A public input process is set to begin later this year on the building of a new $60 million elementary school in Colorado’s Douglas County School District.
The new Sterling Ranch school in the third largest district in Colorado is being funded out of a big $490 million bond approved by district voters last November. That bond was the largest approved by district voters since 2018, when a $250 million proposal proved successful.
A second $60 million elementary school is set to be built in the district’s RidgeGate neighborhood, a part of the district, like the Sterling Ranch area, has seen dramatic enrollment growth.
The bond, which passed with 59% of the vote, is also set to pay for the $30 million expansion of the Sierra Middle School, located at 6651 E. Pine Lane in the town of Parker.
Additional plans call for $10 million in security and safety upgrades to all of the district’s 92 schools, as well as $20 million in general facility upgrades to those schools.
According to an election statement issued by Superintendent Erin Kane, the district has been confronted with a $300 million backlog of facility work, which is expected to “grow by an average of $35 million per year.”
With an enrollment of just under 62,000 students, up from around 57,000 a decade ago, the Douglas County School District, encompassing 850 square miles, is one of the fastest growing districts in the Centennial State.
For all of that, growth in the district has been uneven, with enrollment generally increasing in areas with newer residential development.
April 3, 2025
By Garry Boulard
