If application volume is the measure, duPont Manual, Noe Middle and J. Graham Brown School stand out.
Manual drew 1,152 school level magnet and program application counts in the most recent JCPS data. Noe led the middle school list with 731. Brown led elementary schools with 508. Central High Magnet Career Academy was another major draw with 766.
Those numbers show where families are applying most heavily. They do not give parents an acceptance rate.
There is also a limitation in what JCPS is counting. Families can select up to two magnet schools or programs on one magnet application. But the district's public school level reports label the figure for each school simply as a "Total" and describe the data as magnet or program applications for each school. They do not say whether that total represents unique students, first choices only, or both first and second choices. JCPS Insider is therefore treating the figures as school level application counts, not as a count of unique children.
The source is JCPS's Magnet/Program Applications, 2025 to 2026 data for elementary, middle and high schools, produced by Accountability, Research and Systems Improvement from MIS District Reporting 4524. The district's public data page lists the reports as created October 1, 2025.
Manual and Central dominate the published high school numbers
The six high schools appearing in the 2025 to 2026 JCPS report were:
duPont Manual High: 1,152
Central High Magnet Career Academy: 766
Butler Traditional High: 286
Western High: 163
Louisville Male High: 120
J. Graham Brown School: 47
Manual accounted for about 45 percent of the 2,534 high school application counts shown in the report.
Manual's number covers five separate magnet programs: High School University, Journalism and Communications, Mathematics Science Technology, Visual Arts and the Youth Performing Arts School. JCPS does not break the 1,152 school total into those individual programs in this report.
So a family trying to compare demand for MST with HSU, for example, cannot do that from the public school level data.
There is also a hole in the high school list.
JCPS's current High School Choices guide says the district has eight magnet high schools. It lists W.E.B. DuBois Academy and Grace James Academy of Excellence along with Brown, Butler, Central, Manual, Male and Western. DuBois and Grace James do not appear in the 2025 to 2026 high school application report.
JCPS Insider could not find a public district explanation for the omission. Because of that, the six schools above should not be treated as a complete ranking of all eight current magnet high schools.
Noe is the clear middle school leader
Noe received 731 school level application counts in the 2025 to 2026 middle school report.
The next largest totals were:
Farnsley Middle: 387
Western Middle School for the Arts: 386
J. Graham Brown School: 224
Barret Traditional Middle: 218
Noe drew nearly twice as many counts as either Farnsley or Western Middle.
Noe also held onto its application volume better than several other schools. Its total was 727 for 2024 to 2025 and 731 for 2025 to 2026. Farnsley fell from 544 to 387, a decrease of about 29 percent.
Noe offers two magnet programs, Gifted and Talented and Visual and Performing Arts. The public application report does not separate the 731 total between them.
Brown leads elementary application counts
The largest elementary totals in the 2025 to 2026 JCPS report were:
J. Graham Brown School: 508
Lincoln Elementary Performing Arts: 411
Greathouse Shryock Traditional: 362
Audubon Traditional Elementary: 238
Brandeis Elementary: 236
Hawthorne Elementary: 217
Brown was also near the top a year earlier, when it had 525 application counts. Lincoln declined from 496 to 411, while Greathouse Shryock dropped from 502 to 362.
JCPS has not yet posted a comparable school level application report for 2026 to 2027. But a newer district document gives parents another way to see where elementary demand exceeded available seats.
Brown's newer wait list shows how deep the demand ran
JCPS's 2026 to 2027 Elementary Magnet Lottery List, updated June 1, 2026, covers first choice applications submitted on time.
The kindergarten entries read:
Brown: 2 of 237
Lincoln: 5 of 113
Hawthorne: 12 of 110
Greathouse Shryock: 6 of 90
That Brown number is easy to misread.
It does not mean 236 kindergarten students were still waiting on June 1. JCPS says a child's assigned wait list number does not change when students ahead of that child leave the list or receive placements. Brown's 237 shows how far the numbered kindergarten list extended, while 2 was the next number shown on the June 1 update.
Brown's demand was not confined to kindergarten. The same document shows lists extending through number 54 in first grade, 50 in second, 64 in third, 40 in fourth and 62 in fifth.
The 508 Brown application count and the later wait list are from different application cycles, so they should not be combined into an acceptance rate. What they do show, separately, is that Brown led the published elementary application counts and then produced a long first choice wait list in the following cycle.
The application decline came during JCPS's transportation upheaval
The districtwide magnet and program application count fell from 10,268 for 2024 to 2025 to 8,631 for 2025 to 2026, a decrease of about 16 percent. Manual fell about 15 percent. Farnsley fell about 29 percent. Greathouse Shryock fell about 28 percent. Lincoln fell about 17 percent.
Those drops happened during a major change in how families could get to magnet schools.
Beginning with 2024 to 2025, JCPS ended bus service for most traditional, nonresides Academies of Louisville and magnet students, with Central and Western High as exceptions. In March 2025, the district approved a limited restoration affecting six additional magnet schools. For 2025 to 2026, all students at Coleridge Taylor Montessori, Johnson Traditional Middle and Whitney Young Elementary at Engelhard were eligible for transportation, while eligibility at Butler, Male and Manual was limited to students directly certified for Free and Reduced Lunch.
The application reports do not prove transportation caused the declines. They do show that the drop in magnet and program applications occurred during the same period that transportation rules changed dramatically.
Brown is the school where the public record gives parents the clearest combination of a leading application total and a long later wait list. JCPS still does not publish the unique applicant, seat, offer and placement numbers needed to rank Manual, Noe and other criteria based magnets by acceptance rate.
The next JCPS magnet application window opens November 2
Families applying for the 2027 to 2028 school year can submit applications from November 2 through December 18, 2026. JCPS says applications are not processed on a first come, first served basis.
Families may apply for up to two magnet schools or programs. JCPS's current application materials distinguish between first choice and second choice selections, and the district says second choice selections are reviewed after first choice applications and are not included in the magnet wait list.
Parents can use the JCPS Student Assignment page and Magnet Program page for current application information.
The Office of School Choice can be reached at 502 485 6250. JCPS lists askoptionalmagnet@jefferson.kyschools.us for magnet questions and jcpsschoolchoice@jefferson.kyschools.us for general School Choice questions.