Thousands of Minneapolis children leaving district for charters, suburban schools

[Valin]

MPLS (Red) Star Tribune:

District struggles to stem outflow to suburbs, charters, private schools.

ALEJANDRA MATOS

March 19, 2015

 

Sam Aragon is one of more than 17,000 students missing from the Minneapolis Public School system.

 

Every day, Aragon, a first-grade student who lives in southeast Minneapolis, leaves the city to attend public school in Bloomington.

 

The number of Minneapolis students who don’t attend the city’s public schools has grown by 20 percent in five years, causing a $5 million budget shortfall this year and creating a growing sense of urgency among school administrators trying to stem the losses.

 

Minneapolis loses a larger share of its students to charters, private or neighboring public schools than any other major district in the state. Some neighboring school districts have seen a 40 percent to 50 percent surge in students from Minneapolis over the past five years. The outflow of students costs the Minneapolis district more than $200 million in state and federal funding each year.

 

Minneapolis school officials say the uptick in families opting out of the district is of “huge concern,” but they are confident that their new academic plan and other new initiatives will reverse the trend.

 

(Snip)

 

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Gee I can't image why this is happening.