BASIS: PCSB staff recommends conditional continuance due to SWD

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They'll increase SN enrollment, not SN 12th grade graduation. The plan will work.

SN kids who need serious accommodations seldom stick around for HS at BASIS anyway. That won't change.

What should change is that Basis will fund their education elsewhere, as required by law.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As the parent of a child with special needs, I think it’s obvious what needs to be done. ALL the SN kids need to lottery into Basis. And parents, be loud about what you expect. Make it clear that we understand the law and have the Weinfeld Group and Jake Gould on speed-dial. Check the paperwork twice. Eventually, you’ll either get private placement or the school will be forced to staff up and get a real SN team. Win-win.

You are disgusting, PP. "I don't want to pay to send my kid to Lab where they belong and would be most happy, so I will make them suffer through being at oh-so-awful-BASIS and then use a lawyer to make BASIS pay for Lab. Too bad if this takes away funds from other students who do not need to go to Lab but could really use the education they receive at BASIS to improve their lives."

Thr funding come from OSSE not basis. So this wouldn’t even affect your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As the parent of a child with special needs, I think it’s obvious what needs to be done. ALL the SN kids need to lottery into Basis. And parents, be loud about what you expect. Make it clear that we understand the law and have the Weinfeld Group and Jake Gould on speed-dial. Check the paperwork twice. Eventually, you’ll either get private placement or the school will be forced to staff up and get a real SN team. Win-win.

You are disgusting, PP. "I don't want to pay to send my kid to Lab where they belong and would be most happy, so I will make them suffer through being at oh-so-awful-BASIS and then use a lawyer to make BASIS pay for Lab. Too bad if this takes away funds from other students who do not need to go to Lab but could really use the education they receive at BASIS to improve their lives."

Thr funding come from OSSE not basis. So this wouldn’t even affect your child.

But at a certain point, OSSE isn't just going to send all the kids to LAB just because Basis refuses to provide services. Placement decisions are not made exclusively by the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good luck with challenging. The path sounds arduous, expensive and incredibly time consuming.

With BASIS getting multiple seniors into MIT and Ivies each spring these days, admins aren't going to be sweating more robust SN accommodations, unless more SN families sue BASIS successfully. That's unlikely to happen and would take years if it does.

or unless ... the entity responsible for oversight and compliance holds Basis accountable, which the Charter Board appears to be doing.

The crux of the problem is that the ed powers in this city want to have it both ways: they want to continue to underfund charters relative to DCPS programs on a per capita basis while requiring the latter to provide DCPS-level support for SN students and English Language Learners. They don't want students with disabilities and poor kids to be excluded from the best public schools, but refuse to provide the GT education that would help the brightest poor kids students enjoy strong representation in the public HS programs offering the most rigor. They want high-performing test-in magnets that compare to the top performers in other US cities, but won't support the requisite K-8 prep and ability grouping to create them. Something has to give, with the charter board, OSSE and the Mayor's office turning a blind eye because they boxed themselves into a corner long ago. At BASIS, conveniently, it's support for SN and ELL. As long as a couple students a year from BASIS continue to crack MIT and Yale, no politician is going to mess with BASIS DC. It's no secret that the franchise has found far more fertile ground to expand its public school empire in Texas and Louisiana than in DC. The Charter Board is toothless without political backing.

[Anonymous]

The crux of the problem is that the ed powers in this city want to have it both ways: they want to continue to underfund charters relative to DCPS programs on a per capita basis while requiring the latter to provide DCPS-level support for SN students and English Language Learners. They don't want students with disabilities and poor kids to be excluded from the best public schools, but refuse to provide the GT education that would help the brightest poor kids students enjoy strong representation in the public HS programs offering the most rigor. They want high-performing test-in magnets that compare to the top performers in other US cities, but won't support the requisite K-8 prep and ability grouping to create them. Something has to give, with the charter board, OSSE and the Mayor's office turning a blind eye because they boxed themselves into a corner long ago. At BASIS, conveniently, it's support for SN and ELL. As long as a couple students a year from BASIS continue to crack MIT and Yale, no politician is going to mess with BASIS DC. It's no secret that the franchise has found far more fertile ground to expand its public school empire in Texas and Louisiana than in DC. The Charter Board is toothless without political backing.

