Miami-Dade’s Magnet Schools Are Still Leaving Black Students Behind

Recently, I toured a magnet school fair hoping to enroll my daughter. What I found was troubling—though, sadly, not surprising. The room was filled with programs that claim to represent the “best” of Miami-Dade Public Schools, yet there was a striking lack of Black families present.

That absence forced me to confront a painful question: How is it that, in 2025, Miami-Dade County Public Schools is still running the same old playbook—one that excludes Black families not by policy, but by process?

Why are so many application resources, information sessions, workshops, and recruitment events held far down south, miles away from Black communities in the northern district? Why must Black parents make long, costly, unrealistic commutes just to access opportunities other families receive almost effortlessly? And even worse—why isn’t critical information being shared equally across all neighborhoods and platforms?

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this pattern. I remember when the first magnet program opened at my old middle school. New students were bused in to take advantage of the program, while many of the Black students who actually lived in the neighborhood were bused out. Even as a child, something about that felt wrong. I thought magnet programs were created to give public school children—all children—the same advantages private school kids enjoyed, not to segregate students and strip resources from their own communities.

Maybe I misunderstood back then, but I’m not misunderstanding now.

What I witnessed at this year’s magnet fair was disappointing—and deeply disheartening. When the demographics inside the fair don’t reflect the demographics of the school  district, it tells a bigger story: access is not equal, and Black children are still being left out of opportunities they deserve.

Magnet programs should be bridges, not barriers. They should lift students up, not move them aside. And if Miami-Dade truly cares about equity, it must confront a hard truth: Black families are still being pushed to the margins, expected to fight twice as hard—or travel twice as far—just to give their children a fair chance.

Our children deserve better.
And we deserve real answers—not excuses.