There were 15 Black students enrolled in Otero County in the 2024-25 school year, 28.6% less than the previous year, according to the Colorado Department of Education.
Data showed that Otero County welcomed 2,877 students during the 2024-25 school year. Among them, Black students comprised 0.5% of the student body to be the fourth most represented ethnicity in the county.
Among the 14 schools in Otero County, Manzanola Elementary School recorded the highest enrollment of Black students in the 2024-25 school year, with a total of six 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 | % Black Students | Black Student Enrollment | Total Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manzanola Elementary School | 8.5% | 6 | 71 |
| La Junta Jr/Sr High School | 0.8% | 4 | 501 |
| Rocky Ford Junior/Senior High School | 0.7% | 2 | 271 |
| Swink Junior-Senior High School | 0.6% | 1 | 159 |
| La Junta Intermediate School | 0.3% | 1 | 397 |
| La Junta Primary School | 0.3% | 1 | 296 |