Excellent summation. To that I would add that the failure of DCPS to address the bolded sentence is WHY ---20 years into charter schools---charters went from the original intent of being "niche" educational programs: dual language, montessori/experiential learning, etc.---into serving 45% of the kids currently using public education in the District. So now that charters are essentially a parallel school system, the first sentence---creating unreasonable expectations for charters as a result of underfunding---has become the reality.
What I would like to see is a charter that is expressly special-ed---like a charter version of LAB. And with an admissions system that either lets you lottery for it with an existing IEP, OR allows a charter to charter transfer for kids who are identified as needing greater services than the charter can provide. That would seem to be much more practical than the current world---which expects all schools to be all things for SPED kids. I have a SPED kid. We would never have lotteried DC into a program like BASIS and then demanded that BASIS accommodate DC. That would have unreasonable for both the schools and DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The crux of the problem is that the ed powers in this city want to have it both ways: they want to continue to underfund charters relative to DCPS programs on a per capita basis while requiring the latter to provide DCPS-level support for SN students and English Language Learners. They don't want students with disabilities and poor kids to be excluded from the best public schools, but refuse to provide the GT education that would help the brightest poor kids students enjoy strong representation in the public HS programs offering the most rigor. They want high-performing test-in magnets that compare to the top performers in other US cities, but won't support the requisite K-8 prep and ability grouping to create them. Something has to give, with the charter board, OSSE and the Mayor's office turning a blind eye because they boxed themselves into a corner long ago. At BASIS, conveniently, it's support for SN and ELL. As long as a couple students a year from BASIS continue to crack MIT and Yale, no politician is going to mess with BASIS DC. It's no secret that the franchise has found far more fertile ground to expand its public school empire in Texas and Louisiana than in DC. The Charter Board is toothless without political backing.

Excellent summation. To that I would add that the failure of DCPS to address the bolded sentence is WHY ---20 years into charter schools---charters went from the original intent of being "niche" educational programs: dual language, montessori/experiential learning, etc.---into serving 45% of the kids currently using public education in the District. So now that charters are essentially a parallel school system, the first sentence---creating unreasonable expectations for charters as a result of underfunding---has become the reality.
What I would like to see is a charter that is expressly special-ed---like a charter version of LAB. And with an admissions system that either lets you lottery for it with an existing IEP, OR allows a charter to charter transfer for kids who are identified as needing greater services than the charter can provide. That would seem to be much more practical than the current world---which expects all schools to be all things for SPED kids. I have a SPED kid. We would never have lotteried DC into a program like BASIS and then demanded that BASIS accommodate DC. That would have unreasonable for both the schools and DC.

There are special Ed charters. Bridges and Monument. But charter boosters don't like to talk about Monument. Nope, nothing to see here. Great oversight!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The crux of the problem is that the ed powers in this city want to have it both ways: they want to continue to underfund charters relative to DCPS programs on a per capita basis while requiring the latter to provide DCPS-level support for SN students and English Language Learners. They don't want students with disabilities and poor kids to be excluded from the best public schools, but refuse to provide the GT education that would help the brightest poor kids students enjoy strong representation in the public HS programs offering the most rigor. They want high-performing test-in magnets that compare to the top performers in other US cities, but won't support the requisite K-8 prep and ability grouping to create them. Something has to give, with the charter board, OSSE and the Mayor's office turning a blind eye because they boxed themselves into a corner long ago. At BASIS, conveniently, it's support for SN and ELL. As long as a couple students a year from BASIS continue to crack MIT and Yale, no politician is going to mess with BASIS DC. It's no secret that the franchise has found far more fertile ground to expand its public school empire in Texas and Louisiana than in DC. The Charter Board is toothless without political backing.

