For the first time in years, enrollment rises at Minneapolis and St. Paul schools

Minneapolis and St. Paul school districts have stemmed long-term declines in grades K-12 student enrollment.

Both systems posted slight gains in 2024-25, according to Oct. 1 student counts confirmed recently by the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE).

A driving factor is a rise in the number of students who identify as Hispanic or Latino.

Increases are welcome in a state that issues aid on a per-pupil basis, and while both districts still face formidable springtime budget challenges, St. Paul is encouraged enough to project another enrollment bump in 2025-26.

“I’m very, I don’t know, maybe emotional,” Yusef Carrillo, a St. Paul school board member, said of the district’s numbers. “I’m very excited.”

A year ago, Minneapolis credited the arrival of the children of Latin American migrants as a stabilizing force for enrollment numbers then expected to be in greater decline. This year, the number of Hispanic students in the district is up 18%.

Nationally, the climate has changed, with President Donald Trump pledging crackdowns on unauthorized immigrants, plus mass deportations. But Minneapolis has reaffirmed its commitment to immigrant families.

“The district will continue to do everything in its power to protect and defend the students and staff in our care,” a January school board resolution stated.

As for this year’s enrollment boost, Minneapolis said in a statement: “Minneapolis Public Schools is excited to see data showing higher student placements at several of our schools. We have been working for many years to attract and retain as many students as we can.”

St. Paul has given special attention to lifting the numbers at six schools, and has reported growth at five of them, including Riverview Spanish/English Dual Immersion on the West Side.

St. Paul and Minneapolis have long battled for market share in a competitive environment that includes charter schools and nearby districts, the latter of which have schools that students can attend though open enrollment. Last year, the city of St. Paul had 51,296 school-aged children, and St. Paul Public Schools enrolled 60% of them, the district has said.

This school year, the district reported having 31,496 kids in grades K-12 on Oct. 1, a 2% increase over the previous year, according to the MDE.

Concerns over stubborn slides in St. Paul spurred a 2018 agreement to have teachers union members go door-to-door in the summer to try to recruit students. Now, the district is in the third year of a campaign — again aided by the union and others — initially focused on billboards and other districtwide strategies before landing on six schools deemed ripe for growth.

St. Paul dedicated $350,000 to the first two years of the campaign and $75,000 this year, spokesperson Erica Wacker said. Just as important, she added, is having leaders like Stivaliss Licona-Gervich, the principal at Riverview, who are willing to give even their spare time to spreading the word about their schools.

Licona-Gervich said starting out kids in kindergarten is crucial because Spanish is spoken in class almost exclusively at that level, making it difficult to welcome English speakers in the later grades. Last year, the school was five kids short of a third section of kindergarten at this time in the budget talks, but its recruitment efforts paid off with eventual approval on May 31.

Along with her students, Licona-Gervich hits parades — like Cinco de Mayo on the West Side and West St. Paul Days. Abbie Mills, a Riverview parent, and her three kids have been there, too, and happy — in the case of Cinco de Mayo — to stick it out in the rain, Mills said.

The family lives in the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood, but values the West Side’s history as a cultural center for Spanish speakers, Mills said.

Next year, Riverview will have three sections of first-graders. And three, again, of kindergarten?

“We’ll see in May,” Licona-Gervich said.

In Minneapolis, officials spoke a year ago of developing a plan to better support the children of recent migrants, but they were uncertain, too, of how long the influx of asylum-seekers would continue.

Asked last week where the situation stood now, the district provided the numbers of students who spoke Spanish as their home language.

Those figures show waves of new kids starting in the fall of 2023, with 638 arriving that school year, followed by smaller waves. Thirty-four new students have enrolled since October, bringing the total of home-language Spanish students to about 5,814.

“So we are still gaining students with a home language of Spanish, just at a slower rate than last year,” the district said, adding: “MPS is excited to be the district of choice for newcomer students and their families in Minneapolis.”

MaryJo Webster of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.