Board Permits Study That Could Lead to Increase in Minorities at Magnet Schools

The Los Angeles school board took a step toward broadening the definition of an integrated school Monday when it voted to allow a study that could result in increased minority enrollment at the district’s specialized magnet schools.

On a 5-2 vote, the board approved a proposal calling for a survey--called a McKinney analysis--to be conducted in magnet school communities that would determine whether parents and staff would consider a school to be integrated if it was only 30% white.

Magnet schools were created in the 1970s to encourage voluntary integration. They offer specialized programs in such areas as science, mathematics and the arts and tend to provide a higher academic level than regular schools. Admission is weighted in favor of youngsters who are minorities or whose neighborhood schools are overcrowded. More than 10,000 students--of whom more than two-thirds are minorities--are on waiting lists for the magnet programs.

Current district policy, based on court-approved guidelines, tries to maintain minority enrollment at such schools at 60%, even though the district is 82% black, Latino and Asian.

Board member Jackie Goldberg, who offered the proposal, said altering the ratio to allow up to 70% minority students would be more fair and would also help ease crowding at many predominantly minority schools.

“It seems somehow inequitable to me that a district that is 20% Anglo should have 40% of the magnet school space reserved for us (whites),” she said.

Forty-six of the district’s 86 magnet schools have enrollments that are 30% or more white and would be candidates for study, officials said. The board will not make a final decision on changing the ratios until after they receive the results of the McKinney survey March 1.

Voting against the proposal were Roberta Weintraub and Julie Korenstein, who represent the East and West San Fernando Valley, respectively. Both board members opposed the measure because they felt a change in the integration ratio would disproportionately hurt the chances of Valley students gaining admission to the magnet programs.

“There is a 10% loss for Anglos” under the proposed ratio change, Korenstein said, adding that she believes it would be better for all students if the board did not tamper with the integration guidelines, and create more magnet programs instead.

Korenstein suggested that many Valley parents would leave the district if the ratio is changed. She said she wanted the McKinney survey to include a question about whether parents would turn to private schools if the change is implemented, but was unable to persuade other board members to make that addition.

In recent years the board changed the ratio to 70% minority and 30% white at 80 regular district schools, primarily in the San Fernando Valley and the Westside, to make room for more minority enrollment.

The McKinney study examines several factors, including the perceptions of school staff and the community about what integration means. District officials acknowledge that conducting such a study for magnet schools poses some special problems because the magnet “community” draws from the entire district, not just from the surrounding neighborhood.

In most cases, when the McKinney survey has been conducted, it has led to a change in the integration ratio, according to district officials.