Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools opened the 2026-27 school year Tuesday morning. At eight of those schools, a program families chose is starting its final year.
On August 11, two weeks before the first bell, the Board of Education approved a set of changes to its Program Choice lineup, the menu of magnet and choice programs families select through the district's school choice process, that end nine of those programs, spread across eight schools, after this school year. The board approved each item unanimously, with eight members present. Students walking into those buildings today are starting the last year those programs will run.
What ends after this year
The visual and performing arts magnets at Crestdale Middle, Greenway Park Elementary and Long Creek Elementary end after 2026-27.
The STEM choice programs at Northeast Middle, Walter G. Byers K-8, Whitewater Middle, Wilson STEM Academy and Harding University High end on the same timeline. Harding loses a second program in the same set of votes: its Law and Social Justice choice program also closes after 2026-27.
That is eight schools and nine programs, all in their last year as of this morning.
What replaces them
The board paired the closures with new options on a slower clock. Grove Park Elementary becomes a STEM magnet in 2027-28. Second Ward High becomes a STEM magnet in 2028-29.
The timelines do not line up evenly. The nine programs end in June 2027. Grove Park's STEM magnet opens that fall, and Second Ward's opens a year after that.
The board also approved converting the Levine, Harper and Merancas middle colleges to early colleges in 2027-28, a change that adds ninth and tenth graders to those campuses. Cato remains a middle college program.
A separate World Languages item revised K-12 feeder patterns and transportation-zone assignments: North Academy of World Languages and Oaklawn Language Academy feed to North Mecklenburg High, while Charlotte East Language Academy feeds to Garinger High and South Academy of International Languages feeds to East Mecklenburg High. The Japanese-language program remains a countywide magnet option.
The long road here
The August votes carried out a plan the district calls the 2024 Comprehensive Review, which The Charlotte Mercury covered in April when it was released. That plan consolidated 71 program options into six themes: Visual and Performing Arts, Montessori, International Baccalaureate paired with Learning Immersion Talent Development, World Languages, STEM, and Early College. It was built on more than 126 community engagement sessions, and it called for boundary work to follow in fall 2026 as a separate process.
The board that approved the changes opened the year with its own transition. At the same August 11 meeting, Chair Stephanie Sneed announced that Dr. Crystal Hill would return to her superintendent role following a temporary leave, saying an independent review had identified district operations and oversight issues. The Mercury covered that announcement separately.
The year the programs close out runs from today through June 9, 2027, on the traditional calendar the board adopted in April 2025.
The last day of school is June 9. For nine programs, there is no year after that.