Minnesota — school discipline

Governing authority stated in the sources

Minnesota Statutes 121A.41 (definitions), 121A.45 (grounds for dismissal), 121A.46 (suspension procedures), and 121A.47 (exclusion and expulsion procedures), which together form part of the Pupil Fair Dismissal Act at sections 121A.40 to 121A.56. Each section page carries a recent-history list of session-law amendments and no separate revision date; that absence is recorded here rather than filled. — Minn. Stat. 121A.47, retrieved Aug 30, 2026

The lines the state draws

Minnesota defines four removals, and defines them against each other. ""Dismissal" means the denial of the current educational program to any pupil, including exclusion, expulsion, and suspension. It does not include removal from class." ""Suspension" means an action by the school administration, under rules promulgated by the school board, prohibiting a pupil from attending school for a period of no more than ten school days. If a suspension is longer than five days, the suspending administrator must provide the superintendent with a reason for the longer suspension." ""Exclusion" means an action taken by the school board to prevent enrollment or reenrollment of a pupil for a period that shall not extend beyond the school year." ""Expulsion" means a school board action to prohibit an enrolled pupil from further attendance for up to 12 months from the date the pupil is expelled." (121A.41) Removal is stated as a last resort rather than a first option: "No school shall dismiss any pupil without attempting to use nonexclusionary disciplinary policies and practices before dismissal proceedings or pupil withdrawal agreements, except where it appears that the pupil will create an immediate and substantial danger to self or to surrounding persons or property." (121A.45(1))

Offices and appeal bodies in these sources

Suspension is the school administration's; exclusion and expulsion are the school board's, and neither may happen without a hearing. "No exclusion or expulsion shall be imposed without a hearing, unless the right to a hearing is waived in writing by the pupil and parent or guardian. The action shall be initiated by the school board or its agent." (121A.47(1)) The hearing runs on a stated clock: "The hearing shall be scheduled within ten days of the service of the written notice unless an extension, not to exceed five days, is requested for good cause by the school board, pupil, parent or guardian." It is the family's to open or close: "The hearing shall be closed unless the pupil, parent or guardian requests an open hearing." (121A.47(3), (5)) The written notice of intent to take action must "contain a complete statement of the facts, a list of the witnesses and a description of their testimony;", "state the date, time, and place of the hearing;", "be accompanied by a copy of sections 121A.40 to 121A.56;", and "describe the nonexclusionary disciplinary practices accorded the pupil in an attempt to avoid the expulsion proceedings;". (121A.47(2)) No state office, phone number, or email for parents appears in the sources; that absence is the finding, though the Department of Education is named as the publisher of a legal assistance resource list, quoted below.

Sources last checked

Aug 30, 2026

Reproduced from the state's own statutes quoted below: potentially relevant official sources, not a determination of which one governs any situation.

This page assembles what Minnesota publishes in statute about K-12 school discipline. This is a baseline docket page: the governing sections, the lines the state draws, and the decision-makers and hearing rights, quoted with dates. The full sections (the framework route by route, the four hoisted process rows, every stated timeline, the district delegation map, and records access) follow as the discipline layer deepens behind its breadth sprint; the change log states exactly what is not yet captured. Minnesota is one of a small number of states whose statute routes the family toward a lawyer by name. The expulsion notice must inform the pupil and parent of the right to "have a representative of the pupil's own choosing, including legal counsel, at the hearing. The district must advise the pupil's parent or guardian that free or low-cost legal assistance may be available and that a legal assistance resource list is available from the Department of Education and is posted on their website;", along with rights to "examine the pupil's records before the hearing;", to "present evidence; and" to "confront and cross-examine witnesses." (121A.47(2)) That resource list is a state-published document and is listed below as capture pending. Before a suspension the statute requires a conference and states what happens when the removal cannot wait: "The school administration shall not suspend a pupil from school without an informal administrative conference with the pupil. The informal administrative conference shall take place before the suspension, except where it appears that the pupil will create an immediate and substantial danger to self or to surrounding persons or property, in which case the conference shall take place as soon as practicable following the suspension." At that conference "a school administrator shall notify the pupil of the grounds for the suspension, provide an explanation of the evidence the authorities have, and the pupil may present the pupil's version of the facts." (121A.46(1), (2)) The written notice that follows carries its own contents and clocks, including a readmission plan and, again, a copy of the Act; it is served on the pupil "at or before the time the suspension is to take effect, and upon the pupil's parent or guardian by mail within 48 hours of the conference." (121A.46(3)) Schooling is protected at two thresholds: "Alternative education services must be provided to a pupil who is suspended for more than five consecutive school days.", and separately, "School administration must allow a suspended pupil the opportunity to complete all school work assigned during the period of the pupil's suspension and to receive full credit for satisfactorily completing the assignments." (121A.46(4), (5)) A tenth cumulative day of removal triggers a meeting: "If a pupil's total days of removal from school exceeds ten cumulative days in a school year, the school district shall make reasonable attempts to convene a meeting with the pupil and the pupil's parent or guardian before subsequently removing the pupil from school". (121A.45(3)) The conduct rules themselves are the board's — the first ground for dismissal is "willful violation of any reasonable school board regulation. Such regulation must be clear and definite to provide notice to pupils that they must conform their conduct to its requirements;". (121A.45(2)) That delegation will anchor the full page's delegation map. For a student with an IEP or Section 504 plan, the disability layer lives on this site's Minnesota special education page. Confirm applicability with the district and the agencies. All dates on this page are quoted from the sources, not a deadline calculation performed for you.