Every dollar your school district spends is documented, filed, and sitting in a government database. CivicsData is being built to make that information readable — for parents, journalists, school board members, and anyone who wants to understand how public education is funded in Minnesota.
We’ll let you know when it’s ready. No spam, ever.
Public data is technically open. But technical access is not the same as real access. A 400-page state finance report filed in a government database is open. A visual tool that lets you compare your district to the one next door — across 25 years of spending — is accessible. There is a wide gap between those two things. CivicsData is being built to close it.
Minnesota school districts have filed detailed finance reports every year for decades. We’re turning that archive into a navigable timeline anyone can explore — no spreadsheet skills required.
What does Minnetonka spend on student support vs. Eden Prairie? Which district invests more in the classroom? Questions parents actually ask, finally answerable.
Every number is translated into something a parent can act on. Not raw government codes — real insight about what your district values and where it puts its money.
The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.
I’m a junior at Minnetonka High School. Last year, our team won a statewide education policy challenge by building a needs-based school funding formula and presenting it to district superintendents across Minnesota. What I found was that the data to understand these decisions already exists. It’s just invisible to most people. CivicsData is my attempt to change that — starting with Minnesota schools, built to last longer than a class project.