Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is considering an overhaul of its magnet programs — one that would reduce the number of magnet themes from 16 to six, while expanding career and technical education programs to every high school in the district.
Administrators presented the proposal to the CMS school board at the board’s retreat in Winston-Salem, as part of a discussion on the district's comprehensive review. That's a deep dive into student assignment and program offerings that’s supposed to occur every four years, but hasn’t been completed since 2017.
Administrators made clear that this is a preliminary proposal, and that there’s a long way to go until any changes are made. Student assignment reviews and changes to programs can be controversial. The district is planning to gather feedback and shape any final recommendations to the board. The plan would be to implement any changes by the 2027-28 school year. The plan would have no bearing on the recently released results from this year’s lottery for next school year.
“We would do massive community engagement, including internal and external stakeholders, so this is the very beginning, and it’s 27-28, so we have the time and the space to do it,” said Deputy Superintendent Melissa Balknight.
Balknight said the goal is to cut down on duplicative programs and consolidate resources around fewer, highly desirable “gold-standard” magnet programs that follow clear elementary-to-high-school paths. The goal, she said, is to shift the magnet lottery program’s focus from “school choice” to “program choice,” where magnet offerings are consistent across every school, and families make choices based on the program they want — not because they want a different school.
“So program choice, so that the program is consistent no matter what transportation zone it is in, you will get a consistent core experience,” Balknight said. “Granted, schools have a different culture and climate, but the core experience of a STEM program, or a Montessori program, is the same.”
Balknight said the district is encouraging families who want a change in school to instead make use of the district’s transfer process — which allows families to apply for a transfer to any school they want, provided there are available seats and they provide their own transportation.
The six themes would include Visual and Performing Arts, Montessori, STEM, Early College, World Languages and a new theme that would combine the International Baccalaureate and Learning Immersion/Talent Development themes.
The proposed overhaul would also aim to disentangle career and technical education offerings from the school choice process — CMS says it plans to create a minimum of six CTE pathways available at every high school in the district.
Administrators have started to consider more specific changes that could eventually come before the board, but Superintendent Crystal Hill insisted those recommendations are not final and could change as discussions continue. The full list of potential proposals is here.
On the arts side, for instance, CMS is considering possibly removing the program choice arts programs that are currently housed at Crestdale Middle School, Greenway Park Elementary School and Long Creek Elementary School.
Balknight noted those programs have smaller arts programs, and CMS would aim to pour more resources and consolidate enrollment into its flagship arts schools — creating a robust, countywide magnet arts program that runs through University Park Creative Arts elementary school, First Ward Creative Arts middle school and Northwest School of the Arts high school.
CMS will also again consider converting the school’s middle colleges (Cato, Harper, Levine and Merancas) to early colleges. These programs allow students to participate in college courses while completing high school requirements. Middle colleges start in 11th grade, while early colleges start in ninth grade.
Hill recommended this change last year, but the last iteration of the school board voted it down after community pushback. But Balknight said the demand for more early college seats is still there, and waitlists persist. She said they plan on improving their community engagement on the issue this time around.
