Denver: 75% increase in students with ASD, overall enrollment down; 28 new ASD classrooms
The autism center at Denver’s West High School is twice as big as a typical classroom and more than half as empty. That’s intentional: These specialized centers are meant to have fewer students, more adults, and be a more versatile space.
“The crux of having a center-based program is that we have the flexibility, where we have the staff availability, to give more individualized support,” said teacher Jonathan Baker, who had three teachers aides helping him with seven students during the second week of school. . . .
As the number of children identified with autism rises nationwide, more students are needing special education services. Colorado’s largest school district, Denver Public Schools, has opened 28 new autism classrooms in the past two years, including the center at West High. The classrooms, which are officially called multi-intensive autism center-based programs, typically serve 8 to 12 students and are staffed by as many as four adults.
That support comes at a cost of more than $230,000 per classroom, at a time when the district faces mounting financial pressure. While the number of students with disabilities is up, overall enrollment is down. That means Denver and other districts with declining enrollment are getting less per-pupil funding from the state. A proposed tax increase to benefit DPS that will appear on the November ballot would earmark $2 million for special education. . . .
Many experts attribute the rise in autism diagnoses to better screening and a widened definition. The number of DPS students with autism who need special education services has increased nearly 75% in the past five years, according to district data. In 2021, there were 1,315 such students. Last year, the number was 2,280. DPS serves about 89,000 students. . . .
While the number of teachers in DPS decreased by 2% between 2019 and 2025, the number of paraprofessionals increased by 28%, according to a spring budget presentation.
The district budgeted more than $29.1 million this school year for such paraprofessionals and $44.3 million for center-based programs. Not all of those paraprofessionals work in center-based programs or solely with students with autism. But district officials said students with autism are more likely to qualify for dedicated adult support. . . .
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