Private and Parochial Schools - Religious Schools (K-12) 
Kindergarten, Elementary, Junior High, Senior High
Fairfield, Solano County, San Francisco North Bay, Ca. USA

A magnet school is a public school which offers specialized courses or curricula.

 The term magnet school is mostly associated with the United States, although other countries have similar types of schools (such as UK specialist schools). The use of the word magnet refers to magnet schools drawing students from across normal boundaries defined by authorities (usually school boards) as school zones that feed into certain schools. The school which a student would attend if they were not attending the magnet school is often referred to as the home school.

In the United States, where education is decentralized, some magnet schools are established by school districts and draw only from the district, while others (such as Governor's Schools in Virginia) are set up by state governments and may draw from multiple districts.

Magnet schools were originally started in the hope that their geographically open admissions would end racial segregation in "good" schools, and decrease de facto segregation of schools in poorer areas by offering a more enticing educational program. This continues to some extent today. In some communities past racial segregation issues resulted in court-ordered attendance plans and desegregation busing of children far from their homes and closer schools to achieve the required balance. Within a few years, in locations such as Richmond, Virginia additional magnet school programs for children of many different special talents were developed at facilities in locations which parents would have otherwise found undesirable. This effort to both attract voluntary enrollment and achieve the desired racial balance met with considerable success, and helped improve acceptance of the longer rides, hardships with transportation for extracurricular activities, and the separation of siblings which may result when schools other than strictly neighborhood school plans are utilized.

Also See:

Private and religious schools

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