Historical public education information in Minnesota, 2011-2015

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Education policy in the U.S.

Public education in the U.S.

School choice in the U.S.

Charter schools in the U.S.

Higher education in the U.S.

Glossary of education terms

Education statistics

This page contains archived information on Minnesota's public education system, primarily from 2011-2012, but also from other years due to the availability of data at the time it was written. For more recent information, view Minnesota's public education page.

The Minnesota public school system (prekindergarten through grade 12) operates within districts governed by locally elected school boards and superintendents. In 2012 Minnesota had 839,738 students enrolled in a total of 2,392 schools in 555 school districts. There were 52,832 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 16 students, compared to the national average of 1:16. There was roughly one administrator for every 396 students, compared to the national average of one administrator for every 295 students. On average Minnesota spent $10,712 per pupil in 2011, which ranked it 24th highest in the nation. The state's graduation rate was 78 percent in 2012.

State agencies

The vision statement of the Minnesota Department of Education reads:

“

The Minnesota Department of Education provides an excellent education for Minnesota students by implementing Governor Mark Dayton’s 7-Point Plan for Better Schools for a Better Minnesota. We strive for excellence, equity and opportunity by focusing on closing the achievement gap, supporting high-quality teaching, using innovative strategies to improve educational outcomes, and ensuring all students graduate from high school well-prepared for college, career and life.

”

The Commissioner of Education serves as the head of the Department of Education. The Commissioner of Education is appointed by the Governor. The term of office expires either when the Governor's term expires or the Governor leaves office. The Commissioner of Education was Brenda Cassellius in 2014.

Regional comparison

See also: General comparison table for education statistics in the 50 states and Education spending per pupil in all 50 states

The following chart shows how Minnesota compared to three neighboring states during the 2011-2012 school year with respect to number of students, schools, the number of teachers per pupil, and the number of administrators per pupil. Further comparisons between these states with respect to performance and financial information are given in other sections of this page.

Regional comparison, 2011-2012
State	Schools	Districts	Students	Teachers	Teacher/pupil ratio	Administrator/pupil ratio	Per pupil spending
Minnesota	2,392	555	839,738	52,832	1:15.9	1:396.1	$10,712
North Dakota	513	223	97,646	8,525	1:11.5	1:216.4	$11,420
South Dakota	704	171	128,016	9,247	13.8	1:309.8	$8,805
Wisconsin	2,243	462	871,105	56,245	1:15.5	1:363.9	$11,774
United States	98,328	17,992	49,521,669	3,103,263	1:16	21:95.2	$10,994
Sources: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "State Nonfiscal Public Elementary/Secondary Education Survey", 2011-12 v.1a. National Center for Education Statistics, "Table 2. Number of operating public schools and districts, state enrollment, teacher and pupil/teacher ratio by state: School year 2011–12" U.S. Census Bureau, "Public Education Finances: 2011,Governments Division Reports," issued May 2013

Demographics

See also: Demographic information for all students in all 50 states

The following table displays the ethnic distribution of students in Minnesota as reported in the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data for 2011-2012.

Demographic information for Minnesota's K-12 public school system
Ethnicity	Students	State percentage	United States percentage**
American Indian	15,076	1.80%	1.10%
Asian	52,186	6.21%	4.68%
African American	77,274	9.20%	15.68%
Hawaiian Nat./Pacific Isl.	650	0.08%	0.42%
Hispanic	62,083	7.39%	24.37%
White	613,019	73.00%	51.21%
Two or more	19,450	2.32%	2.54%
**Note: This is the percentage of all students in the United States that are reported to be of this ethnicity.

Enrollments by region type

See also: Student distribution by region type in the U.S.

A plurality of students in Minnesota attended rural schools during school year 2011-2012. Approximately 50 percent of the state's students attended rural or town schools, compared to approximately 50 percent who attended city or suburban schools.

