Missouri Magnet Schools: What's the Purpose?
Photo by AndreyPopov on Canva
Magnet Schools in the Show-Me State
By: Amy Shelton & Aaron Park
In December 2019, the editorial board of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published an opinion piece stating that the St. Louis “magnet-school experiment” has failed, if judged by the uneven levels of diversity and achievement in the city's seven magnet high schools.
Magnet schools in St. Louis and Kansas City were initially created as part of court-ordered desegregation plans and were intended to help racially integrate the state’s two largest metro regions. The federal Magnet Schools Assistance Program, created in 1985, defines a magnet school as a public school that “offers a special curriculum capable of attracting substantial numbers of students of different racial backgrounds.” Administrators in St. Louis, Kansas City, and other metro regions under court supervision around the country hoped that themed magnet schools would “pull” students together voluntarily so that districts would not have to use involuntary busing programs to integrate schools. Many districts reserved a certain percentage of seats in each magnet school for students from different racial backgrounds in order to ensure racial balance.
Magnet schools are typically open to all students within a school district’s boundaries who meet qualifying criteria, such as minimum academic, attendance, and behavior standards. If more students apply than there are spots available, districts often use a lottery selection process. In this blog, we take a look at the history and demographics of magnet schools in St. Louis and Kansas City and the role they play in these districts today.
SLPS Magnet Schools: Then and Now
Magnet schools in St. Louis emerged from the Liddell v. Board of Education decision. Liddell was initially filed on February 18, 1972, on behalf of a black student named Craton Liddell. Liddell attended an overcrowded north St. Louis elementary school, and his entire class along with their teacher was bused each day to south St. Louis to use an empty classroom in an all-white school (an approach known as “intact busing”). A new elementary school was constructed on the north side but was overcrowded immediately upon opening.
The case worked its way through the legal system for many years, and after numerous court judgments and appeals an agreement was reached in 1983. There were five components of the desegregation settlement plan, including the creation of city magnet schools to bring white county students into the predominantly black city district. The court order stated: “In order to be eligible for transfer to the magnet schools, students in good standing must be in the racial majority in their home districts and must meet the qualifications for the magnets” (Liddell, 1980). The Voluntary Interdistrict Coordinating Council was formed to oversee the transfer program, which reached its peak in 1997-1998 when 1,449 students from St. Louis County attended city magnet schools. (The program was renamed the Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corporation (VICC) in 1999).
Today, Saint Louis Public Schools (SLPS) operates 30 magnet and choice schools. The magnet schools are organized in feeder patterns with particular themes, such as classical studies, visual and performing arts, and STEM. The VICC program is being phased out, but students who live in St. Louis County may still apply to attend SLPS magnet schools if they have a sibling currently enrolled. This year, 138 non-African American students from the county are enrolled in city magnet schools through VICC. Preschool programs, as well as Choice middle and high schools, are reserved for students who live in St. Louis City.
Among its magnet schools, SLPS operates two gifted elementaries and is phasing in a third. Kennard Classical Junior Academy opened as a gifted magnet school in 1990. Mallinckrodt Academy of Gifted Instruction opened in 2010. These two elementaries have become increasingly white since the 2009 expiration of a court order requiring the district to reserve at least 55 percent of magnet school seats for black students. Each year, there are four applicants for every available seat in these two schools, and 41 percent of the county-to-city transfer students this year attend gifted schools (Source: Blythe Bernhard on Chalk Talk). The newest gifted elementary was strategically placed in north St. Louis in the hopes of increasing black enrollment in gifted education. The school is 99 percent black.
SLPS magnet and choice schools currently serve approximately 11,400 students, 54 percent of the total enrollment in SLPS (Source: DESE Building Enrollment 2020 Preliminary). Gifted elementary schools serve a disproportionate number of white students. Non-gifted magnet schools on average are less diverse than and perform about the same as neighborhood elementaries, which draw their students from specific catchment areas. Magnet secondary schools have a higher percentage of white students than do neighborhood secondary schools, but Choice schools are some of the least diverse in the city.
Source: author’s calculations using publicly available data from DESE. *Differences between magnet and neighborhood schools measured using t-tests statistically significant at the .1 level. ***Differences between gifted schools and all other elementary schools measured using t-tests are statistically significant at the 0.01 level for both ELA and math.
