Minneapolis Public Schools have seen enrollment drop like a rock in recent years, as students flee to better school districts or simply drop off the map.
As a result the school district is likely to become insolvent when the extra pandemic funding runs out later this year.
The drop is driven by a larger and larger percentage of children who live within the district opting out–and given how poorly the district educates kids, the trend is not likely to reverse. Many parents have just up and left the city.
Still, Minneapolis schools are thrilled to newly enroll large numbers of students “new to the country” (read illegal immigrants who don’t speak English), who will make up a bit less than 10% of the enrollment for the district.
Majority of 2500 Spanish-speaking students recently enrolled at MPS are ‘new-to-country’ https://t.co/wNYMD08Mun
— Alpha News (@AlphaNewsMN) January 30, 2024
To put that number of non-English speaking new students into perspective, the District enrolls about 28,000 students, many of whom only sporadically attend. So this is a welcome wave of new subsidies (I mean students) who will bring along with them extra taxpayer dollars, as they are ESL (English as a second language) students.
In a Monday morning press statement, MPS announced four orientation seminars for Spanish-speaking students and their families. Those seminars will take place at different schools throughout the district over the next several weeks.
“Minneapolis Public Schools is excited and proud to be the district of choice for new Spanish-speaking families,” said MPS Director of Engagement Edgar Alfonzo.
Further, Alfonzo said, “We encourage families new to the district or country to attend one of the orientation sessions and find the school that’s near them, and discover all the ways MPS is making school a welcoming place where all children can succeed.”
Given the school district’s specific acknowledgement regarding families who are new to the country, Alpha News reached out to MPS to determine the number of newly enrolled Spanish-speaking students who are new to the United States.
MPS responded saying, “In the past 12 months MPS has enrolled approximately 2500 Spanish speakers in the district. These students are not necessarily new-to-country but the majority are.”
The District isn’t saying precisely how many are children of illegal immigrants, but they admit it is the “majority” of them. This influx is a welcome reprieve for the District, which gets funding from the state based on enrollment numbers. For taxpayers, it will be just one more expense attached to the policies imposed on us by the Biden administration.
With open borders we get increased crime, large public assistance expenses, uncompensated medical care, and a school system that is focused on teaching kids who have little education to get up to speed both in language skills and curriculum.
According to U.S. News and World Report, only 39% of high school students enrolled at MPS are proficient in reading. The reading proficiency rates for middle school and elementary school students in the district are even lower. Meanwhile, only 23% of high school students enrolled at MPS are proficient in math.
Minneapolis Public Schools is one of the largest school districts in the state. With over 30,000 students enrolled across its various elementary, middle, and high schools, MPS spends over $19,000 per student every year.
That’s $6000 more per student than the Anoka/Hennepin School District, just north of the city, where students do significantly better.
Still, Minneapolis will tell you how grossly underfunded they are. The District is staffed to serve 40,000 children, and the predicted enrollment in a few years will be about half that, as students keep leaving for greener pastures.
Simply put, the people who run our education system are doing a poor job at great expense and don’t care about anything but the buck. The people running the public schools here are grateful that illegal immigrants will bring in federal and state subsidies. What that influx does to Minnesota’s residents…they don’t care.
Thanks, Democrats.