MPR’s Tim Pugmire reports on the testing challenges of public schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul see more immigrants and refugees each year…with few speaking English. That makes passing exams, including the 8th grade basic skills tests in reading and math, extremely difficult. The state provides money to educate these students, but in many cases the immigration is outpacing the funding.

Minneapolis alone has 8,000 Limited English Proficient, or LEP students. In total, they speak more than 80 languages, but the largest numbers are Hmong, Spanish, and Somali.