Minnesota's Diverse Communities: Attitudes toward the state's K-12 public schools

by KRISTINE LIAO | Sept. 20, 2021

Minnesota is generally thought of as a highly educated state: 43% of the state’s residents age 25 to 34 hold a bachelor’s degree, ranking eighth highest in the nation.

But the state still struggles with some urgent issues, including student mental health, gaps in early childhood education, career and technical education, and persistent education disparities. In 2019, a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis found that Minnesota is one of the worst states in the country for education achievement gaps. 

In this article, we look at responses from the Minnesota’s Diverse Communities survey, which asked the state’s residents about their attitudes toward K-12 public schools. Below are some key findings on Minnesotans’ trust in the schools and views on the presence of equal opportunity for all children regardless of race and ethnicity.

Minnesotans’ trust in K-12 public schools

The majority of Minnesotans trust the state’s K-12 public schools to do what is right “just about always” or “most of the time.” However, a substantial amount—more than one-third of Minnesotans—trust the schools “only some of the time” or “never.”

The levels of trust in the state’s public school system are roughly equivalent between White and BIPOC Minnesotans. However, one group does stand out among all other racial and ethnic groups: Indigenous Minnesotans are the only population that had more respondents say they “never” trust public schools (10%) than say they trust public schools “just about always” (5%). Only one in 20 Indigenous Minnesotans “just about always” trust public schools—a rate that is significantly lower than those of Latinx (23%), Hmong (19%), Asian excluding Hmong (17%) and White (16%) Minnesotans. Black Minnesotans also had a higher proportion (12%) respond “just about always” compared to Indigenous Minnesotans. 

Trust in Minnesota’s K-12 public schools also varies by political affiliation and education level:

• Democrats (64%) are more likely than Independents (48%) and Republicans (47%) to trust the state’s K-12 public schools to do the right thing. More than one in 10 Independents (13%) and Republicans (11%) said they “never” trust the schools, compared to just 1% of Democrats.

• Those who finished some college (45%) are significantly more likely to lack trust in K-12 public schools than those who graduated college (28%).

Minnesotans’ perceptions of equal opportunity at K-12 public schools

Nearly half of Minnesotans think that all children, regardless of their racial and ethnic background, have the same opportunities “just about always” or “most of the time” at the state’s K-12 public schools. More than one-quarter of Minnesotans think school children have equal opportunity “some of the time,” and roughly one-fifth believe they “rarely” or “never” have the same opportunities.

This question laid bare stark differences across racial and ethnic lines: White Minnesotans (48%) are significantly more likely to believe all children, regardless of race and ethnicity, are afforded the same opportunities in the state’s K-12 public schools than BIPOC Minnesotans (30%). A notably low proportion of Black Minnesotans, 15%, believe that children of their race have the same educational opportunities as White children “just about always” or “most of the time.” Nearly half (45%) of Black Minnesotans responded that Black children “rarely” or “never” have the same opportunities as their White counterparts.

Besides Black Minnesotans, Indigenous Minnesotans are also less likely than other racial and ethnic groups to believe that children of their background have the same educational opportunities as White children. Indigenous Minnesotans are nearly twice as likely to believe that equal opportunity is provided “rarely” or “never” (42%) than “just about always” or “most of the time” (22%).

When the responses are broken down by race and gender, BIPOC women stand out as particularly skeptical. Nearly one-third of BIPOC women believe that children of their racial or ethnic background “rarely” or “never” have the same educational opportunities as White children, compared to only 12% of White men, 20% of White women and 23% of BIPOC men who feel the same way.

Besides race and gender, perceptions of equal opportunity at K-12 public schools also seem to be related to other demographic attributes:

• Republicans (71%) are nearly three times as likely as Democrats (26%) to think that children of their racial or ethnic background are afforded the same educational opportunities as White children (or all children, regardless of race and ethnicity, have the same opportunities). Roughly one-quarter of both Democrats and Independents think that school children “rarely” or “never” have the same opportunities, compared to 6% of Republicans who feel the same way.

• More than half (57%) of respondents who live in the Greater Minnesota region believe equal opportunity is “just about always” or “most of the time” present at K-12 public schools, compared to one-third (35%) of those who live in the Twin Cities who feel the same way.

• Twelve percent of immigrants believe their children “never” have the same opportunities as White children at Minnesota’s K-12 public schools—a significantly higher proportion than those who are not immigrants who think similarly.

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