HISD Superintendent Unveils Proposal To Revamp Magnet Program

HISD Superintendent Terry Grier on Thursday unveiled a magnet program plan that aims to give more students access to high-quality themed schools, while maintaining the district’s top programs of choice.

Grier presented the Board of Education with recommendations for funding the magnet programs based on the number of students enrolled. Currently, magnet programs receive a pre-established amount of money regardless of enrollment. One elementary school with 165 students in a math/science/technology magnet currently receives the equivalent of $181 per student, while another with 181 students receives $1,276 per student.

The superintendent’s funding proposal seeks to bring consistency and equity to magnet program funding across the district.

The Board of Education must now decide whether to approve the recommendations.

The proposals come after months of research and public input on the state of the Houston Independent School District’s 113 magnet programs. HISD conducted 25 public forums, gathered and analyzed hundreds of written comments, commissioned a third-party program review, and held many meetings with advisory groups consisting of parents, principals, magnet coordinators, and community members. The district also reviewed a 2006 study of HISD’s magnet program.

“I am proud to bring forward these recommendations that truly represent this city’s unique educational approach that has spawned some of the best magnet schools in America,” Grier said.

He also stressed that while magnet schools are a critical component of HISD’s school choice offerings, the district remains dedicated to boosting the level of rigor at all schools, particularly neighborhood campuses.

The proposals reflect the values stated by the Board of Education’s Declaration of Beliefs and Visions, Grier said. It states: “Equal access to instructional excellence requires adequate and equitable allocation of resources. That, in turn, requires fair funding formulas.”

Under Grier’s proposal, 84 schools with magnet programs would keep them, although 20 of them would have new program themes, such as International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement, Science Technology Engineering and Math, Museum, Career Academy, Fine Arts or Spanish Dual Language.

The proposal would also create 13 new magnet programs at schools that do not currently have magnets. These include four new early colleges where students would be able to earn specialized associate’s degrees by the time they leave high school. Also included would be HISD’s first Mandarin Language magnet at Gordon Elementary School.

Some new programs could open for the 2011-12 school year, under the proposal, while others would take a year to develop.

Twenty-five schools would lose their magnet programs because of low student enrollment or insufficient building space. These schools would receive 40 percent of their current magnet funding and student transportation for the 2011-12 school year. They would receive no magnet funding and no magnet transportation beginning with the 2012-13 school year.

Under the plan, HISD would continue offering three types of magnet school structures:

• Dedicated Magnet Schools — These Magnet schools have no attendance zones and all students transfer into the school. Dedicated Magnet schools provide a unique curriculum and single educational focus for all students.
• Schoolwide Magnet Programs — These Magnet school programs provide a specialized program for all students that is added to the school’s regular curriculum. Campuses with schoolwide Magnet programs have attendance zones. They also attract Magnet students from outside the neighborhood.
• School-Within-A-School Magnet Programs — These Magnet school programs are housed within traditional neighborhood schools. Although these students meet separately for specialty classes, they may join with the neighborhood students for studies not related to the area of specialization.

HISD’s Vanguard magnets for gifted and talented students would retain their magnet status and transportation services. All elementary magnet programs, except Vanguard magnets, would be either dedicated magnet schools or schoolwide magnet programs.

HISD administration developed a magnet funding proposal after analyzing current funding practices; surveying magnet funding practices at other school districts; reviewing a third-party evaluation of HISD magnets, and getting input from teachers, magnet coordinators, and principals.

The following chart displays the proposed amount of money schools would receive for each magnet student, based on magnet program themes.

Magnet Program Theme	Elementary Schools	Middle Schools	High Schools
Fine Arts	$250	$300	$350*
IB	$100	$100	$100
Advanced Placement		$100	$100
Vanguard	$300	$350	$400
Montessori	$150	$150
STEM	$150	$175	$200
Languages	$100	$100	$100
Early College			$100
*Career Academies		$100	$500**
DeBakey High School for Health Professions			$675
High School for Performing and Visual Arts			$675
High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice			$100
Barbara Jordan High School for Careers			$100
All Others	$100	$100	$100

*Career Academy funding is dependent upon community college tuition costs (dual credit). The amount may vary.

According to the proposed funding formula, a fine arts middle school magnet program with 400 students would receive $120,000, for example. A high school International Baccalaureate magnet program with 500 students would receive $50,000.

In addition to the per-pupil magnet funding, some programs would receive funding to hire supplemental magnet staff.

Magnet structures and themes receiving additional funding for staff	Elementary Schools	Middle Schools including PK/K-8 schools	High Schools including 6-12 schools
Dedicated Magnet School	1 teacher	2–3 teachers	3–5 teachers
School-wide Magnet Programs	1 teacher	1 teacher	1 teacher
Montessori Schools	1 teacher + 4 TAs	1 teacher + 4 TAs