District 20 schools dealing with rapid population growth.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- According to the latest census numbers, 67,000 people moved to Colorado in 2019. 

The head of communications at Academy District 20, Allison Cortez, says that number is something the district is aware of, and has been taking steps to deal with.

“Back in 2015, we actually started preparing for growth," said Cortez. 

In 2019 alone, Cortez says the district had over 400 new students, which has led to some schools being at full capacity.

As a result, some parents haven’t been able to send their kids to their neighborhood or “assigned” school.  

“We do have some schools that are always at capacity," says Cortez, "We have to make other arrangements for them, but we try to get them back to their neighborhood schools as fast as we can.”

District 20 says one of the ways they’ve tried to address the capacity issues is by building new schools. 

Because of the spike in enrollment at Chinook Trail Elementary School in northeast Colorado Springs, the district built Legacy Peak Elementary School and Chinook Trail Middle School to accommodate more students. 

District 20 says those schools were funded by a bond project approved in 2016 in anticipation of the population boon. 

The district says within the next 10 years they anticipate having another 5,000 new students in their schools.