Austin Public Schools’ Non-White Population Tops 50%

The Austin Public School District’s non-white student population has exceeded its white students this year.

According to the district’s Oct. 1 numbers, non-white students now account for 50.9 percent of the district’s entire population; Hispanics make up 29 percent, Asians 9.2 percent and blacks 8.3 percent.

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In Rochester Public Schools, comparatively, white students make up 60 percent of the student population. In the Winona School District, it’s 81 percent.

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In Austin’s 2001-02 school year, non-white students made up about 15 percent of the population. That number has climbed an average 1.98 percentage points each year since then.

APS also has 18.7 percent of students using English language services. While this is almost double the statewide average of 8.3, it is only half of their students who speak a second primary language at home.

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Superintendent David Krenz agreed that it was one of many assets of their students’ situations, saying that they had tried in the past to implement more multi-language studies early in a student’s life.

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While he did mention that the language and cultural differences can provide some difficulties, they are overall just part of the day-to-day functioning within Austin schools; this is their normal and there is no constant talk of these demographics or statistics.

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