Minnesota

NCAI Region: Midwest

Total Population: 5,303,925

Native American Population: 101,900

Native American Reservation Population: 21,734

Percentage of population: 1.9%

Number of Tribes: 6

Number of Native American Charter Schools: 8

Number of Native American Charter Students: 552

Number of BIE Tribally Controlled Schools: 4

Total Number of Native American Schools: 12

State Public Education Department: Minnesota Department of Education

State Average Per Pupil Funding: $12,692

Charter Support Organizations: 1) Minnesota Association of Charter Schools2) Center for School Change

Year Charter Law Enacted: 1991

2020 Model Law Ranking: 4

Estimated Number of Charter Schools: 233

Estimated Number of Charter Students: 59,482

For FY 2019, charter schools received $226.59 per-pupil in an operating capital revenue allowance.
If these revenue funds are insufficient to cover a building lease, a charter school may apply to the commissioner for building lease aid. Building lease aid cannot be used for custodial, maintenance service, utility, or other operating costs.
Minnesota law specifies that charter schools that own their own facilities may not receive lease aid. However, it allows charter schools that meet certain requirements (e.g., have net unreserved general fund balances) to, with state commissioner approval, create an affiliated nonprofit building corporation, which may renovate or purchase an existing facility or expand an existing building or construct a new school facility. The law allows such nonprofit building corporations to secure financing through various sources available to other nonprofits (e.g., municipal bonds, mortgages), and allows charter schools to use their lease aid for facilities owned by nonprofit building corporations.
Minnesota law provides public charter schools receive long-term facilities maintenance revenue like all school districts, except that charter schools have the freedom to use the revenue for any purpose of the school. For fiscal year 2019, this was $132 per adjusted pupil unit. In comparison, this is significantly lower than what school districts receive, which is $380 times a rate that is based on the district’s average facility age, plus additional funding for large indoor air quality, asbestos abatement, and fire alarm and suppression projects.