Enrollment has dropped at virtually all Charlotte-Mecklenburg high schools that switched to a controversial new express bus plan this year. The change, which eliminated neighborhood bus stops for about a dozen schools, can make it harder for students to participate in magnet programs.
“The express stops are a challenge for certain demographic groups, as well as working families that don’t have the opportunity to take off work to drop their kids off or to pick them up,” CMS Magnet Director Walter Hall said last week.
The application period for next year’s magnet seats ends this week. Hall says another year’s applications will help flesh out trends. But fall enrollment tallies paint a picture of small but consistent declines in the number of students attending express-bus schools — a move that came in response to a driver shortage.
Enrollment is down by more than 500 students at 11 express-bus schools that had neighborhood stops the year before. That’s about a 4% drop, and Hall says that likely represents families who could not make the new system work for their kids.
“Families that typically would apply to the magnet program have had to change direction because of transportation,” he said.
Here’s what the numbers show. For schools that combine neighborhood and magnet students, enrollment is not broken out by category, but Hall attributes the declines to dwindling magnet enrollment.
- The biggest drop came at South Mecklenburg High, a neighborhood school that has a world language magnet program. It dropped to about 3,200 students, 145 fewer than in 2022. That’s a 4% change.
- North Mecklenburg High, a neighborhood school with IB, world language and career-tech magnets, is down by 125, to a total of about 2,060. That’s a change of almost 6%.
- The biggest percentage change is at two programs housed at Hawthorne, a small magnet high school just east of uptown Charlotte. The health sciences magnet dropped by almost 14% and the military/public safety program is down 28%, for a combined enrollment of 369 this year.
- The Engineering Early College High School at UNC Charlotte was the only express-bus magnet that didn’t lose students; it went from 300 to 315. The Teacher Early College program on the same campus lost nine students, landing at 198.
- Harding University High, a west Charlotte neighborhood school with IB, computer science and law magnet programs, lost 72 students, a decline of 5.5%.
- Northwest School of the Arts, a combined middle-high school magnet, is down 50 students, or almost 5%. It now has about 1,000 students. The middle school grades are expected to relocate in the near future as part of a bond-funded facilities upgrade.
- East Mecklenburg High, a neighborhood school with an IB magnet, is down 1.5%, to 2,372 students.
- Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology, a west Charlotte magnet school with several career-tech themes, is down by 19 students, or just over 1%. It has 1,533 students.
- J.T. Williams Secondary Montessori, which has grades 7-12, has 11 fewer students, a drop of almost 3%. It has 362 students.
Some face bigger challenges
Hall says CMS has not yet analyzed whether express-bus schools saw demographic changes. But it stands to reason that parents with cars and flexible schedules have a better shot at getting their children to express stops — or driving them to and from magnet schools.
Add language barriers and the challenges multiply. This year CMS opened a new PACE Academy in southwest Charlotte for teens who are learning English. The academy hoped to open with 250 students, and district officials said interest was strong when staff contacted immigrant families to explain the new opportunity. But fewer than half those spots ended up filled, and Hall says the lack of neighborhood bus stops is a factor.
“Our PACE academy is catering to our families that are new to the United States. Some of them don’t have a car. They don’t have transportation. So that’s been very difficult,” he said.
The other new school relying on express buses is the Early College High School that opened on Central Piedmont Community College’s uptown campus in August. It has 177 students, down from the 200 it expected. But Hall says that may be changing. Speaking more than a week before 2024 applications closed, he said 300 students had already applied for 100 ninth-grade seats.
And Hall noted that for families who can get their kids to express stops, the change has meant shorter rides. The schools selected for the express plan draw from broad geographic areas — in some cases the entire county — which meant buses often drove long routes picking up only a handful of students at each stop.
Study ahead, but change unlikely
The express-bus plan was unveiled two years ago, and almost immediately it sparked concerns from parents, community advocates and school board members who feared it would limit access to specialized academic options.
CMS is hiring consultants to look at demographics and magnet programs as part of a comprehensive student assignment review in the coming year. Transportation is likely to be part of that discussion.
Superintendent Crystal Hill and her staff are now working on a budget for 2024-25 — her first since getting the top job. And seven of nine board members were elected after the express bus plan was introduced. Melissa Easley is one of them, and she said earlier this month that she’d like to see better options for magnet families.
“As someone who just signed their child up for Northwest School of Arts for the magnet lottery, I understand the frustration of parents,” she said. “And it’s something that we have definitely questioned.”
But even with this year’s 10% reduction in the bus fleet — from 945 drivers needed last year to 840 this year — CMS Operations Specialist Tom Miner says the district is still short 65 drivers.
“There are no plans to revert magnet high schools to neighborhood stops,” he said. “The Express Stop model will continue as planned.”
