The Poudre School District board has cast its final votes on a broad reorganization of schools in the Fort Collins area. Six schools will close, one will merge with another, and three mountain schools that had been on the closure list will remain open.
The administration's original plan called for closing nine schools. After months of crowded board meetings, public comments and community organizing, the board removed Livermore, Red Feather and Stove Prairie elementary schools from the list. It also spread the remaining closures across two years to give communities more time to adjust.
Most of the changes take effect on July 1, 2027. Beattie Elementary will close, with students moving to Lopez and Bennett. Johnson Elementary students will go to Olander and McGraw, and Putnam Elementary students will go to Dunn and Tavelli. Blevins Middle School will also close, with students assigned to Webber and Lincoln. A boundary change at Bacon Elementary begins the same day. Centennial High will not close outright. Instead, it will consolidate with Poudre Community Academy to form a new school, and the district expects to announce its future location in early 2027.
A second round follows a year later. Irish Escuela Bilingüe will close on July 1, 2028, and its students will be assigned to Cache la Poudre and Bauder. The board directed the administration to develop a more unified Dual Language program during the 2026-27 and 2027-28 school years, with the program launching in 2028-2029.
Timnath Elementary also remains scheduled to close on July 1, 2028, with students headed to Linton and Bamford. That closure can be avoided if the town of Timnath secures funding for a new school by November of next year. The condition followed a direct request from the town's mayor that the board pause the closure. The town council unanimously backed a joint task force, to be funded with at least $25,000 from each of the next two city budgets. A consultant will be hired to manage the process.
Timnath became the emotional center of the debate. Unlike the other closing schools, which face declining enrollment, the school sits in a fast-growing town. Parent Jamie Philbeck said about 1,000 new homes are expected within the school's boundaries over the next three years, and questioned why children should ride a bus for 50 minutes when the community has a school that "fully functions in our backyard."
For families at the other closing schools, there is no similar escape clause. The first step available to them is the School Choice window, which runs from November 4 through December 16, 2026. Students from closing schools receive priority consideration in that process. The district has acknowledged the disruption is real and says it will share more details about transition support in the coming months.
The closures stem from declining enrollment across parts of the district, a trend seen throughout Colorado and the country as birth rates fall and families move or choose charter and private options. A building with fewer students costs the same to heat, staff and maintain. The district's planning process was meant to concentrate resources where students actually are. The board's decision to keep the three mountain schools open reflects that proximity and community character matter in ways enrollment numbers do not fully capture, particularly for rural families with few alternatives.
