School Board downsizes and slows busing

BY ED FELIEN

The Minneapolis School Board has unanimously decided to close Folwell Middle School at the end of this school year. Northrup Environmental Elementary School will demagnetize and become a community school, and Longfellow Elementary School will close.

The objective is to educate students closer to home and cut down on the costs of busing: “In some neighborhoods, students are bused to more than 30 different schools all over the city.” According to the Board, “MPS buses crisscross the city every day—equal to a trip around the world.  We spend $33 million every year on transportation.  74 percent of students are bused to school.”

By reducing busing and by closing under-used facilities, the Board estimates it will save between $7.5 and $8.2 million in operating costs each year.
In spite of the cutbacks, the Board estimates there will still be a $7 to $14 million budget shortfall for 2010-2011.

There are, however, very positive signs indicating an improvement in the Minn-eapolis Public Schools: High school graduation rates have increased from 67 percent in 2007 to 76 percent in 2009; enrollment in the fall of 2008 was higher than projected for the first time in six years; and kindergarten requests for
2009-2010 grew by 3 percent over 2008.