Principal survey shows principals spending more time on administrative tasks; special survey ties Operation Metro Surge to student absences
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Summary
University and foundation presenters told the Senate Education Finance Committee that Minnesota principals report spending much of their work time on administrative duties, list student mental health and chronic absenteeism as top challenges, and that a special survey on Operation Metro Surge found widespread negative learning impacts and thousands of absences.
University researchers and foundation representatives presented findings from the Minnesota Principal Survey and a special Operation Metro Surge module to the Senate Education Finance Committee, summarizing principals’ reported working conditions, priorities, and the survey’s scale and response rates.
Katie Pickell, executive director of educational leadership at the University of Minnesota, said the survey achieved about a 46% response rate and is generalizable to the state principal population. She described consistent findings since 2021 that principals spend more time than they would like on administrative tasks and less time on instructional leadership. “Principals are telling us consistently over six years that they are spending much more time than they'd like on administrative tasks,” Pickell said.
Sarah Kemper (Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement) summarized the special Operation Metro Surge survey, saying roughly 80% of respondents statewide reported a negative impact on students’ ability to learn since December 2025. Kemper reported specific counts captured by schools: officers reported on school property and nearby, 49 students reported detained, about 849 students had a parent or guardian detained, over 9,000 absences attributed to enforcement activities, and approximately 1,400 students unenrolled or stopped attending.
Principals who testified described local effects. Mike Lemire (Century Elementary, Park Rapids Area Schools) said the operation “unexpectedly significantly impacted the Native American students and families in my community,” noting families were afraid to leave their homes and staff time shifted from instruction to crisis management. Julian Stankey (Birch Lake Elementary, White Bear Lake Area Schools) described students and families who left and later returned, and detailed efforts by staff to monitor bus stops and support students.
Committee members queried survey nonresponse and benchmarking for principal time use. Researchers said benchmark reports and dashboards in Tableau are available for further review and that trend data across survey iterations will be released for lawmakers this summer.
