Minnesota — school discipline
- 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) A suspension can run longer where danger is immediate or an expulsion is already under way: "the school administration may extend the suspension to a total of 15 school days" in those circumstances. (121A.41, subd. 10) 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 hearing itself runs before whichever forum the school board selects: "an independent hearing officer;" "a member of the school board;" "a committee of the school board; or" "the full school board;" "as determined by the school board. The hearing shall be conducted in a fair and impartial manner." (121A.47(6)) 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
- Oct 22, 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 under the Pupil Fair Dismissal Act (Minn. Stat. 121A.40 to 121A.56): who may suspend, exclude, or expel a pupil and how, the notice and hearing rights the Act writes into each route, what education continues during and after a removal, and, because the Act assigns the conduct rules themselves and several procedural choices to each district's school board, a map of the questions answered only there. The fullest single statement is the section group captured here — 121A.41 (definitions), 121A.45 (grounds for dismissal), 121A.46 (suspension procedures), and 121A.47 (exclusion and expulsion procedures) — each served by the Revisor of Statutes with a running list of session-law amendments rather than a single revision date. The Act's own vocabulary appears throughout: dismissal, suspension, exclusion, expulsion, nonexclusionary disciplinary policies and practices, and the pupil withdrawal agreement. School board regulations add detail this page does not carry — which conduct is punishable, the rules governing suspension itself, and which of four forums hears an exclusion or expulsion case; the delegation map below points at exactly those questions. 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.
The framework, as the state writes it
Definitions (121A.41). The Act builds its four removals — dismissal, suspension, exclusion, and expulsion — from one section, quoted in the docket. Suspension carries its own internal limits: "Each suspension action may include a readmission plan. The readmission plan shall include, where appropriate, a provision for implementing alternative educational services upon readmission and may not be used to extend the current suspension." Consecutive suspensions for the same conduct are barred except where "the pupil will create an immediate and substantial danger to self or to surrounding persons or property, or where the district is in the process of initiating an expulsion," the circumstances under which a suspension can reach 15 school days, quoted in the docket. (subd. 10) Alternative educational services, the Act's term for continued instruction outside the regular classroom, "may include, but are not limited to, special tutoring, modified curriculum, modified instruction, other modifications or adaptations, instruction through electronic media, special education services as indicated by appropriate assessment, homebound instruction, supervised homework, or enrollment in another district or in an alternative learning center under section 123A.05 selected to allow the pupil to progress toward meeting graduation standards under section 120B.02, although in a different setting." (subd. 11) Nonexclusionary disciplinary policies and practices are "policies and practices that are alternatives to dismissing a pupil from school, including but not limited to evidence-based positive behavior interventions and supports, social and emotional services, school-linked mental health services, counseling services, social work services, academic screening for Title 1 services or reading interventions, and alternative education services." (subd. 12) A pupil withdrawal agreement — "a verbal or written agreement between a school administrator or district administrator and a pupil's parent to withdraw a student from the school district to avoid expulsion or exclusion dismissal proceedings" — is capped: "The duration of the withdrawal agreement cannot be for more than a 12-month period." (subd. 13)
Grounds for dismissal (121A.45). The last-resort principle is quoted in the docket. (subd. 1) A pupil may be dismissed on any of three grounds: "(a) 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;" "(b) willful conduct that significantly disrupts the rights of others to an education, or the ability of school personnel to perform their duties, or school sponsored extracurricular activities; or" "(c) willful conduct that endangers the pupil or other pupils, or surrounding persons, including school district employees, or property of the school." (subd. 2) Crossing ten cumulative removal days in a year triggers its own obligation, quoted in the timelines below. (subd. 3)
