Placement Priorities
Each year through the budget planning process, Minneapolis Public Schools determines class-size targets, and how many classrooms will be at each elementary, middle and high school in each grade.
Our online placement system assigns every incoming school request a random lottery number and a priority level based on the factors below.
This is a simplified version of Regulation 5262A: Protocols For School Assignment. If you have questions about the enrollment process, please contact us at sps.department@mpls.k12.mn.us or 612-668-1840.
Community Schools
Requests are prioritized in the following order:
- Students who live in the school’s geographic attendance area
- Students who live in the school’s area and have a sibling who currently attends the requested school and will continue to attend for the coming school year
- Students who live inside the city of Minneapolis but outside the school’s attendance area and have a sibling who currently attends the requested school and will continue to attend for the coming school year
- Students who live inside the city of Minneapolis but outside the school’s attendance area
- Students whose home address is not in the city of Minneapolis
Magnet Schools: All Grade Levels
Requests are prioritized in the following order:
- Students who live inside the city of Minneapolis and within a half-mile radius of the school
- Students who live inside the city of Minneapolis and were unable to enroll at their requested attendance area community school due to lack of capacity
- Students who live inside the city of Minneapolis and have a sibling who currently attends the requested school and will continue to attend for the coming school year
- As part of MPS’s goal of having magnet schools that are economically diverse, students are prioritized based on whether or not they qualify for educational benefits (previously called free and reduced price lunch). Students qualifying for educational benefits are prioritized for schools that have lower numbers of qualifying students and non-qualifying students are prioritized for schools with lower numbers of non-qualifying students.
- Students who are experiencing homelessness
Community High Schools
Requests are prioritized in the following order:
- Students who live in the school’s geographic attendance area
- Students who live in the school’s area and have a sibling who currently attends the requested school and will continue to attend for the coming school year
- Students who live inside the city of Minneapolis but outside the school’s attendance area and have a sibling who currently attends the requested school and will continue to attend for the coming school year
- Students seeking to enroll in any MPS high school through the “We Want You Back” recruitment program
- Students who live inside the city of Minneapolis but outside the school’s attendance area
- Students whose home address is not in the city of Minneapolis
Citywide Programs within Community High Schools
Requests are prioritized in the following order:
- Students who live inside the city of Minneapolis
- Current eighth graders who are participating in similar academic programming in an MPS middle school
- Students who live inside the city of Minneapolis and have a sibling who currently attends the requested school and will continue to attend for the coming school year
High Five (Preschool)
For High Five and Three School programs, students who live in the requested school’s attendance area AND meet one or more of the following criteria are prioritized:
- Turn age 4 by Sept. 1 (for High Five)
- Turn age 3 by Sept. 1 (for Three School)
- Meet one of the following eligibility criteria:
- Qualify for educational benefits (based on family income).
- Be experiencing housing instability.
- Qualify for special education services (speech-only services are not considered for priority placement).
- Be identified, through health and developmental screenings, with a potential risk factor that may influence learning.
Having a home language other than English is not a qualifying criteria for eligibility.
