How to Compare School Districts in Colorado Springs

How attendance works

In Colorado, public school attendance is assigned by the address of the home. Two homes on the same street can feed different schools, and a neighborhood name is never a reliable shortcut. Before you write an offer, confirm the exact schools your address would attend with the district or with the CDE SchoolView data explorer.

All 15 public school districts of El Paso County

The county is served by 15 public school districts: Academy School District 20 (northern Colorado Springs), Colorado Springs School District 11 (central Colorado Springs), Cheyenne Mountain School District 12 (southwest Colorado Springs), Falcon School District 49 (northeastern Colorado Springs and Falcon), Lewis-Palmer School District 38 (Monument and Palmer Lake), Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8 (Fountain and Fort Carson), Widefield School District 3 (Security and Widefield), Harrison School District 2 (southeast Colorado Springs), Manitou Springs School District 14 (Manitou Springs), Ellicott School District 22 (Ellicott), Peyton School District 23-JT (Peyton), Calhan School District RJ-1 (Calhan), Hanover School District 28 (southern rural El Paso County), Edison School District 54-JT (eastern rural El Paso County), and Miami-Yoder School District 60-JT (Rush and eastern rural El Paso County).

We present all 15 equally. Rankings are not useful here: the right district depends on where you live, where you work, and what your child needs. Every district publishes its own boundaries, schools, and programs, and every rating needs a year and a source.

What to compare, district to district

Compare the programs a child would actually use (AP and IB, STEM, CTE, arts, athletics, language), class size and school size, the commute and which homes sit in the zone, after-school and special-education supports, how the district communicates with parents, and how results trend over several years of dated CDE data rather than one snapshot.

The district a home belongs to also matters for resale value, which is why we verify zones before an offer, not after closing.

The buyer move that matters

Charter schools have their own application processes, Colorado allows choice and open enrollment across district lines in many cases, and private schools are separate from district assignment. For the current year’s application windows and deadlines, check the district directly and the CDE district websites and maps yourself.