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K-12 Education in Southwest Colorado Improving Despite Limited Childcare Options, Report Finds

JarkkoManty
/
Creative Commons

A new report finds encouraging news for many aspects of K-12 education in Southwest Colorado.

Titled “Education and Early Childhood Care”, the report was published by the Region 9 Economic Development District. It found that expulsion rates are generally decreasing. For example, Montezuma-Cortez School District Re-1 cut its expulsions from 35 in 2012 to 5 in 2015. Drop-out rates are declining in most districts region-wide, and all districts now have a pupil-to-teacher ratio that is lower than the state ratio. But the report raises concern about a shortage of licensed child-care providers for kids under 5. For instance, in Montezuma County there were 1,565 children under 5 in 2014, but only 640 licensed-child-care slots were available.

Gail Binkly is a career journalist who has worked for the Colorado Springs Gazette and Cortez Journal, and was the editor of the Four Corners Free Press, based in Cortez.
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