The Douglas County School District broke a personal enrollment record with the highest enrollment in its 52-year history. Ranked as the state’s third-largest district, Douglas County tipped the scales with more than 60,000 students for the first time, according to a report from the Colorado Department of Education.

The department reports Douglas County had student enrollment of 13,125 students in 1990 and 34,918 students a decade later.

The department released its 2010-2011 enrollment numbers Jan. 11, reflecting a statewide increase in enrollment of 1.3 percent. The announcement shows the statewide pupil count for the 2010-2011 school year increased by 10,948 over the previous year, bringing the total to 843,316 public school students.

The growth rate lags behind the 2009-2010 growth rate by a small percentage. In the school year 2009-2010, statewide enrollment grew by 1.7 percent. The previous year, enrollment surged 2 percent, the largest increase in recent history, according to the department of education.

The department reports Colorado’s 15 largest school districts had the same ranking as last year. Those 15 school districts represent 67.7 percent of the total statewide enrollment, which is 570,721 students in all, according to a press release from the department of education.

The Big 15

Colorado’s largest school districts, in order

1. Jeffco Public Schools, with 85,938 students

2. Denver Public Schools, 78,317

3. Douglas County Schools, 61,465

4. Cherry Creek Schools, 52,166

5. Adams 12 Five Star Schools, 41,957

6. Aurora Public Schools, 38,605

7. Colorado Springs School District 11, 29,459

8. Boulder Valley School District, 29,526

9. St. Vrain Valley School District, 27,379

10. Poudre School District, 26,923

11. Academy School District 20, 23,119

12. Mesa County Valley School District 51, 22,091

13. Greeley-Evans School District 6, 19,623

14. Pueblo City Schools, 18,420

15. RM Littleton Public Schools, 15,733

Additional data from the Colorado Department of Education 2010-2011 student enrollment report

106 of Colorado’s 181 local education agencies have an enrollment of fewer than 1,000 students. These 106 local education agencies enrolled 4.2 percent of the total number of students in the state in 2010.

A larger group of 132 local education agencies have an enrollment of fewer than 2,000 students. These 132 agencies enrolled 8.5 percent of the total number of students in the state in 2010. That means about 75 percent of the local education agencies in Colorado serve less than 10 percent of the students.

Fast-Growing Districts

The districts with the largest student enrollment increases from 2009-2010 to 2010-2011 include Julesburg School District Re-1, up 550 students (44.5 percent increase); Mapleton School District, up 1,859 students (32.2 percent increase) and the Charter School Institute, up 1,400 students (21.3 percent increase).

Online Enrollment Surges

The 2010-2011 enrollment totals include 15,249 students registered to online educational programs. That total is 1.8 percent of all students.

The enrollment reflects a 14 percent increase from 2009-2010, when there were 13,128 students in online programs. In 2002-2003, there were just 1,876 students in online programs, and at the time, those students reflected .25 percent of the entire statewide enrollment.

Streak Continues

Statewide enrollment has grown every year since 1989, when the total stood at 562,755.

Source: The Colorado Department of Education