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EmailAdministrators at the Houston Independent School District have made some slight adjustments to finalize their new magnet school funding mechanism.
The new plan keeps the broad outlines of the revised plan presented at a budget workshop in May, keeping proposed per-student allocations the same for most programs including the Vanguard honors program.
IB programs, like Bellaire High School’s, will receive a boost under the new proposal, from $50 per student to $100 per student.
Most of the changes take place for career-oriented high school magnet programs. The criminal justice program gets a bump of $250 a student from $500 to $750, while engineering, maritime and aviation programs also get a boost to $750 a student. Health careers got a smaller increase at the high school level from $1,100 to $1,225.
According to an HISD press release, all but four magnet schools will retain the same level of funding or get increases under the proposal when taking into account an across-the-board increase in per-pupil funds provided to every school in the district.
Table 1 shows a detailed break-down
| Table 1: June 12 HISD final magnet program funding proposal (parentheses show change from May 15 proposal) | |||
| Program type | Elementary | Middle | High School |
| Fine Arts | $350 | $250 | $1100 |
| IB | $100 (+ $50) | $100 (+ $50) | $100 (+$50) |
| Vanguard | $410 | $410 | $410 |
| Montessori | $350 | $350 | |
| STEM | $100 | $125 | $125 |
| Languages | $100 (+$50) | $50 | $50 |
| Early College | $50 | ||
| Futures Academy | $500 | ||
| Medical Career Program | $200 (+200) | $1,225 (+$125) | |
| Criminal Justice, Engineering, Aviation, Maritime Academy Careers | $750 (+$700) (+$250 for criminal justice) | ||
| Other Career Program | $50 | ||
| All other Programs | $100 (+$50) | $100 (+$50) | $100 (+$50) |
The funding rates will be phased in over three years under the terms of the plan.
The school board will vote on the proposal at its June 19 meeting, which will take place at 5 p.m. in the Board Auditorium of the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center, on 4400 West 18th St. During the meeting the board will also vote on whether or not approve a $1.68 billion budget for the 2014-2015 school year, which includes small pay increases for teachers and a new literacy program.
