MPS proposes school closures to optimize buildings 

Despite seeing increased enrollment at South Minneapolis public schools, four elementary schools may be closed next year.

Minneapolis Public Schools parents filled the John B. Davis Center meeting room Tuesday night as the school board listened to an opaque presentation from district administration on suggested school closures across the district. 

No financial savings information was presented at the meeting, besides a brief mention that the options could save up to $700,000 annually in utility costs. 

The presentation comes after three years of discussion and analysis of district buildings. A physical space study conducted in 2024 showed that half of the districts’ buildings were underutilized. The district estimated it could save about $45 million per year in operating costs by “right-sizing” its physical footprint in its 2023 pro forma.

This comes after the district’s 2020 Comprehensive District Design process that affected two out of three students who switched schools. 

Right now, only half of the students in Minneapolis attend a Minneapolis Public School.

An estimated cost savings for utilities across the MPS school buildings presented at the Sept. 15, 2026 school board work meeting.

Minneapolis Public Schools

The administration presented three different options for each community high school pathway on Tuesday night. Transformation plans for magnet, program, speciality, and alternative schools and programs were also presented with much smaller changes. 

All options presented can be viewed on the district’s school transformation website. The presentation given to the school board is also available online. 

The school board and parents saw in real time what schools were getting funneled into other schools as the options were presented. District staff did not present a clear list of schools being proposed to close.  

Based on the options presented by Minneapolis Public School administration, three elementary schools in South may close. All operate as dual campuses now, with younger students at one and older students at another.

These would be consolidated at one school. Two are within the Roosevelt pathway: the Wenonah campus of Lake Nokomis School (which would be merged with Keewaydin), and Howe.

The options for Howe are to merge it with Hiawatha, or close both Hiawatha and Howe and shift students to Dowling, and then they would attend middle school at Andersen and high school at South.

The South High pathway doesn’t involve any school closures but would shift boundaries, possibly extending across Interstate 35W to pull students from Lyndale neighborhood in addition to those already coming from Whittier.

Within the Washburn pathway options are folding Field into Hale.

One school transformation option within the Southwest High School pathway.

Minneapolis Public Schools

District 6 School Board Director Greta Callahan said during the meeting that board members were not given a list of school closures ahead of time and read the list of schools that district leadership has suggested to close. 

Proposed school closures across the district are Kenny Elementary, Lake Harriet Lower Elementary, Field Elementary, Wellstone International High School, Bethune Elementary, Cityview Elementary, FAIR School of the Arts, Heritage Academy, Hiawatha Elementary, Anwatin Middle School, Hmong International Academy, Howe Elementary, Longfellow Alternative School, Loring Elementary, Pratt Elementary, Webster Elementary, and Wenonah Elementary. 

Longfellow Alternative School (3017 E 31st St.), which serves pregnant and parenting students, would relocate to North High School. Wellstone, which provides legally mandated services for immigrant students ages 18-22, would relocate from leased space at Minneapolis College into South High School.

While MPS is considering closing some schools in South, it is also considering demolishing Cooper (3239 44th Ave S) to build an estimated $90-105 million facility for Anishinabe Academy.

Minneapolis Public Schools leadership present a school transformation plan to the school board on Sept. 15, 2026.

Melody Hoffmann

“The last thing we need to do right now is dismantle our schools,” Callahan said. “A transformation plan will not keep students in the district. If people lose their school, they will go somewhere else.” 

Parents who are not in support of closing schools said they want a more robust retention and recruitment program to bring students back to MPS. About half of the children that live in Minneapolis do not attend Minneapolis Public Schools. 

Becca Dryden is a MPS parent who is running for the District 5 school board seat currently held by Lori Norvell, who is not seeing re-election.

“My family chose to make Minneapolis our home because of the quality schools and strong community. I, along with countless families throughout the city, am dreading having to explain to my eight-year-old that they might not get to go back to their beloved elementary school next year because the district plans to close it," Dryden  said in a written statement. "This ‘transformation’ plan is a reckless hack-job that will further deteriorate trust in MPS leadership and drive more families out of our district. Pretending that this is what families want while framing massive destabilization as ‘optimization’ is a slap in the face to all of our families,”

The district has identified nine schools as underutilized schools, orm“too small for MPS student experience.”

These are Loring Elementary, FAIR School of the Arts, Wellstone International High School, Ella Baker Global Studies and Humanities School, Pratt Elementary, Longfellow, Howe Elementary, Hiawatha Elementary, and Wenonah Elementary. The list does not include Field, Hale, Keewaydin, or Dowling.

A map of schools and their current utilization. Slide presented at the Sept. 15 school transformation work meeting.

Minneapolis Public Schools

“We know that the best way for us to stabilize Minneapolis Public Schools is to increase enrollment and to have better oversight over our finances,” MPS parent Christin Crabtree said. Crabtree is running for an at-large school board seat this year. “There's just a lack of clarity or analysis or projection around finances, about savings, about enrollment projections.” 

Even though saving millions of dollars was the impetus for consolidating schools, MPS leadership said finances wasn’t the topic for the meeting. 

“It’s very hard to project, in an exact amount,” MPS Executive Director of Communications and Engagement Donnie Belcher said after the Sept. 15 meeting. “What we don’t want is to project an amount that will later be confusing…each option is very different.”

Community engagement is planned for now through Oct. 16, 2026. MPS leadership is suggesting the board vote on school consolidation on Nov. 10, 2026.