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Minnesota has the largest achievement gap in the nation. Thus, putting more money into Minnesota schools is like throwing good money after bad.

The achievement gap in Minnesota has more to do with the high performance of Caucasian student than the low performance of minority students. Furthermore, Minnesota has not been “putting more money into schools.” In fact, we have been cutting key intervention strategies that support at-risk learners—spending that is particularly beneficial to minority students.

The large achievement gap in Minnesota is due more to the high performance of white students than to the low performance of minority students. For example, the math achievement gap between Minnesota white and black eighth graders is the largest in the nation. However, the average math score for Minnesota black students is about equal to the national average for black students (source: National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Education Progress, Mathematics 2003). Minnesota’s achievement gap in math is due to the fact that Minnesota’s white students are scoring significantly higher than white students in other states. Thus, the large math achievement gap in Minnesota is due to the relatively high scores of white students, not the low scores of black students.

Furthermore, it should be noted that poverty is worse among the blacks, Asians, and American Indians in Minnesota than in the rest nation. For example, based on 2000 census data:

The poverty rate among Minnesota blacks is 8.8% higher than among blacks nationally and median family income is 6.0% lower.
The poverty rate among Minnesota Asians is 50.5% higher than among Asians nationally and median family income is 16.4% lower.
The poverty rate among Minnesota American Indians is 11.4% higher than among American Indians nationally and median family income is 6.4% lower.

Insofar as poverty correlates with lower student achievement, the higher rate of poverty among Minnesota minority students contributes to Minnesota’s achievement gap. In addition, in recent years many Hmong and Somali immigrants have come to Minnesota. Language and other cultural barriers among the immigrant population may be depressing achievement scores among Minnesota minorities and exacerbating the achievement gap.

As noted above, the state has been cutting funding to Minnesota school districts in recent years. Recent cuts in funding for at risk students—funding that is particularly beneficial to low-income groups—may be further depressing achievement scores among minorities and causing Minnesota’s achievement gap to grow.

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