Comment on Minnesota school districts here.
Some school districts are more homeschooler-friendly than others. Share your experiences with other homeschoolers by posting on your district’s page below. Please provide details about what you’ve encountered! Don’t see your district listed? Create a new page for it – simply edit this page and add your district to the list.
Please keep in mind that the Wiki site is a public forum. The content is written by MHA members, and homeschoolers around the state. MHA can not be held legally responsible for the content since it is based on the opinions of individuals.
Click on your district’s name below to get started, or edit this page and add your district to the list.
Here is a link to the list of Minnesota’s school districts, maintained by the Minnesota Department of Education. The list includes each district’s name, number, the name of its superintendent, and its phone number (so you can call your district to get the mailing address to send in your annual reporting form):
The Good:
Anoka-Hennepin County (district 11) CommentOnHennepinCounty
Big Lake (district 727) CommentOnBigLake
Braham (district 314) CommentOnBraham
Chisago Lakes (district 2144) CommentOnChisagoLakes
Climax-Shelly (district 592) CommentOnClimaxShelly
Columbia Heights (district 13) CommentOnColumbiaHeights
Duluth (district 709) CommentOnDuluth
Eden Prairie (district 272) CommentOnEdenPrairie
Farmington (district 192) CommentOnFarmington- moved from ugly to good in 2007!
Hopkins (district 270) CommentOnHopkins
Itasca County (district 318) CommentOnItasca
Lakeville (district 194) CommentOnLakeville
Minneapolis (district 1) CommentOnMinneapolis
Nashwauk-Keewatin (district 319) CommentOnNashwauk
North Saint Paul-Maplewood (district 622) CommentOnNorthSaintPaul
Osseo (district 279) CommentOnOsseo
Richfield (district 280) CommentOnRichfield
Robbinsdale (district 281) CommentOnRobbinsdale
Roseville (district 623) CommentOnRoseville
Stewartville (district 534) CommentOnStewartville
St. Louis Park (district 283) CommentOnStLouisPark
St. Paul (district 625) CommentOnStPaul
Walker-Hackensack-Akeley (district 113) CommentOnWalker
The Bad:
Bloomington (district 271) CommentOnBloomington
Cambridge-Isanti (district 911) CommentOnCambridgeIsanti
West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan (district 197) CommentOnWestSaintPaul
Elk River (district 728) CommentOnElkRiver
Hastings (district 200) CommentOnHastings
St. Louis County (district 2142) CommentOnStLouisCounty
Mounds View (district 621) CommentOnMoundsView
Faribault (district 656) CommentOnFaribault
Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan (district 196) CommentOnRosemount
Stillwater (district 834) CommentOnStillwater
Virginia (district 706) CommentOnVirginia
The Ugly:
November 2007!
East Central MN is taking action (truancy) against a local homeschooling mom stating they feel she isn’t in compliance with the compulsory instruction laws. The district was expecting documentation, testing results, and had unrealistic ideas about the calendar requirement. An MHA volunteer spoke with the district about the situation and explained the laws to a somewhat uneducated (regarding the laws and homeschooling) employee. However, in late November the homeschooling family received a court summons. The family intends to hire an attorney and prove their compliance with the laws.
Minnetonka (district 276) CommentOnMinnetonka
The Dept of Education CommentOnDeptofEducation
NEW HOMESCHOOLERS ALERT: DO NOT USE THE FORM THAT THE DISTRICTS OR DEPT OF ED PROVIDES!:
Now, while the Dept. of Education is not technically a district, they are the backbone of the districts. What they expect influences the districts. What they expect is often influenced by who currently runs the department of ed. This persons interpretation of the law highly affects what is requested. Not all of their requests are required by state law. I will include a link to a wiki page that is devoted to the Commentondepartofed, and include a link to the MHA form, which is acceptable in my opinion. ~AL
MHA reporting form:
http://www.homeschoolers.org/files/MHA%20Reporting%20Form.pdf
Privacy Policies
Minnesota’s decision that home-schooled student data is public has been applied inconsistently by local districts. Here’s a look at the privacy policies of some metro area school systems:
Districts that DO NOT protect the privacy of their local homeschooling students records:
- Wayzata school district
Districts that protect the privacy of their local homeschooling students records:
- Oakdale
- Waconia school district
- Dakota County’s District 197
- Roseville Area Schools
- Elk River School District (must submit form to opt out)