The outside review of Houston’s 100-plus magnet school programs is being done by the same nonprofit group that reviewed San Diego’s magnets when Terry Grier was schools chief there.

Magnet Schools of America is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group. The Houston Independent School District is one of 35 school district members of MSA, as are four other districts in Texas: Aldine, Dallas, El Paso and Lubbock. A top administrator in the Galveston school system is also a regional director for the association.

The association’s report, due in December, is highly anticipated because it could prompt HISD to shutter or expand some of its 113 magnet programs, which enroll more than 40,000 students.

It was unclear at press time how much HISD pays the group each year for membership. However, the district’s online check registry shows payments of $10,250 since October 2008.

MSA’s Web site says membership costs between $3,000-$5,000 yearly for districts, depending on the number of magnet schools they operate.

HISD is now also paying the association up to $275,000 for the third-party review.

Two other school districts previously led by HISD superintendent Grier, the San Diego Unified School District and the Guilford County, N.C., public schools, are also members of MSA.

While Grier was superintendent there, San Diego Unified also hired MSA for $58,000 to conduct a similar review of its magnet programs, according to reports by VoiceofSanDiego.org.

In San Diego, the news site reported, MSA's 2009 report:

• "... Found that funding for magnet schools was chaotic and unexplained," echoing concerns voiced by some critics of HISD's magnet program.
• "... Criticized the school district for replicating the same themes at multiple schools, making them less attractive to students, and for allowing non-magnets to offer similar themes." Ironically, Grier has called for HISD to duplicate themes of successful magnet schools.
• "... Found that most magnets had had only limited success in drawing students from wealthier areas ...."
• "...Found that the magnet schools that have succeeded most in diversifying San Diego Unified are 'dedicated magnets' where all students choose to attend through the magnet program, unlike other magnets which only offer their empty seats to students outside the immediate neighborhood."

According to news accounts, MSA was launched in the 1980s as a for-profit group based in Houston, where its first executive director was a University of Houston faculty member. Its nonprofit status was approved in 1994, records show.

A call by Texas Watchdog to MSA’s Washington offices Friday was not returned. According to its website, the group promotes academic achievement in public magnet programs across the country.

The group’s executive director is magnet school expert and consultant Robert G. Brooks of Rhode Island, who previously served as the association’s president and is the author of several books on magnet schools.

According to IRS tax forms from recent years, MSA pays Brooks more than $94,000 annually. The group reported not having any other paid employees. (Scroll to the end of this story to see the association's most recent tax return on file with the nonprofit research site Guidestar.org.)

One MSA consultant, Caroline Massengill, has received more than $13,000 in payments from HISD since February of this year, according to the district’s online check register. Payments to Massengill began Feb. 25 and continued on March 22 and June 11 for a total of $13,694.25. The check register doesn’t elaborate on the consulting work Massengill performed.

MSA has divided the review of HISD’s $21 million magnet program into two phases. Phase one will deal with community and parent feedback; phase two will include visits to individual magnet programs.

A preliminary report for the first phase is due Friday but may not be completed in time due the additional parent and community forums HISD added to the schedule, a district spokesman said Friday. As soon as the report is complete, HISD says it will post it on its website.

The final report is expected to be complete Dec. 1.
Magnet Schools of America 2008 Internal Revenue Service Form 990

Contact Lynn Walsh at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog. Follow her updates on Twitter at @lwalsh and @TexasWatchdog.

Texas Watchdog and Voiceof SanDiego.org are both members of the Investigative News Network, an umbrella group for nonprofit news organizations across the country.

Cartoon of horseshoe magnet in the public domain, via clkr.com.