The Denver Public School system is directed by a seven-member board of education that administers policy and establishes direction. The Denver public schools provide programs for slow and gifted learners, college preparation, and career training. The four goals of the system are literacy, school readiness, school-to-career, and neighborhood centers.
The following is a summary of data regarding Denver's public schools as of the 2003–2004 school year.
Total enrollment: 72,489
Number of facilities
elementary schools: 90
middle schools: 20
senior high schools: 14
Student/teacher ratio: 25:1
Teacher salaries average: $52,271
Funding per pupil: $5,739 (2001-2002)
The metropolitan area is served by 19 other public school districts and numerous private and parochial institutions, including the Colorado Academy and St. Mary's Academy for Girls.
Public Schools Information: Denver Public Schools, 900 Grant Street, Denver, CO 80203; telephone (720)423-3411; email communications@dpsk12.org
The metropolitan Denver area supports 10 four-year colleges and universities and 5 two-year and community colleges with a combined enrollment of more than 125,000 students. The University of Denver Daniels School of Business has been ranked 9th in the Wall Street Journal regional business school rankings (2004). A wide variety of undergraduate degrees and numerous graduate and professional degrees are offered along with the opportunity to study at several excellent research institutions. Non-traditional education is well represented by such institutions as the Colorado Free University, which has an open admissions policy. More than 60 vocational and technical schools serve the region.
Denver's Central Library underwent expansion in the mid-1990s to its current square footage of 540,000. The addition houses the Children's Library, the Burnham Hoyt Room popular adult library, and Marietta Baron Teen Space. The Denver Public Library maintains 22 branches and a bookmobile and holds more than 2.5 million books, periodicals, subscriptions, microforms, and audiovisual materials, plus 2.2 million government publications.
The Denver area boasts almost 90 other public, special interest, and research libraries. Among them are the Colorado Talking Book Library, the Denver Medical Library, the University of Colorado Law Library, and many high-technology and university-related libraries.
Research activities in such fields as environmental sciences, allergy and immunology, biochemical genetics, health services, mass spectrometry, biochemical parasitology, alcohol, taste and smell, sports sciences, applied mechanics, public management, social science, mineral law, mass communications, family studies, the Holocaust, Islamic-Judaic studies, and international relations are conducted at centers in the Denver area.
Public Library Information: Denver Public Library, 10 West Fourteenth Avenue Parkway, Denver, CO 80204-2731; telephone (720)865-1111