Manitou Springs District 14 has joined the highest tier of Colorado school districts.

In 2025, the school district’s performance across its four schools was impressive enough to be accredited with distinction, the highest ranking for Colorado public schools.

“It’s a big deal,” D-14 Superintendent Sean Dorsey said. “There are not many districts across the state of Colorado that receive that rating of distinction through the Colorado Department of Education.”

Since the passage of the Education Accountability Act of 2009, the Colorado State Board of Education annually accredits each school district and the Charter School Institute to measure the education of every student.

Accreditation is largely based on annual test scores, along with student achievement, growth, postsecondary and workforce readiness, and graduation and dropout rates year-over-year. The ranking then helps determine needs, support, and improvement plans for each school district.

Of the 179 public school districts in Colorado, 18 received accreditation with distinction, indicating that they met or exceeded most performance metrics during the 2024-25 school year.

D-14 joins Academy D-20 and Cheyenne Mountain D-12 as the only districts to earn distinction in El Paso County, with the latter two achieving it every year since the accountability system was put in place. D-14 was previously accredited with distinction in 2018 and has been simply “accredited” every other year, indicating that students met expectations on most performance metrics.

As for what might have put them in the upper echelon of Colorado public education, updated curriculum adopted for English language arts and math instruction for grades K-6 and high school math instruction, along with targeted intervention, collaborative teaching classrooms and a greater emphasis on writing across all subjects were among the adjustments in recent years.

He added that consistent strengths of the district have been its smaller size and ability to still provide varied coursework and opportunities like advanced placement, concurrent enrollment and workplace learning.

Sarah McAfee, D-14’s executive director of schools, said the district’s student-to-teacher ratio also allows for more focused instruction and closer relationships.

According to the state department of education, the district’s ratio was reportedly 12-1 during the 2024-25 school year. By comparison, neighboring districts Woodland Park RE-2, Colorado Springs D-11 and Academy D-20 reported ratios of 15-1, 15-1 and 17-1, respectively. Cheyenne Mountain D-12 data was not available.

“When you have a smaller student-to-teacher ratio, the teacher really knows and can pinpoint kids’ needs and their strengths and their brilliances,” McAfee said. “And so I really see that in the schools, which is really unique.”

As an example, she mentioned one of their elementary school band and orchestra teachers giving students the option to perform solo with their musical accompaniment for a recent winter concert.

“And I don’t think that’s very common for that personalized attention to work through one piece at a sixth-grade level with your band and orchestra teacher because he has the time and capacity and expertise to do that,” McAfee said.

“We would not see that at a sixth grade in a bigger district, I would say.”

Serving just over 1,000 students, D-14 has been a beneficiary of families from neighboring districts choosing to enroll in its schools. Dorsey said this has historically been the case, with as much as 50% of its student population choicing in over the past few years.

Reasons why, he speculated, included families’ desires for a smaller, more personalized K-12 experience, while McAfee pointed to the sense of physical and emotional safety offered at their schools.

The school district also conducts an annual family caregiver survey to gather feedback and improve schools’ instruction and practices.

“I would say that parents are very in-tune with their child’s experiences at school and very involved in all the right ways,” Dorsey said. “They hold us accountable as a school district, but also support our efforts and trust us with their learners.”

During the last November elections, local taxpayers approved the first new bond in D-14 in 25 years. The $37.6 million bond will address safety, security and ADA accessibility throughout the district’s schools, buildings and facilities.

While sitting down for an interview with the Gazette, McAfee and Dorsey paused as they hear emergency sirens grow louder outside their office, only to realize it was the send-off parade by the local police and fire departments for their high school cheerleading team ahead of their trip to the state championships.

“There’s kind of that small-town experience,” Dorsey said as the parade passed through.

Other distinct district features include the Mountain Academy of Arts & Sciences offered at Ute Pass Elementary School, where sixth-graders access Colorado’s outdoor spaces year-round to learn science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) concepts in addition to environmental practices.

Going forward, the district plans to build and expand its professional development offerings and develop a greenhouse for its Ute Pass Elementary students, in collaboration with the environmental education program Colorado Project Learning Tree.

As for sustaining D-14’s recent academic acheivements, Dorsey’s answer is clear: keep it simple.  

“I think that sometimes schools or organizations can overcomplicate and I think we’re trying to really hone in on good, first instruction and the experiences that kids get on a daily basis,” he said.