Early elementary enrollment in Colorado schools is recovering to pre-pandemic levels

In the first year of the pandemic, Colorado’s kindergarten enrollment plummeted, leaving many to wonder where the students went, and whether the shifts in early elementary enrollment might be a problem for years to come.

A year later, many young students are back in public schools, with statewide kindergarten enrollment trending back up. To get a better sense of where the state is at with kindergarten enrollment, we speak withAnn Schimke, a senior reporter with Chalkbeat Colorado who has been covering early elementary enrollment after many months of pandemic-induced uncertainty.