From: stvjas@meteor.wisc.edu (Stephen Jascourt)
Subject: Re: Magnet schools
Organization: University of Wisconsin, Meteorology and Space Science
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 93 02:48:23 GMT

In article <1993Jan7.200126.13933@wam.umd.edu> kckbxr@next16pg2.wam.umd.edu (Robin Hood) writes:
>I didn't read the article, but your letter and the examples taken from the  
>article indicate magnet schools used in a post-high school setting.   
>There, I agree.  In high schools, in my opinion, it's a different story.   
>In P.G. County, MD, there are a variety of magnet schools offerred.  I  
>think that this is discriminatory at this age-level.  I don't see the need  
>to concentrate on the magnet school programs on the hs-level when there  
>aren't enough funds to educate the general public properly.  Many high  
>schools are limited as far as necessities are concerned (terribly old  
>books, limited amounts of copy paper, resources, teachers, etc.) to the  
>general public.  I don't see how the Dept. of Education can justify  
>spending the general public's tax dollars on a few select individuals.  If  
>these people want advanced education, then they should look for alternate  
>means to funding it, but not the PUBLIC education budget! 
>
>bill
 
The PG County magnet schools get no more money than any other non-magnet
school in PG county (per pupil). At one time, the county had a single
science & technology center magnet high school, Eleanor Roosevelt HS. Many
outstanding, talented people from all over the county came to that school,
even those who weren't interested in studying science and technology, because
they were motivated to get a better education and be among their intellectual
peers. Teachers with commutes of an hour each way chose to teach at that school
rather than at schools in other counties whose schools had better reputations
than PG public schools. The resulting mix of students and teachers was
phenomenal, and the school excelled in all areas including band, track & cross
country, and other things, and of course, in science & tech including in
math and science competitions, AP courses with students getting 4's and 5's on
the AP tests, etc., and everyone had a wonderful time working hard, meeting
challenges. It was a real, living example of what Herman Rubin preaches all the
time here-- grouping students by ability so the best aren't hindered. Yet,
despite this special program, the county funded the school the same per pupil
as other schools, no special budgetary allotments for any special equipment,
etc. The school actually had two parts, the science and tech magnet part and a
regular high school, and because of the presence of the science and tech
center and it's influence on the rest of the school, people would try to get
their kids to live in the geographic area bused to the regular part of the
high school-- they would move or change who had custody of the kids or have
the kids move in with aunts and uncles, anything to get them into Roosevelt HS.
So the county always underestimated how many people would actually go there and
inadvertantly underbudget the school. Thus we had a magnet school with the
smallest per pupil funding in the county (in which it was the only magnet 
school).

More recently, the county made a system whereby nearly every school is a
magnet school for one subject area or another. As far as I can tell, the
result has not had much effect on education quality -- Eleanor Roosevelt
worked because it attracted the best of everybody, students and teachers,
creating a special environment. It still does to some extent, as Roosevelt
still has a large number of National Merit semifinalists and winners of
the regional science fair and so on, and many of the big-name universities
recruit there. And still, the science and tech center receives *no* special
funding from the county, Bill's post notwithstanding. 

Stephen Jascourt   stvjas@meteor.wisc.edu