Excellent summation. To that I would add that the failure of DCPS to address the bolded sentence is WHY ---20 years into charter schools---charters went from the original intent of being "niche" educational programs: dual language, montessori/experiential learning, etc.---into serving 45% of the kids currently using public education in the District. So now that charters are essentially a parallel school system, the first sentence---creating unreasonable expectations for charters as a result of underfunding---has become the reality.
What I would like to see is a charter that is expressly special-ed---like a charter version of LAB. And with an admissions system that either lets you lottery for it with an existing IEP, OR allows a charter to charter transfer for kids who are identified as needing greater services than the charter can provide. That would seem to be much more practical than the current world---which expects all schools to be all things for SPED kids. I have a SPED kid. We would never have lotteried DC into a program like BASIS and then demanded that BASIS accommodate DC. That would have unreasonable for both the schools and DC.

No, charters are federally required to serve kids with disabilities, and kids with disabilities are entitled to the least restrictive environment. Other charters figured it out and Basis has to as well. Period. BTW SN charters exist already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The crux of the problem is that the ed powers in this city want to have it both ways: they want to continue to underfund charters relative to DCPS programs on a per capita basis while requiring the latter to provide DCPS-level support for SN students and English Language Learners. They don't want students with disabilities and poor kids to be excluded from the best public schools, but refuse to provide the GT education that would help the brightest poor kids students enjoy strong representation in the public HS programs offering the most rigor. They want high-performing test-in magnets that compare to the top performers in other US cities, but won't support the requisite K-8 prep and ability grouping to create them. Something has to give, with the charter board, OSSE and the Mayor's office turning a blind eye because they boxed themselves into a corner long ago. At BASIS, conveniently, it's support for SN and ELL. As long as a couple students a year from BASIS continue to crack MIT and Yale, no politician is going to mess with BASIS DC. It's no secret that the franchise has found far more fertile ground to expand its public school empire in Texas and Louisiana than in DC. The Charter Board is toothless without political backing.

Excellent summation. To that I would add that the failure of DCPS to address the bolded sentence is WHY ---20 years into charter schools---charters went from the original intent of being "niche" educational programs: dual language, montessori/experiential learning, etc.---into serving 45% of the kids currently using public education in the District. So now that charters are essentially a parallel school system, the first sentence---creating unreasonable expectations for charters as a result of underfunding---has become the reality.
What I would like to see is a charter that is expressly special-ed---like a charter version of LAB. And with an admissions system that either lets you lottery for it with an existing IEP, OR allows a charter to charter transfer for kids who are identified as needing greater services than the charter can provide. That would seem to be much more practical than the current world---which expects all schools to be all things for SPED kids. I have a SPED kid. We would never have lotteried DC into a program like BASIS and then demanded that BASIS accommodate DC. That would have unreasonable for both the schools and DC.

There are special Ed charters. Bridges and Monument. But charter boosters don't like to talk about Monument. Nope, nothing to see here. Great oversight!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The crux of the problem is that the ed powers in this city want to have it both ways: they want to continue to underfund charters relative to DCPS programs on a per capita basis while requiring the latter to provide DCPS-level support for SN students and English Language Learners. They don't want students with disabilities and poor kids to be excluded from the best public schools, but refuse to provide the GT education that would help the brightest poor kids students enjoy strong representation in the public HS programs offering the most rigor. They want high-performing test-in magnets that compare to the top performers in other US cities, but won't support the requisite K-8 prep and ability grouping to create them. Something has to give, with the charter board, OSSE and the Mayor's office turning a blind eye because they boxed themselves into a corner long ago. At BASIS, conveniently, it's support for SN and ELL. As long as a couple students a year from BASIS continue to crack MIT and Yale, no politician is going to mess with BASIS DC. It's no secret that the franchise has found far more fertile ground to expand its public school empire in Texas and Louisiana than in DC. The Charter Board is toothless without political backing.

