A Cybersecurity program is listed at six Clark County School District Magnet high schools in the district's Magnet booklet, and South Career and Technical Academy and Valley High School list related cyber programs. A family in the southeast valley or Henderson could reasonably put Eldorado High School and Southeast Career and Technical Academy (SECTA) side by side. SECTA is a full school Magnet and Eldorado runs a program within a school, and the two differ on bus zones and lottery preferences. The first six steps come from the Magnet site and booklet, checked Tuesday, October 13, 2026. The last uses the state's school report cards, checked Saturday, October 17. The same steps work for any two programs.

Full Magnet school or program within a school?

SECTA is a "Full School Magnet." Every student there is a Magnet student.

Eldorado is a "Magnet Program Within a School," per the booklet and the Find a Magnet School search. Its zoned students attend alongside the Magnet program.

A program within a school means your teen shares the campus, teams, and clubs with a neighborhood high school. A full school Magnet means the whole building is built around career programs.

What else is offered

If your teen changes their mind about cybersecurity, the other programs at the same school matter, because the Magnet program expectations say a student "must maintain enrollment in the designated program of study to which they enrolled."

Eldorado's Magnet programs are Cybersecurity, Digital Game Development, Digital Media and Communication, Medical Assistant, and Military Science, Navy JROTC.

SECTA lists Advanced Manufacturing Technologies, Architectural Design, Automotive Technology, Construction Technology, Cosmetology, Culinary Arts, Cybersecurity, Medical Professions, Photography and Graphic Design, Sports Medicine, and Teaching and Training.

Criteria or interest based?

High school Magnet programs are criteria based, interest based, or audition based, per Qualification Requirements. Criteria programs convert first semester grades to points (A is 4 down to F at 0), out of 26, and a student needs at least 16 to enter the lottery.

SECTA's admissions page lists Cybersecurity as criteria based, so first semester eighth grade grades count there. The district's 2027 to 2028 High School Magnet Programs Qualification Requirements list, linked from the Qualification Requirements page, also lists Eldorado Cybersecurity as criteria based. Eldorado's own Cybersecurity page does not say, so confirm with the school or the Magnet office.

Which Magnet preference can your child get?

Preferences only apply to a first choice on time application, per the Selection Process page.

SECTA is a Career and Technical Academy, so an applicant living in its CTA transportation zone can receive a CTA transportation preference.

Eldorado is not a CTA, so that preference does not apply there.

Geographic preference goes to qualified applicants who live inside a school's preference area, set by the district's zoning department. The page does not limit it to non CTA schools, so ask the Magnet office, 702 799 8492, or the zoning department whether your address falls inside the area for each school.

Sibling preference applies at either school when a sibling is enrolled there for the coming year. Only one school can be first choice, so know which preference your child would get at each before you rank them.

What time is the Magnet bus?

Eligibility still follows Regulation 3531: a student must live in the school's transportation zone and meet the distance rule. Families outside it drive.

The 2026 to 2027 stop lists are where the two schools look nothing alike.

SECTA's CTA stop list shows 37 stops with morning pickups from 6:09 a.m. at Basic High School to 7:02 a.m. Henderson stops include Basic, Foothill High School at 6:43 a.m., and Green Valley High School at 7:01 a.m. Boulder City High School is a 6:20 a.m. pickup.

Eldorado's high school stop list shows 10 stops, with morning times from 7:28 a.m. at Chaparral High School to 8:00 a.m. Silverado High School is a 7:31 a.m. pickup.

Stops change year to year, and the Magnet site notes that zone adjustments are not reflected on the transportation website.

The rules once enrolled

The program expectations page says the Magnet becomes the student's assigned school, and withdrawal "is not permitted during the school year." Secondary students must keep a 2.0 each semester, and 10 or more absences in a semester puts a student on attendance probation.

SECTA and Eldorado star ratings

The Nevada Department of Education's accountability portal posts a 2025 to 2026 rating page for every school. Look up both, but read them for what they measure: the whole school, not the Magnet program alone. At a program within a school, zoned students are counted too.

The SECTA report card shows a total index score of 93.5, a five star rating, up from 92.5 the year before. The Eldorado report card shows 59, which falls in the three star band on the state's scale (at or above 50 and less than 70). Its score the year before was 44.

Measures worth comparing side by side, all from those two pages:

  • Four year graduation rate (class of 2024 to 2025): above 95 percent at SECTA and 88.2 percent at Eldorado. The district rate is 86.3 percent.

  • Chronic absenteeism: 9.6 percent at SECTA and 34.1 percent at Eldorado, against 28.1 percent districtwide.

  • Math proficiency: 37.4 percent at SECTA and 11.1 percent at Eldorado, against 22.6 percent districtwide.

  • Career and technical education (CTE) completion: 76.3 percent of SECTA students and 50.2 percent of Eldorado students.

  • Advanced or College and Career Ready diploma: 56.5 percent at SECTA and 26.6 percent at Eldorado.

The numbers describe who attends each school as much as the teaching. Eldorado's Cybersecurity page says students are prepared for the CompTIA A+ and Network+ certification exams. Ask both schools how many students pass them and how many finish the program, since the state pages don't break results out by Magnet program.

Contacts

Eldorado High School: 702 799 7200, ccsd.net/ehs.

SECTA: 702 799 7500, ccsd.net/secta.

Magnet office: 702 799 8492, magnetschools@nv.ccsd.net, Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Applications close Tuesday, January 12, 2027, at 3:00 p.m.

Phone, email, and hours checked October 29, 2026 against magnet.ccsd.net.