Highlands Ranch – Douglas County School District 2008 Update
If you live in Highlands Ranch you eventually received the annual report from Douglas County School District. There are quite some interesting numbers in there that might be of interest for you. How many students do think are currently registered with the Douglas County School District? 20,000? 35,000? Or maybe even 40,000? Well, the official number is 52,900+ students are currently (officially) registered in the Douglas County School District. These almost 53,000 students are visiting a total of 72 schools in the county.
The annual budget of the Douglas County School District is an astonishing $400,000,000 (Four hundred million Dollars). The Douglas County School District employs over 6,500 people and is therefore the largest employer in Douglas County. There are a total of over 3,400 teachers employed with the Douglas County School District and 65% of those teachers currently hold a masters degree of some sort. The graduation rate for the year 2006-2007 was above 90% (90.6% to be exact).
If find those numbers extremely impressive and interesting. For one – the $400 million annual budget almost blew me away. This number is huge and it makes you realize how large the population in this county has grown to reflect this in return. I am also impressed with the number of teacher who hold a masters degree and the above 90% graduation rate. In 2006 Jefferson County had a 77% graduation rate while Denver only came in with a low 48% (according to USA Today). The state’s graduation rate was 74.6 percent during the 2003-04 school year for comparison. From these numbers you can see how good the school education is that our kids can receive in Douglas County School District. Personally I value that difference quite a bit.
Conclusion: Life in Highlands Ranch (and Douglas County) is different. Sometimes it feels a little bit like living in a protective bubble that keeps common problems other cities have away from us. Low crime rates and high quality of life do speak a clear language in my opinion.
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