Demographics
The district has students from families speaking 70 different languages, although only 4 languages are used for most school communication. Those languages are English, Spanish, Hmong and Somali. 73.91% of students are students of color. 69% of the district's students qualify for free or reduced lunch, 17% of students are considered Special Education and 40% of students are ELL (English Language Learners). The school district currently receives $22 million a year in desegregation funding from the state. However because of two United States Supreme Court cases, schools are no longer allowed to assign students to schools based on race.
As of 2001, the district had 46,000 students. About one third of them were Hmong. At the time, about 13,000 of the Hmong students received English as a second language (ESL) services. In 2002, of all of the American school districts, St. Paul had the largest Hmong student population.
Read more about this topic: Saint Paul Public Schools