The school that houses Vista Magnet Middle School is sitting on 73 years of history. In 1936, Vista withdrew from the Oceanside-Carlsbad Union High School District. Across the street where the NEW City Hall Building is located what was known as the Lincoln School held classes there until the new high school was built.
In 1938, this facility was opened as Vista High School. The first graduating class was in 1938 on this facility. The oldest campus is Oceanside High School which dates back to 1906. A contract was accepted in 1971 for $4.4 million for the construction of the new Vista High School on Bobier Drive. Soon after, Lincoln Middle School opened on the VMMS site. In 1977, the city and school district swapped land. The district received the Arcadia Avenue site for its administration headquarters, and the district received the old Lincoln Junior High site (now city hall).
On September of 1979, the North County campus of San Diego State University opened classrooms at the VMMS site. A portable building was added for administrative offices and a reference library.
On December 2006, Lincoln Middle School moved to a new school location known as Rancho Minerva Middle School. In the fall of 2007, Vista Magnet Middle School opened with 200 sixth grade students and the rest is history.