Does anyone know the status of the Proposed BASIS Expansion

[Anonymous]

Why don't you explain why BASIS presented a growth model they weren't willing to implement. A bizarre move that backfired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any news on building location? Obviously that's a huge cost factor.

Kinda. Politically, their answer to that question was that they hadn’t had serious conversations with anyone yet as they needed the board’s blessing first. This was the right answer in my opinion.

They got pushed and the Principals spoke up and said initial analysis had looked everywhere from south Ward 4 to Ward 7. They made it clear it would be difficult to get walking distance to Penn Quarter.

My real takeaway from that meeting is that the Board is still reacting to their failure as an organization to Eagle, and we’re trying not to look like a push over. I’d love to see their staff analysis because my guess is that it says if Basis opened at whatever they wanted the Board would be closing another school in a year or so. Just my two cents.

Definitely they're embarrassed about Eagle and trying to play tough.

I think they'll be closing a few schools regardless-- now that I can see the CAPE scores, some of the schools up for review this year are looking quite iffy.

So dumb of PCSB.

False equivalency.

Basis is one of the best performing charters in DC and part of a national network with some of the most highly ranked schools in the US including the number one ranked public high school in the country.

Eagle was just a total disaster that couldn’t even bring a significant fraction of their students up to grade level.

+1. This is why we can’t have nice things in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any news on building location? Obviously that's a huge cost factor.

Kinda. Politically, their answer to that question was that they hadn’t had serious conversations with anyone yet as they needed the board’s blessing first. This was the right answer in my opinion.

They got pushed and the Principals spoke up and said initial analysis had looked everywhere from south Ward 4 to Ward 7. They made it clear it would be difficult to get walking distance to Penn Quarter.

My real takeaway from that meeting is that the Board is still reacting to their failure as an organization to Eagle, and we’re trying not to look like a push over. I’d love to see their staff analysis because my guess is that it says if Basis opened at whatever they wanted the Board would be closing another school in a year or so. Just my two cents.

Definitely they're embarrassed about Eagle and trying to play tough.

I think they'll be closing a few schools regardless-- now that I can see the CAPE scores, some of the schools up for review this year are looking quite iffy.

So dumb of PCSB.

False equivalency.

Basis is one of the best performing charters in DC and part of a national network with some of the most highly ranked schools in the US including the number one ranked public high school in the country.

Eagle was just a total disaster that couldn’t even bring a significant fraction of their students up to grade level.

+1. This is why we can’t have nice things in DC.

We have something nice in BASIS, and I'm glad that DCPCSB has decided not to recklessly ruin it by caving to BASIS's ill thought out plans.

[Anonymous]

Board meeting page:

https://dcpcsb.org/board-meeting-september-2024

Meeting materials:
https://www.livebinders.com/b/3610024

[Anonymous]

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-education/2018/05/11/basis-arizona-charter-school-tax-public-money-funding-expand-texas-dc/401516002/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-education/2018/05/11/basis-arizona-charter-school-tax-public-money-funding-expand-texas-dc/401516002/

Basis, which last year received about $84 million in state money to operate its Arizona schools, secured loans for its out-of-state schools by pledging as collateral future tax dollars and its Arizona campuses.

Basis disclosed it was using its Arizona properties and future state funding as collateral for the out-of-state schools in documents filed with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, which regulates the municipal bond market.

Ugh! Well they've certainly spent enough on their unsuccessful quest to expand in DC. Where did that money come from?

[Anonymous]

The way certain items are reported was changed by recent changes in GAAP--Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Auditors have to comply with GAAP and thus BASIS's financials look worse than they did before the change. It was pretty murky to me, but it sounded as if the changes make it harder for BASIS to meet the debt ratios imposed by its lenders. It seems to be looking for an infusion of cash from DC to make its balance sheet look better.

My impression was three-fold: one, the primary reason BASIS wants the whole hog is its own financial situation. Two, it is hoping to negotiate a better deal with DC. If it only submitted a whole hog plan, the staff would have recommended against approving it and there would have been no further chance of negotiating a better deal. Now, by creating a situation in which the Board thinks a BASIS elementary school is a good idea, there's a much improved chance that BASIS will come back with a "compromise," which won't help its financial situation as much as the whole hog would, but will be better than the plan the Board approved last night. BASIS viewed last night's meeting as a negotiation. Three, I am not convinced BASIS will walk away if it can only get the current plan. Note that DeAnna whatever said that BASIS would "probably" not go forward;she never made a definite statement that it definitely wouldn't.

So, now BASIS knows its approved for the "conservative growth" pathway and that's its floor. It's going to try to negotiate a better deal. If it can't, it may still go forward with the conservative growth pattern. It will turn to its lenders and ask for some chances in its agreements, pointing out that the shortfall will be a temporary situation and in three or four years it will have the whole hog and be in compliance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-education/2018/05/11/basis-arizona-charter-school-tax-public-money-funding-expand-texas-dc/401516002/

Basis, which last year received about $84 million in state money to operate its Arizona schools, secured loans for its out-of-state schools by pledging as collateral future tax dollars and its Arizona campuses.

Basis disclosed it was using its Arizona properties and future state funding as collateral for the out-of-state schools in documents filed with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, which regulates the municipal bond market.

Ugh! Well they've certainly spent enough on their unsuccessful quest to expand in DC. Where did that money come from?

Nothing to do with BASIS DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why don't you explain why BASIS presented a growth model they weren't willing to implement. A bizarre move that backfired.

Why don’t you explain why a network that has over 50 k-12 schools, many of which are among the top ranked in the country, plus a top-ranked 5-12 school in DC needs to prove that it can run a k-4 in DC from the start? They have to prove they can do it by adding a grade a year?

Total BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't you explain why BASIS presented a growth model they weren't willing to implement. A bizarre move that backfired.

Why don’t you explain why a network that has over 50 k-12 schools, many of which are among the top ranked in the country, plus a top-ranked 5-12 school in DC needs to prove that it can run a k-4 in DC from the start? They have to prove they can do it by adding a grade a year?

Total BS.

It's because their teacher retention stinks. They need to prove they can staff it.

[Anonymous]

Their student retention also stinks. No other DC charter routinely loses half their families before the terminal grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Their student retention also stinks. No other DC charter routinely loses half their families before the terminal grade.

Few other charters hold their students to real standards

[Anonymous]

Does every new charter have to slowly add grades? If yes, then BASIS is no more special than anyone else and should not expect to be treated differently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Their student retention also stinks. No other DC charter routinely loses half their families before the terminal grade.

Few other charters hold their students to real standards

Other charters operate multiple tracks to accommodate students who are working to different standards. It’s understandable that the PCSB prefers schools that take responsibility for educating all the students they enroll. Basis is as much a sorting mechanism as a school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does every new charter have to slowly add grades? If yes, then BASIS is no more special than anyone else and should not expect to be treated differently.

This. If a few years' financial difference is going to make it impossible, then I guess BASIS isn't financially stable enough to expand. Too bad so sad.