Platte River Charter Academy

Platte River Charter Academy operates as a middle-of-the-pack elementary school in HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colorado, one of the schools within Douglas County School District No. Re 1. Current enrollment sits at 475 students spanning grades pre-K through 8. Compared to the state average of about 379 students per school, that is 25% bigger than typical.

Douglas County School District No. Re 1 comprises 89 schools with combined enrollment of 61,550 students; Platte River Charter Academy is among them.

On demographics, Platte River Charter Academy records that the largest single group is White, at 68% of enrollment. Other groups include 13% Asian, 10% multiracial, 8% Hispanic. That is visibly less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 80%.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 34 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.2:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 16.6:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. About 4% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. Set against Douglas County (around 18%), the school's rate is meaningfully below typical.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Platte River Charter Academy tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 64.3% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 73.5%.

Zooming out to the county, Douglas County reports that median household income runs about $149,594, roughly 62% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 3% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Platte River Charter Academy is one of 92 public schools in Douglas County (combined enrollment of about 63,841 students).

The closest other public school is Cougar Run Elementary School, roughly 0.4 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Platte River Charter Academy comes 2nd of 9 in the immediate cluster, ahead of the nearby-schools average of 59.7%.

The campus sits in a suburban setting. Platte River Charter Academy is a charter school, which puts it inside the public-school system but outside the standard district-managed model.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count decreased 21%: 600 students in 2018 compared to 475 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share decreased from 78% to 68%. The student-to-teacher ratio tightened from 22.3:1 in 2018 to 14.2:1 today.

On this page, members of the Platte River Charter Academy community share and discuss classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.