Good day, CharterFolk.
Today we are pleased to share a Contributor Column from Kevin Hesla, Director of Data Strategy at the Colorado League of Charter Schools.
We provide a bio for Kevin below.
Kevin helps the League and the Colorado charter sector through data analysis and research projects that span school performance, enrollment, demographics, and overarching trends. Kevin leads the League’s research efforts and contributes to the League’s policy, communications, and advocacy efforts while also creating novel analyses that are helpful to League partners and member schools.
Kevin has more than 15 years of research and analytics experience, including more than 10 years in the public education sector. Kevin previously served as the Director of Data Insights at the Charter School Growth Fund and the Director of Research and Evaluation at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
Public School Choice and School Integration in Colorado
Over the past three decades, school choice has evolved from a relatively small policy experiment into a central feature of Colorado’s public education system. More than 136,000 students now attend public charter schools. And more than 100,000 students cross district boundaries through open enrollment systems. Thousands more attend innovation schools, magnet programs, online options, and specialized academic programs. Overall, more than one-third of Colorado public school students attend a school other than their assigned neighborhood school through some form of public school choice.
Yet, charter school critics continue to push a familiar set of assumptions about the impact of these public schools on students and communities: that charter schools increase segregation, that public school choice primarily benefits affluent families, and that neighborhood schools remain the default educational experience for most students.
Like other charter support associations, the Colorado League of Charter Schools, has long studied the impact of academic outcomes. However, in 2023-24 the League began to study integration and segregation patterns across the state of Colorado using demographic data that was either publicly available or obtained through data requests to the state department of education. Initially we looked at data from 2003-04 and 2023-24 and we have updated our analyses during the subsequent years.
Throughout our research we sought to answer two key questions: 1) whether public schools have become more integrated or more segregated as the prevalence of charter schools and other public school choice mechanisms has increased and the state has become more diverse and 2) whether or not charter schools in Colorado are more or less likely to be integrated than other public schools. Our research demonstrates a story that is far more nuanced than many common narratives suggest: robust public school choice mechanisms and more integrated public schools can and do coexist in Colorado.
As we look at school integration we have chosen a definition that is both easy to understand, and more intuitive to students and families and other stakeholders. Under our methodology a public school is considered to be integrated if no racial / ethnic group comprises a majority of the student population.
Colorado Has Become More Diverse
The Colorado of 2026 looks significantly different than it did just a generation ago. Nationwide, more than 50 percent of K-12 students are students of color and the same is true in Colorado. In addition, most suburban areas and neighborhoods are significantly more diverse than they were when the state passed its first charter school law in 1993.
Between 2003-04 and 2025-26, statewide enrollment increased by more than 100,000 students. During that same period, the state’s student population became substantially more diverse. The proportion of students identifying as white declined by roughly 14 percentage points, while Latino enrollment increased by approximately 10 percentage points. The percentage of students who identified with other racial groups (including students of two or more races) increased by four percentage points. Today, Colorado’s statewide public school population is essentially evenly divided between white students and students of color.
These demographic shifts matter because they fundamentally change the conditions under which discussions about public school integration and public school choice occur. A state that is significantly more diverse than it was a generation ago will naturally produce different enrollment patterns and different school-level demographics.
The Integration Story Few People Are Talking About
Much of the national conversation surrounding charter schools and school choice assumes that increased choice inevitably produces increased segregation. In some geographies and school districts these assertions are based on real data; however, in many other scenarios they are overly broad and reductive stories based on mere anecdote and edge cases. According to the research and advocacy organization Brown’s Promise, nearly two-thirds of the racial segregation observed in Colorado is measured across (and not within) school district boundaries. Meaning that while school choice often takes the blame for observed segregation patterns, the vast majority of racial and economic segregation in Colorado (and nationally) is the direct result of heavily gerrymandered school district boundaries.
Between 2003-04 and 2023-04, the percentage of Colorado public schools with no racial or ethnic majority group increased from approximately 9 percent to 15 percent. And the number of students attending these integrated schools increased by more than 72,000 over the same time period. In 2025-26, the percentage of all integrated public schools increased modestly to 16 percent and the percentage of students enrolled in integrated public schools increased to 19 percent (or nearly one in five students statewide).
At the same time, highly segregated schools have become substantially less common. One common measure of segregation examines schools in which a single racial or ethnic group represents more than 90 percent of enrollment. By that measure, Colorado has experienced a dramatic decline in highly segregated schools. In fact, the proportion of highly segregated schools fell from approximately 16 percent to just 4 percent over the past two decades.
Similarly, the number of students enrolled in highly segregated schools declined from roughly 89,000 students to approximately 17,000 students, even as statewide enrollment increased by more than 100,000 students.
These trends are difficult to reconcile with overly simplistic claims that school choice and integration cannot happily coexist.
Colorado Charter Schools Buck the Conventional Narrative
Statewide, charter school students were 1.3 times more likely to attend a school with no racial or ethnic majority than students attending non-charter public schools in 2025-26. And the pattern becomes even more pronounced in Denver Public Schools, the largest school district in the state. In DPS, approximately 31 percent of charter school students attend schools with no majority group compared to just 16 percent of non-charter students.
This statistic is conveniently overlooked by the many progressive voters in Denver but it is certainly worth repeating: in 2025-26, charter school students in Denver were twice as likely to attend an integrated school with no racial / ethnic majority group.
These statistics undermine the frequently repeated assumption that charter schools inherently produce greater racial separation. At a minimum, Colorado’s experience demonstrates that robust public school choice and increasing integration can occur simultaneously. That reality deserves more attention than it currently receives.
The Neighborhood School Is No Longer the Only Story
Parents today routinely evaluate multiple public school options. They compare academic programs, school cultures, extracurricular opportunities, specialized learning models, transportation logistics, and other student support services.
This behavior is no longer limited to affluent communities or highly engaged parents. It has become normalized across much of Colorado’s public education landscape. And the traditional distinction between “public school families” and “school choice families” has largely disappeared because many families are now both.
A family may enroll one child in a neighborhood elementary school, another in a district-run magnet program, and later choose a charter middle school. They may participate in open enrollment, online coursework, or career-focused pathways all at the same time.
These are not separate educational universes. They are increasingly part of a single public education ecosystem. Yet policy discussions often continue framing school choice as though it remains an exception rather than a common feature.
Real Equity Challenges Still Exist
Recognizing these realities does not require ignoring legitimate concerns. Colorado continues to face significant challenges related to educational equity across racial and ethnic groups. And like most states socio-economics, zoning segregation, and access to transportation all remain significant barriers for marginalized communities.
Residential segregation and zoning policies often shape educational opportunities long before families make enrollment decisions. Academic outcomes remain uneven across student groups, and substantial achievement gaps persist. Public school choice, while an important lever for increased equity, cannot solve all of these challenges.
However, it is important to note that in a state that has experienced substantial population growth, home price appreciation, and broader concerns about affordability – public school choice has helped to chip away at racial segregation in schools. And the evidence from Denver is particularly compelling. In a district with substantial gentrification and an often misunderstood unified enrollment system (and algorithm) public schools have gotten more integrated and diverse over the last twenty years – and charter schools are leading the way.
Over the past three decades, public school choice has expanded significantly in Colorado, charter school enrollment has grown dramatically, and open enrollment has become commonplace. Colorado families are exercising educational choice at unprecedented levels. At the same time, highly segregated schools have become less common, and integrated schools have become more common. This is an inconvenient truth for many charter school critics.