The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education approved a series of changes this week aimed at overhauling the district's magnet programs, with most of the changes set to take effect in the 2027-28 school year.
The approved changes affect magnet programs, transportation zones and feeder patterns at dozens of schools. The changes will affect schools that currently offer visual and performing arts, world languages, STEM and Early and Middle Colleges choice programs.
CMS will eliminate magnet arts programs at Crestdale Middle School, Greenway Park Elementary School and Long Creek Elementary School. Officials say that schools will continue to have access to arts education, regardless of whether they are a designated magnet school.
Another change will turn three of the district’s four Middle Colleges into Early Colleges. Both programs allow students to work toward an associate's degree while in high school, but Early Colleges start in ninth grade while Middle Colleges start in 11th grade.
CMS originally proposed turning all of the Middle Colleges into Early Colleges, citing high waitlists in the district’s Early Colleges and under-enrollment at its Middle Colleges. But Middle College students pushed back, arguing that Middle College offers a unique experience that shouldn’t be eliminated. CMS agreed to keep Cato Middle College as is.
“I think we have to give our district leadership a huge kudos for staying the course but also hearing the feedback directly from our students before the board to advocate for keeping a middle college,” said board member Charlitta Hatch at Tuesday's meeting.
District leaders want to streamline magnet offerings by reducing the number of program themes from 16 to six beginning in the 2027-28 school year. Magnet programs are programs that students can apply to through the school choice lottery – regardless of where they live. They have educational themes that differentiate them from a traditional K-12 school.
CMS says the program is currently built around “school choice,” where families use the lottery to pick schools that are more appealing than their assigned neighborhood school. But the district wants to shift to a “program choice” model, where families join the lottery because they want the unique educational experience provided by that specific magnet theme.
To do that, the district wants to focus on quality over quantity, creating six high-quality themes that have clear K-12 pathways and feeder patterns in every transportation zone. In theory, the goal is for students entering a magnet to expect the same quality experience regardless of the school. It also ensures that there is equitable access to each of these programs in each transportation zone – meaning CMS provides free transportation – from kindergarten all the way to high school.
CMS says it’s eliminating underenrolled or duplicative programming and plans to consolidate resources around fewer, higher-quality programs.
The district is also planning on removing some career and technical education offerings from the magnet lottery – but will replace that with a districtwide expansion of CTE programs, with every school offering at least six CTE pathways.
However, in response to community feedback, CMS plans to revisit a proposed change to merge the International Baccalaureate and Learning Immersion/Talent Development programs this fall.
If that proposal is approved, the final magnet system would have six themes:
- Visual and performing arts
- Montessori, world languages
- STEM
- Early/Middle Colleges
- And the newly combined International IB and LI/TD program.
CMS is also expected to consider attendance boundary changes this fall.
Here’s a list of all the changes approved this week, which you can also find here:
Visual and Performing Arts:
The following schools will no longer have a Performing Arts magnet program starting in 2027-28:
- Crestdale Middle School
- Greenway Park Elementary School
- Long Creek Elementary School
World Languages:
- North Academy of World Languages will feed into North Mecklenburg High School and will offer transportation to students in the Violet transportation zone.
- Oaklawn Language Academy will feed into North Mecklenburg High School and will offer transportation to students in the Violet transportation zone.
- Charlotte East Language Academy will feed into Garinger High School and will offer transportation to students in the Green transportation zone.
- Collinswood Language Academy will feed into South Mecklenburg High School and will offer transportation to students in the Blue transportation zone.
- The South Academy of International Languages will feed into South Mecklenburg High School. The Japanese program at South Academy of International Languages will remain a county-wide magnet program, meaning students will get transportation regardless of where they’re located.
- At South Mecklenburg High School, the Japanese program will also continue to be a county-wide magnet program offering transportation to all Mecklenburg County students.
- Garinger High School will get a world languages magnet program.
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM):
These schools will get new STEM magnet programs:
- Grove Park Elementary School (starting in 2027-28)
- Second Ward High School (starting in 2028-29)
These schools will no longer offer a STEM magnet program starting in 2027-28:
- Northeast Middle School
- Walter G. Byers K-8 School
- Whitewater Middle School
- Wilson STEM Academy
- Harding University High School. (The board also approved eliminating Harding’s Law & Social Justice magnet program in 2027-28, but CMS says students will continue to have access to that program through its CTE pathways and dual enrollment programs).
The board approved these feeder/transportation changes for magnet STEM programs:
- Second Ward High School, which is slated to open in the 2028-29 school year, will serve as a full magnet school and offer transportation to students countywide. Phillip O. Berry will offer countywide transportation, too. All STEM programs will ultimately have the option to feed into Phillip O. Berry or Second Ward for high school.
- In the Violet transportation zone, Bruns Avenue Elementary, Dorothy J. Vaughan at Parkside and Paw Creek Elementary will all feed into Coulwood STEM for middle school. The recently separated Governors Village Lower will feed into Governors Village Upper.
- In the Green transportation zone, Oakhurst STEAM will feed into McClintock Middle School. Grove Park will feed into Northridge Middle School.
- In the Blue transportation zone, Winget Park Elementary will feed into Kennedy Middle School. Rea Farms STEAM Academy will remain a K-8 school, and feed into Phillip O. Berry or Second Ward for high school.
Early/Middle Colleges:
- Cato Middle College will remain a middle college with no changes (note that middle colleges do not receive transportation).
The following schools will transition from Middle Colleges to Early Colleges:
- Levine Early College (serving the Green transportation zone)
- Harper Early College (serving the Blue transportation zone)
- Merancas Early College (serving the Violet transportation zone).
