On Thursday, November 6, 2003, at 06:44 AM, TONY SCALLON wrote:
�By the way, I did not see any comments on Minneapolis public schools new fears that charter and suburban integration are taking away students.�http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4192060.html� Minneapolis public schools are going to start competing with charter schools.� �
Thanks for the link Tony. The Strib reports that our public school enrollment has dropped by 5500 in the last 5 years, and by 1800 in the last year alone. Transfers to Charter Schools in Minneapolis account for about 1000 of these students, but where did the other 4500 go? Certainly not to private schools, which report no growth in enrollment. Possibly by open enrollment transfers to nearby suburban districts, but we've heard of no great enrollment increases there. Strangely, the only schools that are hurting for classroom space are in the exurban boom towns- Elk River, Rogers, Buffalo, etc.. at the edge of the practical metro area commuter radius.
Last night I was driving around from south of St.Cloud down to Kimball, over an hours commuting distance from Minneapolis. The new houses on the couple acre spreads keep popping up like mushrooms there, while my Northside 'hood is popping up "for rent" and "for sale" signs like mushrooms. There's a massive migration underway here, and our city needs to at least understand the size and reasons for it. Or perhaps they'd rather sweep this potential fiscal "death spiral" under the table...
hanging on in Hawthorne,
Dyna Sluyter
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