KCPS Magnet Schools: Then and Now
In 1977, a lawsuit was brought against the state of Missouri and suburban districts in the Kansas City area, alleging that the state had never remedied the effects of pre-Brown v. Board of Education (1954) state-mandated segregation in Kansas City. From 1985 until 1995, District Court Judge Russell G. Clark required the state to fund remedial education, school facility improvements, teacher salary increases, and the creation of state-of-the-art magnet schools in Kansas City in order to reverse the trend of “white flight” to the suburbs and “wipe out segregation.” Per pupil spending under the desegregation plan was higher than in any other large school district in the nation, but the plan did not prove effective. The Kansas City Public Schools history webpage states, “Despite all the largesse, test scores in the magnet schools did not rise; the black-white gap did not diminish; and there was less, not more, integration.”
In 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the District Court ruling in Missouri v. Jenkins and released the state of Missouri from the desegregation order. The state stopped paying to bus students from the suburbs to Kansas City magnet schools, and 40 percent of the 1500 suburban students who planned to attend city magnet schools that year dropped out of the program. Many of the magnet schools eventually became neighborhood schools.
Today, Kansas City Public Schools operates seven magnet schools, which it refers to as Signature Schools. Signature schools each have a unique theme, such as African-Centered, Montessori, and dual language. These schools are open to all students who live within the KCPS boundaries and meet minimum qualifying criteria. Signature schools currently serve approximately 4,000 students, 26 percent of the total enrollment in KCPS (Source: DESE Building Enrollment 2020 Preliminary). Signature elementary and secondary schools in KCPS are on average more diverse than neighborhood schools and outperform neighborhood schools in both ELA and math.
Source: author’s calculations using publicly available data from DESE. *Differences between signature and neighborhood schools measured using t-tests statistically significant at the .1 level. **Differences between signature and neighborhood schools measured using t-tests statistically significant at the .05 level.
Magnet schools exist outside of Kansas City and St. Louis as well. For example, Springfield Public Schools offers several choice options, which include international baccalaureate schools, a health sciences academy, and an outdoor learning program. The Academy of Fine and Performing Arts magnet and an agricultural magnet school are slated to open. Unlike in Kansas City and St. Louis, however, choice programs in Springfield were non-mandated and were opened in response to community input in the 2006-2007 strategic planning process.
Conclusion: Are Magnet Schools Still for Desegregation?
Today, the aim of magnet schools in Kansas City and St. Louis may be shifting away from the original desegregation purpose. Kansas City Public Schools has hired three full-time recruiters to promote district schools, particularly its preschool programs and signature schools. Garrett Webster, director of enrollment at KCPS, told the Kansas City Star that these marketing efforts are necessary in the current educational environment, “with the number of school choices people now have.” The first charter schools in Kansas City opened in 1999 and enrolled 12 percent of students. Today, Kansas City charters enroll 47 percent of students living in the city. Webster said the goal is “to bring those students back to the district.” In St. Louis, the district and charters are competing for school-age children. Superintendent Adams of SLPS is willing to work with the leaders of the two largest charter networks in the city if there are ways to save money by sharing bus routes and cooperating in other ways, but only if it benefits SLPS: “Coop-etition, if you will.”
Even 15 years ago, researchers were noticing the changing mission of magnet schools: “With desegregation waning as a public goal, magnet schools have maintained support by attaching themselves to the school-choice movement.” This was especially true after the 5-4 Supreme Court decision in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District (2007), which led to uncertainty over whether and to what extent the race of students could be considered in enrollment policies. Districts began to focus instead on the role of magnet schools in raising achievement and providing families with choice.
Today, Missouri’s urban magnet schools provide city districts with a competitive edge in a school choice environment and may no longer have a primary focus on racial integration. SLPS advertises its magnet schools as “an exciting, tuition free alternative for students of all ages and abilities.” The main website for KCPS signature schools also says nothing about diversity or integration in its broad definition of these schools. Yet, many SLPS and KCPS magnet schools are more diverse than district neighborhood schools, particularly in KCPS. It is important to keep in mind the original purpose and promise of these schools. The magnet-school experiment continues.