Here are the 10 most in-demand CCSD magnet programs

Despite the Clark County School District’s overall enrollment dropping for five consecutive years, demand remains high for seats in its magnet schools.

In total, the district received 44,178 applications for magnet programs for the next school year. Only about one-fourth were accepted.

Generally, high school career and technical academies garnered the highest number of applicants, followed by performing arts schools and science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs.

“The Clark County School District believes parents should be able to choose the best educational opportunity for their child,” the district said in a statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “That’s why we offer a portfolio of options to our families to ensure CCSD is the top choice for kids.”

The nation’s fifth-largest school district, which has about 300,000 students, has more than 40 magnet programs with specialized offerings that draw students from across the valley.

Families must apply for open seats. The application deadline was in January for next school year.

If there were more applicants than available seats — which happened for every program for next school year — a lottery was conducted.

The district said it has about 90,000 “choice seats” available, including at magnet schools, through the change of school assignment process, College of Southern Nevada High School, Nevada Learning Academy at CCSD and the Central Technical Training Academy. It also said it had removed admissions requirements for a majority of its Magnet programs to ensure equitable access to all students.

“CCSD is proud of its nationally recognized Magnet programs which regularly earn top honors from Magnet Schools of America,” the district said.

Application numbers have dropped slightly every year since 2020-21, which had 46,072 applicants. But numbers are up compared with pre-COVID-19 pandemic. For example, there were 36,227 applications for the 2018-19 school year.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal obtained the data through a public records request.

A handful of new magnet programs have also opened since then, including a medical sciences academy at Fremont Professional Development Middle School. Northeast Career and Technical Academy will open in August in North Las Vegas.

For elementary school magnet programs, the district received 4,928 applications for next school year. Of those, 1,270 were accepted — about 26 percent.

Middle schools received 12,766 applications and of those, 3,556 were accepted — about 28 percent.

For high schools, 26,476 applications were submitted and 5,503 were accepted — about 21 percent.

Here are the 10 magnet schools that had the largest number of applicants for next school year:

1. Southeast Career Technical Academy

Number of applicants: 3,792

Number accepted: 618

2. West Career and Technical Academy

Number of applicants: 2,845

Number accepted: 400

3. Southwest Career and Technical Academy

Number of applicants: 2,840

Number accepted: 420