Original Research by School Decision on Nonpublic Shared Time
Nonpublic Shared Time is a special education school operated by the Minneapolis Public School District. It serves students from kindergarten through twelfth grade, and its enrollment is small. The school offers specialized programming for students with disabilities, and its class sizes are modest across the grade levels, with most grades having a handful of students and the lower grades somewhat larger.
The student body is diverse. The largest group is white, followed by Hispanic students and then Black students, with a smaller share of students who identify as two or more races and very few Asian students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that the school serves a population with notable economic need. The school is located on West Broadway Avenue in Minneapolis, a major urban center that is the state’s most populous city and the seat of Hennepin County. Minneapolis is a dense city with a mix of downtown skyscrapers, historic riverfront districts, and residential neighborhoods around many lakes. It is home to the University of Minnesota’s main campus, major arts institutions, and professional sports teams. Public transit is available via buses and light rail.
Because Nonpublic Shared Time is a special education school, its purpose is to provide specially designed instruction and related services to students with disabilities. Typical academic performance measures such as state test proficiency rates are not reported for this school, and a four-year graduation rate is also not available. This absence is not unusual for a school of this type, where students may be receiving services in a shared-time arrangement while enrolled in a nonpublic school for their general education, or where the school’s focus on special education means standard accountability metrics do not apply. The comparison data relative to districts in Hennepin County notes that proficiency, graduation, and chronic absenteeism measures are missing for this entity, so no placement among neighboring schools is possible through those metrics.
Nonpublic Shared Time is part of the Minneapolis Public School District, a large urban district that has been navigating significant changes. The district has experienced declining enrollment over recent years, leading to school closures and a restructuring of attendance boundaries and magnet programs through its Comprehensive District Design. A technology capital levy was renewed by voters in 2022, but a proposed operating levy increase was rejected in 2020, contributing to budget shortfalls. For the 2024-25 school year, the district faced a projected budget deficit driven by enrollment decline, the expiration of federal COVID-19 relief funds, and ongoing structural pressures, prompting consideration of staff reductions and program cuts. These district-wide conditions shape the context in which Nonpublic Shared Time operates, though the school’s specialized role may buffer it from some of the general enrollment trends affecting regular neighborhood schools.
In summary, this is a small, specialized program within a large, financially strained urban district. It serves a diverse group of students with disabilities from kindergarten through high school. Families considering this school would be seeking a placement focused on special education services, and they should be aware that standard academic performance data is not available for this setting. The school’s location in Minneapolis means access to the city’s cultural, educational, and transportation resources, while the district’s ongoing budget pressures and restructuring may influence resource allocation and programming stability.
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