South Washington County Schools presented its annual Indigenous Education update on Feb. 20, describing how the district uses Minnesota American Indian Education Aid and reporting that the Native American Parent Advisory Committee voted the program is meeting its intent.

The presentation, introduced by Assistant Superintendent Kelly Jansen, explained eligibility and program requirements for the state aid and summarized six state focus areas the district uses to structure programming. Jansen said that, to participate, a district must “have at least 20 indigenous students who have self-identified in our March report on October 1,” and that the district’s parent advisory “voted ... that we are making progress in using the funds in the way that they are intended.”

District staff told the board the aid has grown since 2022 and that the district currently reports 386 students who self-identify as Native American or Indigenous — roughly 2% of the student population. Stephanie Schroeder, indigenous education community coordinator, detailed the district’s strategies across the state’s focus areas: postsecondary preparation, academic achievement, curriculum integration, positive reinforcement for students and families, intercultural awareness, and requirements to supplement — not supplant — other state and federal programs. Among efforts, Schroeder described an ACT-prep course targeted to Indigenous students and literacy tutoring using Indigenous-authored texts.

Schroeder said the district is aiming to increase ACT participation for Indigenous students, noting the program is “really trying to get at least 10 students to take the ACTs,” and described a virtual test-prep offering and one-on-one mentoring through the district’s cultural liaison. On literacy, the district runs a K–5 tutoring program using culturally authentic texts, a middle-school book club, and progress monitoring every six weeks, the presentation said. Schroeder added that cultural trunks and Indigenous-authored books have been distributed to schools for classroom use.

Board members asked how the tutoring aligns with the district’s ARC literacy strategies; Schroeder said the tutoring was built with the district’s elementary literacy lead and that tutors are trained in ARC strategies, but that she would provide more detail on whether the same online data-tracking tools are used. A board member asked whether the Indigenous program funding described is exclusively state aid; staff clarified the presentation covered only the state aid program. The presenters also said a separate, treaty-based federal award exists and is substantially smaller (staff cited about $26,000 for the federal award).

The Native American Parent Advisory Committee (NAIPAC) is required by state program rules to review and vote on whether the district’s use of aid aligns with program intent; the district reported that NAIPAC held a compliance vote on Jan. 14 and concurred that the district is meeting the program goals.

District leaders framed the update as ongoing program work rather than a completed project, and staff committed to follow up with the board on specifics about literacy-data tracking and any additional implementation questions.

The district plans to continue the ACT test-prep, expand literacy resources using Indigenous-authored materials, and maintain NAIPAC involvement as required by state aid rules.