Schools grow diverse as immigrant families migrate to suburbs

David Brewster, Star Tribune

This Shakopee kindergarten class reflects the changing makeup of the student body.

South-of-the-river districts are catching up to Minneapolis when it comes to diversity.

By DAVID PETERSON, Star Tribune

Last update: March 4, 2009 - 8:38 AM

Young immigrant families are bailing out of Minneapolis and streaming into the suburbs to such an extent that school districts south of the river could soon be teaching more immigrant children than Minneapolis is, the latest figures show.

One telling detail: On paper, at least, kids in the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan district now go home to far more different languages spoken by their parents than do their counterparts in the state's largest city, traditionally the No. 1 Minnesota gateway for foreign arrivals.

As recently as the mid-1990s, only four south metro school districts were reporting that immigrant children -- as determined by the primary language spoken at home -- made up even 1 percent of their classrooms. Most were in the tenths of one percent.

But Minneapolis is down by about 3,000 such students so far this decade. And districts in Scott and Dakota counties are up by about 4,500 in the same time frame.

With the collective total now over 8,000, the south districts are closing in on Minneapolis, which has shrunk from about 13,400 immigrant kids to just over 10,000 since the year 2000.

The leaders in the south suburbs: For high concentrations, Shakopee (24 percent) and Burnsville (21 percent). For sheer numbers, the Rosemount district (just under 2,700).

At this rate, in 14 years students of color will make up half the elementary population in the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan district, said Julie Olson, the district's director of elementary education. "I, frankly, think that's exciting."

The Minnesota Department of Education has just released its latest annual batch of district-by-district data on race, ethnicity, poverty and other indicators.

Among the findings of a Star Tribune analysis of that data:

• Burnsville, with its large stock of affordable apartment complexes, leads in poverty numbers, meaning the percent of students getting free or reduced-price lunches (30 percent). It's second to Lakeville in the rate of increase since 2000 (more than doubling, from 14 percent), though Lakeville is much lower, 9 percent.

• The gap between some high-diversity districts and their neighbors is growing. The Burnsville-Lakeville gap in students of color, for instance, has shot from five percentage points in 1990 to 16 points in 2000 to 24 percentage points today. That's a big reason more school districts are being drawn into desegregation plans, in an effort to bring about more mixing.

Although some parents have resisted the desegregation plans that have been the state's response to growing gaps between high-diversity districts and their neighbors, Olson said, "There's a lot to suggest that multiracial schools are a positive learning environment for all students."

Sarah Lemagie contributed to this report.