Magnet and charter schools have become popular in recent years because they offer parents more choices for educating their children and the ability to tailor a school's instructional program to their child's individual needs, interests and skills. That can be particularly important for parents who seek alternatives to their neighborhood public schools but can't afford private or parochial school tuition.

But there's a catch to the promise that magnet schools hold out: Most such schools in Maryland are open only to children who live in the jurisdiction where the school is located; generally, they can't cross city or county lines to attend a magnet program in another district. That puts high-quality programs out of reach for thousands of kids every year. What they need is what one might call a “supermagnet school,” one that accepts any student in the region who qualifies for admission regardless of where they live.

Baltimore City already has a version of that concept in the Baltimore School for the Arts, which accepts students from the surrounding counties as well as those who live Baltimore City. It has a fabulous, purpose-built facility, an excellent program in the fine and performing arts, a near 100 percent graduation rate for its students and a roster of distinguished alumni that includes rapper Tupac Shakur and actress Jada Pinkett Smith. It also has one of the region's most diverse student bodies, giving youngsters a chance to meet and interact with peers they might never have known otherwise.

But even at the BSA there's a catch. Students who live outside Baltimore have to reimburse the city school department for their tuition because those funds aren't covered by their local school districts. Though tuition at the BSA — about $7,000 a year — is substantially lower than at many private and parochial schools, it can still be a barrier for parents who want the best education possible for their kids.

That's why we are intrigued by an idea Baltimore County School Superintendent Dallas Dance floated in a recent meeting with The Sun's editorial board. He suggested that the city get together with Baltimore, Howard and Anne Arundel counties to share the cost of creating one or more new magnet schools that would be open to students from across the region. It's similar to the “Governor's School” model that several states, including Virginia, North Carolina and New Jersey, have adopted to offer specialized programs in the arts and sciences to high-performing students that aren't available in their neighborhood public schools.

Now is a propitious time for that. Baltimore City has embarked on a massive $1 billion school construction program to renovate or rebuild dozens of aging school buildings — but even then it will end up with more capacity than it needs due to declining enrollments. Meanwhile, Baltimore County has just the opposite problem: Mr. Dance would love to create another magnet school in his district, but there's no place to put it.

Why not, he asks, create a Governor's School-type gifted-and-talented program in Baltimore City with the costs split among the largest neighboring jurisdictions and allow students from across the region to attend it without charge?

Mr. Dance estimates that it would take as little as $20 million to $25 million to refurbish and open such a school in an existing building in the city and that the facility could start accepting students as early as the 2017-2018 school year. Depending on where the building was located, the school could take advantage of its proximity to the city's many cultural and educational institutions to form partnerships that in addition to enriching students' academic experience could also enhance the city's school reform effort.

A regional magnet school for the gifted and talented in Baltimore City would set a standard for excellence comparable to those of the best private and parochial schools and give parents another choice when they consider where to send their children to school. It would also put Baltimore on the map as an educational leader and innovator in programs designed to make high-quality education available to all. The last time Maryland considered building its own version of a “Governor's School” was back in the 1980s, but the idea never quite got off the ground. It's time for the state and the school superintendents in the Baltimore region to give it another look.