the previous year, according to the Colorado Department of Education.
Data showed that La Plata County welcomed 6,942 students during the 2024-25 school year. Among them, white students comprised 65.5% of the student body to be the most represented ethnicity in the county.
Among the 23 schools in La Plata County, Durango High School recorded the highest enrollment of white students in the 2024-25 school year, with a total of 915 students.
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 name | % white Students | White Student Enrollment | Total Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain Middle School | 87.9% | 306 | 348 |
| District 9-R Shared School | 87.7% | 136 | 155 |
| Animas High School | 80% | 208 | 260 |
| The Juniper School | 79.5% | 136 | 171 |
| Southwest Colorado eSchool | 77.8% | 42 | 54 |
| Riverview Elementary School | 74.6% | 279 | 374 |
| Fort Lewis Mesa Elementary School | 72.4% | 84 | 116 |
| Bayfield Middle School | 72.1% | 204 | 283 |
| Bayfield High School | 71.3% | 288 | 404 |
| Bayfield Intermediate School | 71.2% | 195 | 274 |
| Bayfield Primary School | 69.4% | 154 | 222 |
| Miller Middle School | 68.9% | 248 | 360 |
| Durango High School | 67.7% | 915 | 1,352 |
| Needham Elementary School | 65.9% | 242 | 367 |
| Sunnyside Elementary School | 62.6% | 67 | 107 |
| Escalante Middle School | 62% | 286 | 461 |
| Animas Valley Elementary School | 58.9% | 109 | 185 |
| Durango Big Picture High School | 57.6% | 57 | 99 |
| Park Elementary School | 57.1% | 258 | 452 |
| Florida Mesa Elementary School | 56% | 164 | 293 |
| Ignacio High School | 32.4% | 59 | 182 |
| Ignacio Elementary School | 28% | 78 | 279 |
| Ignacio Middle School | 24.3% | 35 | 144 |