Student distribution by region type, 2011-2012 (as percents)
State	City schools	Suburban schools	Town schools	Rural schools
Minnesota	20.8%	29.4%	19.5%	30.4%
North Dakota	26%	8.9%	20.2%	45%
South Dakota	25.8%	0.8%	27%	46.5%
Wisconsin	27.5%	24%	19.2%	29.3%
U.S. average	28.9%	34%	11.6%	25.4%
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD)

Academic performance

Education terms
For more information on education policy terms, see this article.
School board elections portal Glossary of education terms School choice on the ballot Education on the ballot

NAEP scores

See also: NAEP scores by state

The National Center for Education Statistics provides state-by-state data on student achievement levels in mathematics and reading in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Compared to three neighboring states (North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin), Minnesota had the highest share of students (both fourth and eighth graders) who scored at or above proficient in math and reading.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
Minnesota	59%	47%	41%	41%
North Dakota	48%	41%	34%	34%
South Dakota	40%	38%	32%	36%
Wisconsin	47%	40%	35%	36%
U.S. average	41%	34%	34%	34%
Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables," accessed May 13, 2014

Graduation, ACT and SAT scores

See also: Graduation rates by groups in state and ACT and SAT scores in the United States

The following table shows the graduation rates and average composite ACT and SAT scores for Minnesota and surrounding states for 2012 and 2013.

Comparison table for graduation rates and test scores*
State	Graduation rate, 2012		Average ACT composite, 2012		Average SAT composite, 2013
	Percent	Quintile ranking**	Score	Participation rate	Score	Participation rate
Minnesota	78%	Fourth	22.8	74%	1,780	6%
North Dakota	87%	First	20.7	100%	1,799	2%
South Dakota	83%	Second	21.8	81%	1,760	3%
Wisconsin	88%	First	22.1	71%	1,771	4%
U.S. average	80%		21.1		1,498
*Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Rate (except for Idaho, Kentucky, Oklahoma, which did not report “Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate,” but instead used their own method of calculation). **Graduation rates for states in the first quintile ranked in the top 20 percent nationally. Similarly, graduation rates for states in the fifth quintile ranked in the bottom 20 percent nationally. Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express

Dropout rate

See also: Public high school dropout rates by state for a full comparison of dropout rates by group in all states

The high school event dropout rate indicates the proportion of students who were enrolled at some time during the school year and were expected to be enrolled in grades 9–12 in the following school year but were not enrolled by October 1 of the following school year. Students who have graduated, transferred to another school, died, moved to another country, or who are out of school due to illness are not considered dropouts. The average public high school event dropout rate for the United States remained constant at 3.3 percent for both school year 2010–2011 and school year 2011–2012. The event dropout rate for Minnesota was lower than the national average at 1.8 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 1.9 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

Educational choice options

See also: School choice in Minnesota

As of June 2015, school choice options in Minnesota included: charter schools, school choice tax credits, an inter-district open enrollment policy and online learning programs. In addition, about 9.57 percent of school-age children in the state attended private schools in the 2011-2012 academic year, and an estimated 1.80 percent were homeschooled in school year 2012-2013.

Education funding and expenditures

See also: Minnesota state budget and finances

Breakdown of expenditures by function in fiscal year 2012
Source: National Association of State Budget Officers

According to the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), Minnesota spent approximately 23.8 percent of its fiscal year 2012 budget on elementary and secondary education. As a share of the budget, this was down 2.60 percentage points, or 9.8 percent, from fiscal year 2008, when the state spent 26.4 percent of its budget on elementary and secondary education.

Comparison of financial figures for school systems
State	Percent of budget (2012)	Per pupil spending (2011)	Revenue sources (2011)
			Percent federal funds	Percent state funds	Percent local funds
Minnesota	23.8%	$10,712	7.93%	59.52%	32.55%
North Dakota	13.8%	$11,420	14.8%	49.93%	35.27%
South Dakota	14.3%	$8,805	20.26%	28.93%	50.81%
Wisconsin	16.7%	$11,774	8.79%	45.83%	45.38%
Sources: NASBO, "State Expenditure Report," Table 8: Elementary and Secondary Education Expenditures As a Percent of Total Expenditures U.S. Census Bureau, "Public Education Finances: 2011,Governments Division Reports," issued May 2013

Revenue breakdowns

See also: Public school system revenues in the U.S.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, public school system revenues in Minnesota totaled approximately $11.2 billion in fiscal year 2011. The table below presents further detail, including revenue sources, for Minnesota and surrounding states.

