The method of funding for the 100-plus magnet programs in the Houston Independent School District does not make any sense, the former head of the district’s magnet programs said.

“The problem is that they established a funding formula at a time well before any money was being given to programs for gifted students or special ed students,” said Dottie Bonner, who retired in August after seven years as head of HISD’s magnets.

“There is not a written formula at all, and even back then, there was not a whole lot of sense to how it was given,” she said. (Texas Watchdog published the most recent funding data for magnet programs in HISD at this link.)

Bonner began working in HISD in 1981 as an English teacher at Yates High School and was also involved in developing the district’s English curricula.

The hope is that the discrepancies will be ironed out as a national education nonprofit, Magnet Schools of America, finishes a review of the 113 magnet programs in the district. The review, which will cost the district up to $275,000, is expected to be complete in December.

 Bonner recalled that magnet funding dates back to the early 1970’s, when school systems, HISD included, provided additional money to campuses for after-school programs. The after-school programs soon began to make their way into the classrooms during regular school hours  -- the origins of the first magnet programs.

“The funding makes no sense. I can guarantee that if you ask the schools, ‘Why are you getting this money?’ they do not even know why,” Bonner said.

Most of the magnet money a school receives must go toward personnel costs, Bonner said. “If the school is making the magnet program a priority, then they have to make classes and teachers available to the students,” Bonner said.

There are also administrative costs associated with magnet schools that are used to fund a magnet coordinator for the magnet program. Last year HISD spent more than $5.6 million paying the salaries of more than 90 magnet coordinators, according to an HISD salary database obtained by Texas Watchdog through the Texas Public Information Act.

“I have been in education for 40 years and I know money does not make a good school. It really does depend on the quality of the teachers and the quality of the classroom,” Bonner said.

What do you think of the way magnet programs are being funded in HISD? Texas Watchdog wants to hear from you. Contact Lynn Walsh at Lynn@TexasWatchdog.org, 713-228-2850 or on Twitter @LWalsh.