Minneapolis Public Schools is weighing whether to move ahead with a purpose-built Anishinabe Academy at the shuttered Cooper Community School site, even as the district wrestles with a multimillion-dollar deficit and a long list of half-empty buildings. Supporters argue that a dedicated campus would finally give Native students a culturally grounded home base. Skeptics question the timing, with many schools already running well below capacity. The decision has put the board squarely between honoring a long-standing commitment and facing down tight budget and enrollment realities.
What’s on the table
In a Gate Check A memo, district staff outline Concept 1B, roughly 128,200 square feet of new construction at the Cooper site, designed as a PreK-8 facility with an early price range of $90 million to $105 million and capacity for about 650 to 700 students. Schematic design alone is estimated at $2.3 million and roughly four months of work, according to a Minneapolis Public Schools staff memo (Minneapolis Public Schools). That potential build comes as the district faces a roughly $39.7 million operating gap and a surplus of space, with more than half of its 56 schools operating at less than 70 percent capacity, as reported by the Star Tribune. Staff describes the project as a way to fulfill a long-promised home for the Anishinabe community, while also warning that any green light would require shifting existing capital priorities or finding new funding.
Promise, place, and design
The proposal carries significant symbolic weight. Board Vice Chair Kim Ellison reminded colleagues that the district "made a promise" to create a dedicated home for Anishinabe Academy, and early design sessions have focused heavily on culture and connection to the land. Architect Sam Olbekson cast the new school as "a living village, a place alive with the rhythms of land and seasons of growth and rest," while Cuningham Group’s Heidi Neumueller said students showed strong enthusiasm for gardens and safe outdoor gathering spaces during design workshops, as reported by the Star Tribune.
Enrollment math and trade-offs
Anishinabe Academy currently serves about 209 students, and its existing building is listed at roughly 60,073 square feet, according to the district’s building report (Minneapolis Public Schools). The Cooper-site design would bump capacity to 650 to 700 students, a substantial increase. At the same time, Minneapolis Public Schools’ Student Experience work points to a sustainable K-8 enrollment of roughly 1,018 to 1,133 students, a size that typically supports a wider range of electives and services. That leaves a sizable gap between the ideal model and the planned capacity, which would require either significant enrollment growth or consolidation moves to fully realize the program. Staff materials are blunt that the project is feasible only if the district accepts trade-offs in its capital plan or secures outside funding.
What happens next
Board members were reported to be leaning toward pushing the project into the design phase instead of waiting for the full right-sizing process to finish, and staff have requested direction on Gate Check B and a funding strategy that would allow schematic design to begin. If the current schedule holds, district documents project that design and construction could keep the school on track for occupancy in the 2028-29 school year. That timeline, though, comes with a political price tag, as elected board members will have to juggle cultural commitments, capital financing, and the likely fallout from any future school closures or consolidations.
