CMS moves toward tough decisions on magnets this week

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board has a student assignment work session scheduled Tuesday, as the board approaches the deadline for deciding how to revise its magnet program in 2017.

In August the board looked at how to define socioeconomic status, using such factors as average household income in a Census tract, single-parent status, parents’ educational level, home ownership and whether English is spoken at home. Members also talked about creating priorities for students in persistently low-performing schools to get into magnet programs and other neighborhood schools.

Still to be determined is how the data would be used to decide who gets into magnets, whether transportation zones should be revised and where new programs should be located.

CMS staff is scheduled to bring proposed policy revisions to a board committee on Sept. 19, with a full board discussion and public hearing in October. The plan calls for a November vote on changes that take effect with the 2017-18 magnet lottery in January.

Tuesday’s work session, which is open to the public, will start at 4 p.m. in room 267 of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center, 600 E. Fourth St.

Also on this week’s agenda:

▪ The board’s policy committee meets at 10:30 a.m. Thursday in room 528 of the Government Center.

▪ The intergovernmental relations committee meets at 8:30 a.m. Friday in the same location.

This story was originally published September 4, 2016 at 6:54 PM with the headline "CMS moves toward tough decisions on magnets this week."