Magnus schools than HISD are at a
crossroads district leaders are talking
about potential changes to how magnet
schools are funded where they're located
and what programs to include one reason
behind that discussion concerns from
some board members over what they
consider racial and funding inequalities
investigator Robert Arnold looked at how
each magnet campus is funded and the
racial makeup of every campus tonight
he's sharing those results along with
one idea to address the concerns every
year parents and students anxiously
crowd H is DS magnet school enrollment
fairs hoping to get a spot in fine arts
science medicine even aviation programs
it may just be that they're just far too
many people applying for too few spots
Ava
lives near Coulter Elementary her mom
has been trying for three years to get
into this schools language program the
reason why I found it important to
happen my child at a magnet school was
because of the test scores because the
little Sophie and Emma attend the
Mandarin immersion school near the
Galleria it's you know part of a
cultural heritage thing that I wanted my
my kids to learn it's always now parents
have another concern in February HISD
held workshops to discuss potential
changes to how magnet schools are funded
then superintendent Richard kalonzo said
this there are vast neighborhoods in our
city in our district
Revere's parents also worry the district
will take from existing programs to
correct what some believe is a racially
and ethnically unbalanced system board
member Jolanda Jones it is by design
that all the schools that everybody
wants to go to once their kids to go to
have a totally high priority of white
students for the most part like well
above their percentage within the
district
following Jones's comments we looked at
funding at every magnet school and each
campuses racial mega whites make up 8%
of H is D's total student population
there are 108 magnet schools 68% have
white student populations below 8% HISD
insist magnets are funded based on grade
level and program type not race or
neighborhood cashmere high schools
performing arts program has the highest
level of funding at more than $1,500 per
student less than 1% of its magnet and
Wolman
his white DeBakey high school's medical
program spends twelve hundred and twenty
five dollars per student with a white
population of just over nine percent HS
PVA's Fine Arts program receives eleven
hundred and fifty dollars per student
and forty four percent of its students
are white
hey jst would not provide an on-camera
interview for this story and leaders
have yet to tell us how they determined
exact dollar amounts during that
February workshop Carranza said this we
couldn't explain why new programs get
funded at certain grades
Jolanda Jones also sent KPRC this
statement our schools in HISD are still
segregated in schools that have an over
representation of Anglo and Asian
students are better funded and have
better outcomes I'm not saying it's
intentional but I am saying it's a
systemic problem that needs to be fixed
one proposed fix a quadrant system to
help children in all neighborhoods have
easier access to magnets it's just a way
for us to make sure that programs get
scattered throughout the district and so
that there are programs closer to where
all of our students live and they're not
concentrated in one part of the city
clearly there is a lot more data that
factors into this debate in the concerns
over any changes to the magnet school
program part of urse under the
investigate section of click2houston.com
we have maps showing the location of
each magnet school in HISD
the racial makeup of each of these
campuses the programs offered at these
campuses and the per student funding
it's all under the investigate section
of click2houston.com robert arnold KPRC
Channel 2 News