San Miguel Middle School in Minneapolis will close at the end of this school year for financial reasons. The school, now in its 11th year, was designed to serve economically disadvantaged students and relies almost entirely on fundraising revenue.
“This was a very difficult decision,” President Ben Murray said. “The economic recession of the past two years has severely affected our fundraising efforts, and we were not able to secure the funding necessary to ensure our sustainability.”
The long-term funding gap is estimated at almost $300,000 a year, which cannot be covered using reserve funds. While the school board explored many options for the future, additional sustainable funding could not be secured so the decision was made to close and celebrate the profound impact San Miguel has had on its students. The school made the announcement now to allow time for students to find new schools and staff to find new jobs for next year.
San Miguel serves students from inner-city Minneapolis neighborhoods through small class sizes, an extended school day and a unique graduate support program. The school’s two most notable achievements are closing the educational achievement gap for its students and increasing to 92% the number of graduates from the past four years who are still in high school and progressing toward graduation.