CARLSBAD - With a half-year of magnet school experience at Jefferson Elementary School under their belts, policymakers in the Carlsbad Unified School District will hear a report tonight on the program and the possible expansion of magnet programs to other schools.

In the first school board meeting of 2007, Assistant Superintendent Suzanne O'Connell will update trustees on Jefferson's progress toward implementation of the International Baccalaureate program. The program, which emphasizes a global perspective and second-language acquisition, began in Europe in the 1970s and is well-known and respected in education circles.

A year ago this month the school board approved a plan to draw students from overcrowded schools in the district to underenrolled Jefferson Elementary by creating a magnet school - a campus that offers a focused education program so attractive to students and parents that they would choose to transfer there from their existing school. Trustees asked district staffers to explore magnet schools as a way to avoid politically divisive boundary changes.

Based on a survey of parents, the district chose the baccalaureate program as the big draw.

When district officials adopted the Jefferson magnet plan last spring, O'Connell said she would consider the plan a success if 50 students transferred to Jefferson from overcrowded schools in the first year.

Currently, 94 students have transferred - nearly double the district's measure of success, said Principal Carol Van Vooren. About half of those students came from overcrowded schools, O'Connell said. All 563 students at the school are taught with the content and strategies of the baccalaureate program, Van Vooren said.

Registration for the 2007-08 school year is currently under way. The school offers tours for parents regularly. The next tour is set for Friday at 10 a.m., Van Vooren said.

The district has been absorbing the initial costs of creating the magnet school. Implementation of the program has been complicated by a delay in federal grant funding, O'Connell said.

District officials had planned to apply last summer for more than $1 million annually in federal grants from the Magnet School Assistance Program, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Education. The district hired grant writer Dr. Nancy Gray last spring to apply for grants to support the Jefferson magnet program and to create magnet programs at other district schools.

"When CUSD entered into the agreement with Dr. Gray, staff had no way of knowing the federal government would subsequently postpone the grant cycle for an entire year," O'Connell stated in a report to school board set to be delivered tonight.

O'Connell said the magnet school grants have been the subject of U.S. Supreme Court deliberations. The court was asked to examine the constitutionality of the grant program designed to voluntarily desegregate schools.

The district continues to supply Gray with information to assist in the grant proposal. Gray has been paid $9,000 for her work so far, and could be paid another $9,000 if the grant is accepted. If awarded, she would earn 2 percent of the total grant.

District officials anticipate a resumption of grant funding for magnet schools in late January, though no firm date has been set by the federal Department of Education, O'Connell said. Once the government resumes funding, the district will have 45 days to submit its grant application, O'Connell said.

The district is considering the creation of a math-and-science magnet school at Poinsettia Elementary in southeast Carlsbad, O'Connell said. Still under construction, the $15.6 million school is the newest of the district's 14 schools and is slated to open in August.

O'Connell said the district is also considering expanding the International Baccalaureate program to other schools.

Any of the district's under-enrolled schools - Valley Middle School and Magnolia, Buena Vista and Hope elementary schools - could be considered for magnet programs, O'Connell said. However, she emphasized that magnet programs at those schools are mere ideas right now.

O'Connell said she will recommend that the school board delay expansion of magnet programs to other schools until federal funding becomes available.

- Contact staff writer Philip K. Ireland at (760) 901-4043 or pireland@nctimes.com.