At other levels of government, educators can advocate for fair and affordable housing in suburban communities and for creation
of regional magnet schools that enroll students from a variety of municipalities.
While the enrollment increase will cost the state an additional $ 4.1 million next year, funding for traditional public schools is being cut by $ 51.7 million and
for regional magnet schools, opened to help desegregate city schools, by $ 15.4 million.
The report compares student achievement in non-urban schools, urban schools, and the choice programs of public charter schools, magnet schools operated by districts,
regional magnet schools such as those operated by CREC, and Open Choice programs in which inner - city students attend suburban schools.
Students in charter schools and inner city students who attend school in the suburbs through the Open Choice program showed the most growth in proficiency, and students in charter schools and
regional magnet schools demonstrated the most growth in 8th grade advanced scores.
The network of
regional magnet schools opened in the Hartford region in an effort to comply with a Connecticut Supreme Court order to desegregate Hartford schools would be hit hard by the changes, with a loss of $ 3,569 per student.
Released Tuesday were limited details on how the State Department of Education proposes cutting $ 18.5 million
from regional magnet schools located primarily in the Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven regions.
Five years ago Paul Tractenberg proposed several remedies, including developing «a system of very high -
quality regional magnet schools that are good enough to attract students of all races and socioeconomic strata from multiple school districts» as well as creating county - wide districts, something I've advocated in the past.
For example, in Hartford, Connecticut, a legal decision created a system
of regional magnet schools that attract students of color from the impoverished city and students from the working - class towns and affluent suburbs that surround it.
In addition to charters, another form of school choice is beginning to gain more traction: intra / inter-district transfer programs and
regional magnet schools.
With regional access and equity goals in place, intra / inter-district transfer programs and
regional magnet schools are an effective way to do this.
With regional access and equity goals in place, intra / inter-district transfer programs and
regional magnet schools could be an effective way to do this.
These efforts have resulted in substantial gains — more than 1,600 Hartford students now take part in Open Choice, over 5400 Hartford Students and over 8000 suburban students attend 37
regional magnet schools and now 42 percent of Hartford schoolchildren are attending integrated schools.
At the state level, recent developments in Ohio offer important lessons in how to create and sustain policy around the issues of reducing racial isolation and promoting diverse schools, such as how to create district student assignment policies that foster diverse schools, and inter-district programs like city - suburban transfers and
regional magnet schools.
At the same time, the network of
regional magnet schools would lose approximately $ 3,569 per student.
While the enrollment increase cost the state an additional $ 4.1 million, funding for traditional public schools was cut by $ 51.7 million and
regional magnet schools, opened to help desegregate city schools, had budget cuts totaling $ 15.4 million