Bethune Elementary

Bethune Elementary is an elementary campus of close-knit scale in MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, part of Minneapolis Public School District, works with 213 students in grades pre-K through 5. That puts it 38% smaller than the typical public school in Minnesota, which averages around 344 students.

Minneapolis Public School District runs 86 schools in total, collectively educating 29,928 students. Bethune Elementary is one of those campuses.

In terms of who attends, Bethune Elementary reports that the largest single group is Black, at 73% of enrollment. The remainder breaks down as 11% Hispanic, 7% White, 3% Asian, 3% multiracial. That is noticeably more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 13%.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 28 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 7.8:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.7:1, putting Bethune Elementary tighter than the state norm the norm. Roughly 88% of students at Bethune Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. Set against Hennepin County (around 43%), the school's rate is north of typical.

After controlling for student poverty, Bethune Elementary tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 17.6% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 7.0%.

In the broader community, community-level numbers for Hennepin County indicate the typical household earns roughly $97,653 per year, about 54% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 5%. Bethune Elementary is one of 496 public schools in Hennepin County (combined enrollment of about 177,509 students).

Wakanda Virtual Academy is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.2 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools.

Geographically, the school is in a metropolitan area.

Five-year trend. Bethune Elementary's enrollment has contracted 37% since 2018, when it stood at 339 (now 213). The Hispanic share of enrollment edged up from 4% to 11% over that span. Class-load math has fell: from 10.9:1 in 2018 to 7.8:1 in 2025.

On the community side, posts here usually surface around fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.