Aren't Magnet Schools...Part of Bush's Privatization of Education Scheme? Edwards in Favor of Them?

[KoKo]

C-Span's "Road to White House" is featuring Edwards in a Black Community in Cleveland where folks are losing houses their Grandparents and Parents kept going but the kids can't afford to keep them.

He gives a speech about changing Bankruptcy Laws and going after "Pay Check Cashing Swindlers" and then goes off into Public Education. But he lost me when he says that his program revolves around "Magnet Schools" as a way to Improve Education.

Here in NC our "Magnet Schools" are Private and you go into a lottery of thousands of others to get chosen.

So...what is he talking about? Does he mean that States should totally fund Magnet Schools and get the Private interest out? :shrug:

[Xipe Totec]

1. No, they're not

my kids went to a science magnet school; it was a public school.

[XemaSab]

2. No, there are totally public magnet schools.

Some of them are really good and others... notsomuch.

[Demeter]

3. A Magnet School Is a Many-Faceted Thing

and it can work for good or not-so-good purposes. The idea is well-meaning, but the implementation and funding is all.

[supernova]

4. Magnet Schools are public schools

Certain magnets are so popular, there is a lottery to get into them.

[goclark]

7. I have only heard of Public Magnet Schools

with a lottery.

[noamnety]

5. broad brush warning

Here in MI magnet schools are a public school that's part of a regular public school district, that just has a special slant to it, like a school for the science and technology majors in the district, or one for serious artists, or for people that want a montessori education. Public school, same public funding from exactly the same tax base as any other school in the district, and same exact reporting requirements, etc.

People (including candidates) need to distinguish between public charter schools, private charter schools, public magnet schools, private magnet schools, and traditional neighborhood-based public schools. Each scenario is very different.

[Yael]

6. We had them in Florida

I was working for the NEA at the time. They were a smashing success -- especially the science ones that opened up in the Uniserv.

[Geek_Girl]

8. We have several Magnet Schools in my area that are public schools

Some are so successful that parents actually camp out to register their kids. Others are not quite as successful but are still better than many of the regular public schools. Successful Magnet schools seem to get more funding from grants and other sources.

[AndyTiedye]

9. Never Heard of Private "Magnet" Schools. Doesn't Make any Sense

Here in NC our "Magnet Schools" are Private and you go into a lottery of thousands of others to get chosen.

How would that work? If the school is private, who is paying for it? Who runs it?

Private schools usually don't do lotteries for admission either.

Magnet schools (or at least all the ones I have heard of) are part of a public school system.

[Digit]

10. I am in NC and all I know of is the public magnet schools

I tried to get my daughter into one, and yes, it was done by lottery.

[Jed Dilligan]

11. Good for him for going after the check cashers,

and maybe someone will follow up by cracking down on prison LD operators and other companies preying on the poor.

Magnet schools are public as far as I know. The specialty ones for the arts in some of CA's biggest counties probably saved a lot of my friends from a Columbine-like meltdown against the brainless jockocracy...

[madfloridian]

12. More here. They are part of the public school system...

"What is a Magnet school?

A Magnet school is part of the public school system. Usually students are zoned into their schools based on location. Students mostly go to the school which they are closest to (this may not always be true since boundaries can seem arbitrary). With Magnet schools, the public school system has created schools that exist outside of zoned school boundaries. The point of them is that they usually have something special to offer over a regular school which makes attending them an attractive choice to many students, thereby increasing the diversity of the student population within them (in theory).

Magnet schools are different from private or parochial schools in that they remain part of the public school system. They differ from Charter schools in that they remain part of the public school system bureaucratically. Charter Schools have a different organizational model (i.e. they have a charter that releases them from the regular school administration). Magnet schools operate under the same public school administration (they don’t operate on their own).

Distinguishing them from other public schools, Magnet schools usually have alternative or otherwise compelling modes of instruction. For example, you might find a Montessori Magnet school. A school doesn’t have to be a Magnet school to be a Montessori School. There are also public schools that aren’t Magnet schools which still offer fine academic experiences. Magnet schools differ from other public schools in that they receive additional funding to enable them to spend more money on their students, supplies, teachers, programs, etc."

http://www.publicschoolreview.com/magnet-schools.php

In our district there was an arts and drama, a science and technology, and one that was middle school more like computer, electronic technology.

The schools did not have to keep poor students, and they often got sent back to regular public schools.

[JohnLocke]

13. No, they are public schools. Many, such as International Baccalaureate programs, are excellent.