March 16, 2017
Magnet Schools Request $200M in Funding in Detailed Budget
This morning, President Trump released his 2018 budget summary. It includes significant increases in funding for school choice through charter school support, private school vouchers and Title I portability. Noticeably and regrettably absent from this blueprint for expanding school choice is funding for magnet schools – the original and largest form of public school choice.
We at Magnet Schools of America hope that when the Trump administration release a more detailed version of this budget, it will include critical $200 million in funding for the Magnet Schools Assistance Program – the only federal education grant designed specifically to promote innovation, choice and diversity in the classroom. This will enable the 4,340 – and counting – magnet schools across the country to continue offering high-quality public education that is accountable to local school districts and that provides parents with the opportunity to choose what type of school best fits their children’s needs.
Every student deserves access to an excellent education that will help them be college and career ready, and reach their full potential. There is strong evidence demonstrating that students who attend magnet schools have higher levels of academic achievement and graduation rates than those in non-magnet schools.1 When we have adequately supported magnet schools, parents and families will truly have the best possible options to send their children to schools that focus on their strengths, engage them and motivate them to learn.
With this in mind, we urge President Trump to increase funding for the Magnet Schools Assistance Program to $200 million in the detailed version of his 2018 budget.
-Todd Mann, Executive Director of Magnet Schools of America
Raise the level of performance consistent throughout school districts nationwide and creates a platform from which all magnet schools can flourish. Magnet Schools of America’s national certification process is designed to recognize the hard work of the best magnet schools in the nation and to help them as they grow.
