$30 Million Federal Grant to Create Six Magnet High Schools Across Manhattan and Bronx

Laboratory School of Finance and Technology, a CollegeBound Initiative partner school, is one of six NYC public high schools selected for federal magnet school funding.

By Julian Shen-Berro and Amy Zimmer
Originally published on Chalkbeat New York on January 12, 2024

New York City has won $30 million in federal funding to create six magnet high schools across Manhattan and the Bronx, Education Department officials announced Friday.

Over the next five years, the city’s goal is to create an “innovative, theme-based program that provides college access, rigorous instruction, and enrichment activities” at six existing schools in hopes of attracting a more diverse group of students, according to the department’s two grant applications for the U.S. Department of Education’s Magnet Schools Assistance Program.

Three schools in the Bronx — the Laboratory School of Finance and Technology, the High School for Teaching and the Professions, and the Bronx High School for the Visual Arts — will be turned into magnet schools and serve about 1,800 students in grades 6-12. The schools are in districts that span the Eastchester, Kingsbridge, Jerome Park, Van Nest, and Hunts Point neighborhoods of the Bronx.