Revenues by source, fiscal year 2011 (amounts in thousands)
	Federal revenue	State revenue	Local revenue	Total revenue
Minnesota	$886,619	$6,657,769	$3,641,015	$11,185,403
North Dakota	$186,844	$630,430	$445,402	$1,262,676
South Dakota	$262,395	$374,648	$658,100	$1,295,143
Wisconsin	$1,002,909	$5,226,954	$5,175,978	$11,405,841
U.S. total	$74,943,767	$267,762,416	$264,550,594	$607,256,777
Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Expenditure breakdowns

See also: Public school system expenditures in the United States

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, public school system expenditures in Minnesota totaled approximately $10.9 billion in fiscal year 2011. The table below presents further detail, including expenditure types, for Minnesota and surrounding states.

Expenditures by type, fiscal year 2011 (amounts in thousands)
	General expenditures**	Capital outlay	Other***	Total expenditures
Minnesota	$8,907,505	$1,077,969	$882,342	$10,867,816
North Dakota	$1,099,271	$124,967	$28,501	$1,252,739
South Dakota	$1,105,964	$199,636	$34,799	$1,340,399
Wisconsin	$10,175,521	$541,918	$469,214	$11,186,653
U.S. total	$520,577,893	$52,984,139	$29,581,293	$603,143,325
**Funds spent operating local public schools and local education agencies, including such expenses as salaries for school personnel, student transportation, school books and materials, and energy costs, but excluding capital outlay, interest on school debt, payments to private schools, and payments to public charter schools. ***Includes payments to state and local governments, payments to private schools, interest on school system indebtedness, and nonelementary-secondary expenditures, such as adult education and community services expenditures. Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Personnel salaries

See also: Public school teacher salaries in the United States

Note: Salaries given are averages for the state. Salaries may vary between a state's urban, suburban, and rural districts and should be adjusted for cost of living. For example, a MacIver Institute study of average teacher salaries in 60 metropolitan areas found that salaries in New York City were the third-highest in absolute figures but 59th-highest when adjusted for the cost of living.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average national salary for classroom teachers in public elementary and secondary schools declined by 1.3 percent from the 1999-2000 school year to the 2012-2013 school year. During the same period in Minnesota, the average salary increased by 3.4 percent.

Estimated average salaries for teachers (in constant dollars**)
	1999-2000	2009-2010	2011-2012	2012-2013	Percent difference
Minnesota	$54,393	$55,967	$55,874	$56,268	3.4%
North Dakota	$40,810	$45,862	$46,825	$47,344	16%
South Dakota	$39,728	$41,456	$39,450	$39,580	-0.4%
Wisconsin	$56,239	$54,721	$54,687	$55,171	-1.9%
U.S. average	$57,133	$58,925	$56,340	$56,383	-1.3%
**"Constant dollars based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, adjusted to a school-year basis. The CPI does not account for differences in inflation rates from state to state."

Organizations

Unions

In 2012 the Fordham Institute and Education Reform Now assessed the power and influence of state teacher unions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Their rankings were based on 37 different variables in five broad areas, including: resources and membership, involvement in politics, scope of bargaining, state policies and perceived influence. Minnesota ranked 14th overall, or "strong," which was in the second of five tiers.

The main union related to the Minnesota school system is Education Minnesota, an affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). For the 2003 tax period the union had: $24.6 million in total revenue, $24.1 million in total expenses and $26.5 million in total assets.

List of local Minnesota school unions:

• Education Minnesota
• AFT Minneapolis Local 59
• St. Paul Federation of Teachers
• Robbinsdale Federation of Teachers
• Duluth Federation Of Teachers
• Education Minnesota Lakeville
• Mounds View Education Association

Government sector lobbying

See also: Minnesota government sector lobbying

The main education government sector lobbying organization is the Minnesota School Boards Association.

Transparency

Minnesota launched a spending transparency database in March 2009. The website, created by Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB), "offers on-line, round-the-clock access to data on state payments for schools, local governments, contractors and other vendors. With just a few clicks, citizens can access detailed information on most state spending." According to state officials, the data is supplied by the state's accounting system and updated nightly.

Studies and reports

State Budget Solutions education study

See also: State spending on education v. academic performance (2012)

State Budget Solutions examined national trends in education from 2009 to 2011, including state-by-state analysis of education spending, graduation rates and average ACT scores. The study showed that the states that spent the most did not have the highest average ACT test scores, nor did they have the highest average graduation rates. A summary of the study is available here. The full report can be accessed here.

See also

• Public education in Minnesota
• Minnesota
• Education Policy in the U.S.