Suspension procedures (121A.46). Before any suspension the administration must hold, or promptly follow with, an informal conference; that conference, its content, and the danger exception are quoted in the published process below. (subd. 1, 2) The suspension is followed by written notice on a fixed clock, quoted in the timelines below. (subd. 3) Two floors protect continued education: alternative educational services past five consecutive days, and full credit for completed suspension work, both quoted in the published process below. (subd. 4, 5)
Exclusion and expulsion procedures (121A.47). No exclusion or expulsion may be imposed without a hearing, unless the right to a hearing is waived in writing by the pupil and parent or guardian, and the action is initiated by the school board or its agent. (subd. 1) The written notice's required contents, the hearing's schedule, forum, and openness, and the family's evidentiary rights are quoted in the published process below. (subd. 2–11) The school board's decision follows the hearing officer's or committee's recommendation on a stated clock and must be written and reasoned. (subd. 12, 13) A school administrator must prepare and enforce an admission or readmission plan for any pupil excluded or expelled, quoted in the published process below. (subd. 14)
The published process
- Notice of charges and the hearing right before long-term exclusion
- Before a suspension, "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, subd. 1, 2) The written notice that follows must contain "the grounds for suspension, a brief statement of the facts, a description of the testimony, a readmission plan, and a copy of sections 121A.40 to 121A.56," 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, subd. 3) Before an exclusion or expulsion, "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." (121A.47, subd. 1) 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;". It must also inform the family 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;", to "examine the pupil's records before the hearing;", to "present evidence; and" to "confront and cross-examine witnesses." (121A.47, subd. 2) The hearing runs before whichever forum the school board selects, quoted in the docket, and "The hearing shall be closed unless the pupil, parent or guardian requests an open hearing." (121A.47, subd. 5, 6)
- Services during exclusion
- During a suspension, "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, subd. 4(a), 5) A pupil may be suspended through the pendency of an exclusion or expulsion hearing, "provided that alternative educational services are implemented to the extent that suspension exceeds five consecutive school days." (121A.46, subd. 4(b)) After an exclusion or expulsion, "A school administrator must prepare and enforce an admission or readmission plan for any pupil who is excluded or expelled from school. The plan must include measures to improve the pupil's behavior, which may include completing a character education program, consistent with section 120B.232, subdivision 1, social and emotional learning, counseling, social work services, mental health services, referrals for special education or 504 evaluation, and evidence-based academic interventions. The plan must include reasonable attempts to obtain parental involvement in the admission or readmission process, and may indicate the consequences to the pupil of not improving the pupil's behavior." (121A.47, subd. 14(a))
- The record made, and the appeal route
- At the hearing, "The school board shall record the hearing proceedings at district expense, and a party may obtain a transcript at its own expense. Testimony shall be given under oath." (121A.47, subd. 7) The recommendation "must be made to the school board and served upon the parties within two days of the end of the hearing". The school board "shall render its decision at a meeting held within five days after receiving the recommendation." The decision "must be based on the record, must be in writing, and must state the controlling facts on which the decision is made in sufficient detail to apprise the parties and the commissioner of education of the basis and reason for the decision." (121A.47, subd. 12, 13) A further appeal from the school board's written decision — to the commissioner of education, to a court, or elsewhere — is not stated in the sources reviewed (121A.41, 121A.45, 121A.46, and 121A.47 were searched); the Act cites its own remaining sections only as the range "121A.40 to 121A.56," and those remaining sections are capture pending, listed in the source map below.
- If the student has an IEP or Section 504 plan
- The disability layer lives on this site's Minnesota special education page. The Act's own definition of "pupil" cross-references disability status: "A "student with a disability" or a "pupil with a disability" has the same meaning as a "child with a disability" under section 125A.02." (121A.41, subd. 7(b))
The four rows above answer the questions an experienced adviser raises first, from the state's own statutes, or record that a question is not answered in them.
Timelines, as stated in the sources
All quoted; none calculated. From Minn. Stat. 121A.41, 121A.45, 121A.46, and 121A.47 as retrieved Sep 3, 2026.
