Five years after Minneapolis Public Schools approved a major and controversial overhaul, the district is once again struggling with the same issues it hoped to fix — a growing budget deficit, falling enrollment, and persistent learning gaps among students.
The 2020 plan, which faced heavy criticism at the time, was meant to bring fairness and balance to the district without closing schools. Leaders moved magnet schools to central Minneapolis and redrew attendance boundaries to promote racial diversity, offer equal access to programs, and reduce transportation costs. But the plan has not delivered the results many hoped for.
Transportation costs have continued to rise, and the number of racially segregated schools has barely changed. Many families, both Black and white, chose to leave the district following the boundary changes, leading to a drop in enrollment. Although numbers have recently started to increase again, it’s unclear whether the plan deserves credit for that slight growth.
For many parents, the plan’s rollout left lasting frustration and mistrust. Some believe the district’s poor communication and confusing implementation process caused more division than unity. “I believe in what the plan was trying to do — bringing equity to school boundaries and enrollment,” said Uptown resident Erika Brask, who sent one daughter to Minnetonka schools and another to the FAIR School for Arts in downtown Minneapolis. “But five years in, I’m not sure it accomplished what it set out to do.”
The district now faces difficult decisions, including the possibility of closing or merging schools. Minneapolis isn’t alone in its struggle — public school systems across the U.S., from San Antonio to San Francisco, are facing similar financial problems caused by shrinking enrollments and rising costs.
According to a district report from June, Minneapolis Public Schools is projecting at least a $25 million deficit for the 2026–27 school year. The district, designed to serve about 45,000 students, had only 28,900 students enrolled in grades K–12 last October. Before the redesign in 2020–2021, that number was just over 32,000.
Board Chair Collin Beachy said the situation reflects a national trend. “Yes, this is a specific thing that’s going on here in Minneapolis,” he said. “But in many ways, we’re really no different from a lot of districts around the country that are having to make some radical, difficult choices simply because of the consistent lack of funding for schools.”
Experts say the district’s efforts were limited because they avoided closing schools, which are often necessary for major cost savings. Marguerite Roza, director of Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab, explained that financial benefits from a redesign are difficult to see if schools remain open. She also noted that such plans are more likely to succeed when a community fully supports them from the start — something Minneapolis struggled to achieve.
Now, with fewer students, growing expenses, and ongoing distrust from families, district leaders are under pressure to make choices they avoided five years ago. Whether that means consolidating schools, cutting costs, or revisiting past decisions, Minneapolis Public Schools will need to find a new path forward to stabilize its future.
