Trying to Get in Tune (TX)
October 25, 2010
In southwest Houston, students in Parker Elementary’s special magnet program learn to play instruments from professionals. They get group lessons daily and private lessons weekly. Pop star Beyoncé Knowles got her start there.
The Houston school district gives Parker about $670 per student to run the music program, which is so popular it draws a waiting list of children from around the city.
Cook Elementary, on the north side, also has a fine arts program. It gets $29 per student — not enough to cover a full-time dance teacher or to hire a theater instructor.<br /> ;
Both campuses have the desired "magnet" label, but the Houston Independent School District funds them at wildly different rates.
Data from HISD show an arbitrary funding system for all of its 113 magnet schools. Some get tens of thousands of dollars for programs that attract few students while others limp along on limited cash. The district has hired the nonprofit Magnet Schools of America to audit its program – a process expected to result in a new funding model and changes to unsuccessful programs.
"Right now, the funding’s all over the place," Superintendent Terry Grier said, echoing concerns expressed by his predecessor, Abelardo Saavedra, in 2008. "We want to know what this third-party group recommends."
HISD is giving schools about $25 million for their magnet programs this year.
Ryan, Key and Sharpstown middle schools top HISD’s list of per-pupil magnet spending.
Key gets $170,000 for its foreign language program, which drew five students from outside the neighborhood this year, according to HISD data. About 70 other students at Key are part of the magnet program, so the per-pupil spending is more than $2,300.
Kolter Elementary, which also has a foreign language program, gets about $200,000, or $600 per pupil. About half the students don’t live in the attendance zone.
Nicole Moore, who became principal of Key this year, said the school offered only two foreign languages when she arrived, and students weren’t rushing to sign up for the courses. The school still offers Spanish, but Moore has started building up Key’s band in hopes of starting a fine arts magnet to align with nearby Kashmere High.
Robotics, architecture
Ryan Middle School gets $48,600 for its robotics program for gifted students. According to records provided by HISD, only a dozen students were enrolled as of this month, costing $4,051 per pupil. But Principal Michael McKenzie, who came to the school this summer, said enrollment in the magnet program is triple that, bringing down the per-student cost.
McKenzie said he plans to start a new health sciences magnet at Ryan – like HISD’s prestigious DeBakey High School for Health Professions – and he has made the robotics program more rigorous.
"We want students to understand how those skills can lend themselves to innovation in the automotive industry or in engineering," he said.
The architecture and graphic design magnet at Sharpstown Middle costs $3,500 per student, according to HISD records.
Lupita Hinojosa, the district’s assistant superintendent of school choice, points to Parker Elementary as one example of a magnet program that shines, with students "totally involved." Starting in kindergarten, the kids learn to play the violin or cello.
The school is among the most racially diverse in HISD – the original goal of the magnet program was to spur integration – and it has earned the state’s top academic rating the last two years.
Parker’s music program also is one of the priciest. The school receives $406,000 in magnet funds, and that doesn’t cover the entire cost. Parents raise money to pay for two of the music instructors and for instrument repairs, according to magnet coordinator Carol Kehlen brink.
"I love this school," said Simona Sanchez, whose 7-year-old daughter, Malaeh, transferred into Parker. "If there was no magnet program, I’d probably home-school her."
No busing to two schools
At Cook Elementary, Principal Laquetta Kennedy has supplemented her $18,000 magnet budget with a grant from the VH1 Save the Music Foundation. She said she has struggled to enroll students from outside the neighborhood – 30 came this year – because the district doesn’t provide busing and she’s unwilling to pay for it with school funds.
"I was told we could get transportation if we paid $23,000 out of our budget," Kennedy said.
The district pays for busing to every magnet school except Cook and Herrera Elementary, whose programs are among the newest.
Herrera, which has an integrated technology program, also gets the least amount of magnet funding: $15,000 a year, or $18 per student. Principal Chris Carnes said he has tightened the school’s budget, eliminating some employee travel, and has managed to buy numerous gadgets that keep students engaged.
Youngsters in pre-kindergarten practice identifying letters by tapping the screen on hand held iPod Touch devices. Older students use a table with an interactive screen to do addition problems. Teachers also use GPS navigation devices, digital cameras and even Wii video games in lessons.
Tight budgets
Chuck Morris, HISD’s chief academic officer, said he thinks so highly o f Herrera that he would send his own grandchildren there, but he said its $15,000 magnet budget highlights the district’s funding problem.
"That’s not enough money if you’re going to be a technology magnet," Morris said.
At the high school level, the technology magnet programs get $126 per student at Westside and $374 per student at Wheatley and Reagan. The schools also get extra money because many of the courses fall under the career and technology program.
Noelle MacGregor, the magnet coordinator at Westside, said the school’s budget is tight. As an example, she said, the broadcast journalism teacher has brought in his personal video camera to replace a broken one.