Minneapolis minority students outperform suburban counterparts
The Choice is Yours program gives Minneapolis kids bus service to enroll in eight nearby suburban school districts.
The program began after the city's NAACP sued the Minneapolis schools claiming the schools were not serving minority kids.
About 1,600 kids a year now leave the Minneapolis district for the suburbs.
The state pays about $4 million per-year for the program.
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But according to a new state report, similar kids who stay in Minneapolis are in some ways outperforming their peers who leave.
Recent improvements in math have been about equal, but kids who stayed in Minneapolis made noticeably better gains in reading last year.
Chief Academic Officer Bernadeia Johnson said the district is working hard to serve kids that remain in the district.
"The more we can come back with strong evidence that students needs are being met, families don't have to choose another option," Johnson said.
Critics say the program only involves a tiny fraction of the 37,000 kids in Minneapolis schools, and that Minneapolis remains distressingly segregated.