MREA released a map today illustrating where the projected Early Learning Scholarships discussed at the Legislature would go in the coming school year. A thumbnail is below. Click to view the interactive map.
Minnesota is poised to begin an Early Learning Scholarship program for children whose family income is less than 185% of federal poverty level. MREA anticipates that about 6,000 scholarships will be available with the $44 million in funding, based on information received from MinneMinds.
Where will those scholarships students likely be? What number of eligible students can districts anticipate will receive scholarships with which they can attend eligible programs? MREA’s map is an estimation of answers to these questions. Please see note on MREA methodology below.
Key Findings
- Scholarships will track poverty in urban and rural.
- 45% of scholarships will be concentrated in 9 districts.
- 50% of the school districts in can anticipate fewer than 5 scholarships each.
Since eligible providers as defined in HF 630 and SF 453 is a broader definition than school districts, it would be helpful to map eligible providers by district. That data is not currently available to MREA’s knowledge.
Map Methodology
MREA took the following steps to project Early Learning Scholarships per district in 2014-15:
- 2013 District K-12 compensatory education $’s per pupil X 2013 District AMPCU = District Poverty Index
- District Poverty Index / State Total District Poverty Index = Percentage of State Poverty Index
- Percentage of State Poverty Index X 6,000 anticipated scholarships = Projected No. of Early Learning Scholarships per District
There are limitations to this methodology. It uses K-12 Compensatory education dollars, which are based on Free and Reduced Lunch Eligibility as a proxy for 185% of Federal poverty level. These dollars have a concentration factor that will tend to overestimate scholarships at the high end of the scale.