On the length of a suspension: "no more than ten school days." (121A.41, subd. 10)
On a suspension longer than five days: "the suspending administrator must provide the superintendent with a reason for the longer suspension." (121A.41, subd. 10)
On extending a suspension: "the school administration may extend the suspension to a total of 15 school days" where danger is immediate or an expulsion is under way. (121A.41, subd. 10)
On notice after a suspension: served on the pupil "at or before the time the suspension is to take effect," and on the pupil's parent or guardian "by mail within 48 hours of the conference." Where there was no conference because of immediate danger, "the written notice shall be served upon the pupil and the pupil's parent or guardian within 48 hours of the suspension." (121A.46, subd. 3)
On alternative education after a suspension: required for a pupil "suspended for more than five consecutive school days." (121A.46, subd. 4(a))
On the ten-cumulative-day 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, subd. 3)
On the length of an exclusion: "shall not extend beyond the school year." (121A.41, subd. 4)
On the length of an expulsion: "up to 12 months from the date the pupil is expelled." (121A.41, subd. 5)
On a pupil withdrawal agreement: "cannot be for more than a 12-month period." (121A.41, subd. 13)
On the exclusion or expulsion hearing schedule: "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." (121A.47, subd. 3)
On the hearing officer's or committee's recommendation: "served upon the parties within two days of the end of the hearing." (121A.47, subd. 12)
On the school board's decision: rendered "at a meeting held within five days after receiving the recommendation." (121A.47, subd. 13)
What any of this means for a particular situation is for the agency and its processes to determine.
Assigned to district policy by the quoted provision
The Act writes the frame and expressly hands several questions to each district's school board. Each entry below is a question a district's own documents answer, with the delegating text quoted. No district's code of conduct is captured or quoted here.
The school board's own conduct regulations. A pupil may be dismissed for "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, subd. 2(a))
The rules governing suspension itself. ""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." (121A.41, subd. 10)
Which forum hears an exclusion or expulsion. "The hearing shall take place before: (1) an independent hearing officer; (2) a member of the school board; (3) a committee of the school board; or (4) the full school board; as determined by the school board." (121A.47, subd. 6)
The readmission plan's contents. "A school administrator must prepare and enforce an admission or readmission plan for any pupil who is excluded or expelled from school. The plan must include measures to improve the pupil's behavior, which may include completing a character education program, consistent with section 120B.232, subdivision 1, social and emotional learning, counseling, social work services, mental health services, referrals for special education or 504 evaluation, and evidence-based academic interventions." (121A.47, subd. 14(a))
Records access, as stated in the sources
At a reasonable time prior to a hearing, "the pupil, parent or guardian, or representative, shall be given access to all public school system records pertaining to the pupil, including any tests or reports upon which the proposed action may be based." (121A.47, subd. 8) Beyond that hearing-specific access right, inspection, correction, and expungement of discipline records generally are not stated in the sources reviewed (121A.41, 121A.45, 121A.46, and 121A.47 were searched); Minnesota's Government Data Practices Act (Minn. Stat. ch. 13, which includes section 13.32 on educational data) is a likely further source and has never been captured. Federal records rights under FERPA are federal and are not restated here.
Source map
| Document | Location | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Minn. Stat. 121A.41 (definitions) | revisor.mn.gov | recent-history list of amendments on the section page; no separate revision date; retrieved Sep 3, 2026 |
| Minn. Stat. 121A.45 (grounds for dismissal) | revisor.mn.gov | recent-history list of amendments on the section page; no separate revision date; retrieved Sep 3, 2026 |
| Minn. Stat. 121A.46 (suspension procedures) | revisor.mn.gov | recent-history list of amendments on the section page; no separate revision date; retrieved Sep 3, 2026 |
| Minn. Stat. 121A.47 (exclusion and expulsion procedures) | revisor.mn.gov | recent-history list of amendments on the section page; no separate revision date; retrieved Sep 3, 2026 |
| The Department of Education's legal assistance resource list | required by Minn. Stat. 121A.47, subd. 2(f)(1) to be available from the department and posted on its website | not located in this review; capture pending |
| The remaining sections of the Pupil Fair Dismissal Act (Minn. Stat. 121A.40, 121A.42–121A.44, 121A.48–121A.56), cited in the captured text only as the range "121A.40 to 121A.56" | cited throughout the captured sections; would carry any appeal route beyond the school board | capture pending |
| Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, Minn. Stat. ch. 13 (incl. § 13.32, educational data) | not cited by any captured section; identified here as a likely further source for records access | never captured; see records access |
| School board regulations on pupil conduct, suspension rules, and hearing-forum selection | each board, per 121A.45(2)(a), 121A.41(10), and 121A.47(6) | never captured; the delegation map above points at them |
Change log
Sep 3, 2026 · Deepened to a full page (discipline-layer deepening pass). Re-captured first-party under recipe tools/recipes/minnesota-discipline.json (digest 53120cc28170, unchanged from the recipe used to build the Aug 30, 2026 baseline): Minn. Stat. 121A.41, 121A.45, 121A.46, and 121A.47, each from its own citation address at the Revisor of Statutes, scoped to the page's main element. The four captured sections verified unchanged in substance from the baseline capture; a first capture attempt in this session failed on one source with a transient TLS error from curl and a second attempt succeeded, which is a fact about the transport rather than the source. Built out sections 01 (the framework route by route), 02 (the four hoisted rows — notice and hearing, services during exclusion, the record and appeal route, and the IEP/504 cross-link), the timelines section, the district delegation map, and records access, all from the same four sections; no additional source was needed to reach full depth. Findings recorded rather than smoothed: (1) the hearing that decides an exclusion or expulsion runs before whichever of four forums the school board selects — an independent hearing officer, a school board member, a board committee, or the full board — itself a delegated choice, and a second delegation-map entry beyond the one found at baseline; (2) a further appeal from the school board's written decision — to the commissioner of education, to a court, or elsewhere — is not stated in the four captured sections; the Act's remaining sections are cited in the captured text only as the range "121A.40 to 121A.56" and are capture pending; (3) inspection, correction, and expungement of discipline records generally are not stated beyond the pre-hearing records-access right of 121A.47, subd. 8; Minnesota's Government Data Practices Act (ch. 13) is a likely further source and has never been captured; (4) the readmission plan a school administrator must prepare after an exclusion or expulsion (121A.47, subd. 14(a)) is a services-during/after-exclusion provision distinct from the alternative-education floor found at baseline, and is now also the delegation map's fourth entry; (5) the seven other findings recorded at baseline (the four-way removal taxonomy, the superintendent-notice rule for suspensions over five days, the nonexclusionary-practices-first principle, the legal-assistance notice, the alternative-education and full-credit floors, the ten-cumulative-day meeting trigger, and the school-board-regulation ground for dismissal) all still hold on this capture. Not yet captured: the Department of Education's legal assistance resource list, the Pupil Fair Dismissal Act's remaining sections, the Government Data Practices Act, and school board regulations (never captured by design). Internet Archive captures: to be added. Reviewer: Carrie Schluter. Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.
Aug 30, 2026 · Baseline page created (discipline-layer breadth sprint). Captured first-party under recipe tools/recipes/minnesota-discipline.json: Minn. Stat. 121A.41, 121A.45, 121A.46, and 121A.47, each from its own citation address at the Revisor of Statutes, scoped to the page's main element. Findings recorded: (1) Minnesota defines dismissal, suspension, exclusion, and expulsion against each other in one definitions section, with suspension capped at ten school days and expulsion at twelve months; (2) a suspension longer than five days obliges the suspending administrator to give the superintendent a reason, which is an internal accountability step no other state captured so far states in statute; (3) nonexclusionary practices must be attempted before any dismissal proceeding, and the expulsion notice must describe which ones were tried — the statute requires the district to show its work; (4) the notice must tell the family 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 posted on its website; that list is a state-published document and is listed as capture pending; (5) alternative education services are required past five consecutive suspension days, and a suspended pupil must be allowed to complete assigned work for full credit; (6) exceeding ten cumulative days of removal in a school year triggers a required attempt to convene a meeting with the family before any further removal, with an optional mental health screening the district need not pay for; (7) the first ground for dismissal is willful violation of a school board regulation that "must be clear and definite to provide notice to pupils" — a delegation with a stated quality standard attached, and the entry that will anchor the full page's delegation map; (8) no state office or parent contact appears in the sources. Not yet built, pending the deepening pass: sections 01–02 (framework, hoisted rows, timelines), the district delegation map, and records access. Internet Archive captures: to be added. Reviewer: Carrie Schluter, reviewed 2026-08-30. Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.