Education

The governor of Minnesota appoints a nine-member state board of education and the commissioner of education. The commissioner administers the state department of education.

Jesuit missionaries established St. Michael the Archangel mission at Frontenac in 1727 for the Sioux Indians. The first school for white settlers was opened in 1820 at Fort St. Anthony (later called Fort Snelling) near Minneapolis. The first permanent school-house was built at Mendota shortly thereafter. In 1849 the territorial legislature enacted a law to establish and provide support for public schools. In 1858 the Episcopal Church founded Shattuck School at Faribault as a boys' preparatory school; it was the first private school in the state. The first state school attendance law was passed in 1885. The present law requires attendance from age 7 to age 16.

Most of the state's Indian children now attend public schools subsidized by the federal government. A director of Indian education works under the state education department. An adult education unit for Indians was opened on the Red Lake Reservation in 1963.

The largest institution of higher learning in the state is the University of Minnesota. It was established in 1851 but did not open until 1869. The main campus is at Minneapolis-St. Paul. There are branches at Duluth, Morris, and Crookston.