Dive Brief:
- The Los Angeles Unified School District started the 2015-16 school year with 16 new magnet schools, part of an effort to improve achievement across the district and entice families to choose public schools over charters and private options, according to the Los Angeles Times.
- While district-operated schools have lost 200,000 students since 2003, magnets could fit fewer than half of the students who want to attend them last year and charter school enrollment is on the rise.
- Magnets aim to attract students across neighborhood boundaries, diversifying schools with in-demand themes, but some critics say the pace at which the district is adding magnets undermines their high-quality reputation.
Dive Insight:
Cities that have large numbers of charter schools have struggled for years to stem enrollment losses to these alternatives. While the district has to educate fewer students, creating savings, many of its costs remain the same when students leave, including much of the maintenance and administrative overhead. Detroit has become notorious for what has been characterized as cannibalization of its public schools, with charter and district-run programs spending considerable amounts on recruitment alone. In surveys, parents continue to say they don’t want more choices, in general, they want just want high-quality options to choose from.
Beyond science, technology, engineering and math-focused magnets and other themed schools, LAUSD opened a new all-girls school this year, the Girls Academic Leadership Academy. It plans to follow it up with an all-boys school set to open in 2017.