Jefferson County Public Schools (Colorado)

Jefferson County School District R-1 is a school district in Jefferson County, Colorado. The district is headquartered at the Jeffco Public Schools Education Center in West Pleasant View, an unincorporated area of the county near Golden in the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. Jeffco Public Schools serves more than 86,000 students in 155 schools, including nine option schools and eighteen charter schools. It is the second-largest school district in Colorado, having been surpassed in 2013 by Denver Public Schools, which has an enrollment of approximately 87,000.DemographicsAmerican Indian 1%Asian 3.25%Black 1%Hispanic 24%White 67%Multiple Races 3.55% 2015-16 spending per pupil: $8,500Graduation rate as of 2014-15: 82.9% High school drop-out rate as of 2014-15: 1.8%HistoryBeginningsThe first school in Jefferson County and the second school in Colorado opened in Golden on January 9, 1860. It stood at around today's 1304 Washington Avenue and was a rented log cabin, with school taught by Thomas Daughterty, with 18 students, financed through tuition and subscription. Its second term was taught by Miss M. F. Manly. When Jefferson County was organized by the Territorial government in 1861, the capability of organizing public schools became reality, and George West became the first superintendent of Jefferson County schools. After a mill levy was created in 1862, the first two school districts, Golden and Vasquez (roughly today's Wheat Ridge/Arvada area), were organized in 1863. That September the first public school in the county opened in Golden.