How Magnet Schools Might Collaborate across Housing and Transportation Agencies to Enhance School Diversity Efforts

Magnet schools employ a variety of methods in order to enroll a diverse student body, such as targeted outreach, free and accessible transportation, encouraging choice across school districts, intentional school siting, and employing equitable lottery-based admissions policies. Many magnets also offer innovative programs around an attractive and relevant theme, like experiential learning, STEM, or fine arts. The U.S. Department of Education's 2024 Notice Inviting Applications for the Magnet Schools Assistance Program (MSAP) includes a new Competitive Preference Priority 5 (CPP5) that relates to Promoting Equity in Student Access to Educational Resources and Opportunities. CPP5 encourages applicants to "examin[e]…sources of inequity and inadequacy and implement responses" that help address these inequities. Importantly, CPP5 acknowledges the relationship between community segregation and school segregation, and encourages applicants to propose projects designed to tackle this longstanding challenge. Applicants are encouraged to propose projects designed to "increas[e] student racial or socioeconomic diversity, through developing or implementing evidencebased policies or strategies," specifically focused on: (1) interdistrict coordination; (2) cross-agency collaboration, such as with housing or transportation authorities; and/or (3) improvements to school assignment or admissions policies. This fact sheet provides ideas and related resources for applicants seeking to respond to CPP5's call for "cross-agency collaboration, such as with housing or transportation authorities."