Excellent summation. To that I would add that the failure of DCPS to address the bolded sentence is WHY ---20 years into charter schools---charters went from the original intent of being "niche" educational programs: dual language, montessori/experiential learning, etc.---into serving 45% of the kids currently using public education in the District. So now that charters are essentially a parallel school system, the first sentence---creating unreasonable expectations for charters as a result of underfunding---has become the reality.
What I would like to see is a charter that is expressly special-ed---like a charter version of LAB. And with an admissions system that either lets you lottery for it with an existing IEP, OR allows a charter to charter transfer for kids who are identified as needing greater services than the charter can provide. That would seem to be much more practical than the current world---which expects all schools to be all things for SPED kids. I have a SPED kid. We would never have lotteried DC into a program like BASIS and then demanded that BASIS accommodate DC. That would have unreasonable for both the schools and DC.

No, charters are federally required to serve kids with disabilities, and kids with disabilities are entitled to the least restrictive environment. Other charters figured it out and Basis has to as well. Period. BTW SN charters exist already.

PP, can you give us a list of charters who do SN well?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The crux of the problem is that the ed powers in this city want to have it both ways: they want to continue to underfund charters relative to DCPS programs on a per capita basis while requiring the latter to provide DCPS-level support for SN students and English Language Learners. They don't want students with disabilities and poor kids to be excluded from the best public schools, but refuse to provide the GT education that would help the brightest poor kids students enjoy strong representation in the public HS programs offering the most rigor. They want high-performing test-in magnets that compare to the top performers in other US cities, but won't support the requisite K-8 prep and ability grouping to create them. Something has to give, with the charter board, OSSE and the Mayor's office turning a blind eye because they boxed themselves into a corner long ago. At BASIS, conveniently, it's support for SN and ELL. As long as a couple students a year from BASIS continue to crack MIT and Yale, no politician is going to mess with BASIS DC. It's no secret that the franchise has found far more fertile ground to expand its public school empire in Texas and Louisiana than in DC. The Charter Board is toothless without political backing.

Excellent summation. To that I would add that the failure of DCPS to address the bolded sentence is WHY ---20 years into charter schools---charters went from the original intent of being "niche" educational programs: dual language, montessori/experiential learning, etc.---into serving 45% of the kids currently using public education in the District. So now that charters are essentially a parallel school system, the first sentence---creating unreasonable expectations for charters as a result of underfunding---has become the reality.
What I would like to see is a charter that is expressly special-ed---like a charter version of LAB. And with an admissions system that either lets you lottery for it with an existing IEP, OR allows a charter to charter transfer for kids who are identified as needing greater services than the charter can provide. That would seem to be much more practical than the current world---which expects all schools to be all things for SPED kids. I have a SPED kid. We would never have lotteried DC into a program like BASIS and then demanded that BASIS accommodate DC. That would have unreasonable for both the schools and DC.

No, charters are federally required to serve kids with disabilities, and kids with disabilities are entitled to the least restrictive environment. Other charters figured it out and Basis has to as well. Period. BTW SN charters exist already.

PP, can you give us a list of charters who do SN well?

this is hearsay mostly, but TR.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The crux of the problem is that the ed powers in this city want to have it both ways: they want to continue to underfund charters relative to DCPS programs on a per capita basis while requiring the latter to provide DCPS-level support for SN students and English Language Learners. They don't want students with disabilities and poor kids to be excluded from the best public schools, but refuse to provide the GT education that would help the brightest poor kids students enjoy strong representation in the public HS programs offering the most rigor. They want high-performing test-in magnets that compare to the top performers in other US cities, but won't support the requisite K-8 prep and ability grouping to create them. Something has to give, with the charter board, OSSE and the Mayor's office turning a blind eye because they boxed themselves into a corner long ago. At BASIS, conveniently, it's support for SN and ELL. As long as a couple students a year from BASIS continue to crack MIT and Yale, no politician is going to mess with BASIS DC. It's no secret that the franchise has found far more fertile ground to expand its public school empire in Texas and Louisiana than in DC. The Charter Board is toothless without political backing.

Excellent summation. To that I would add that the failure of DCPS to address the bolded sentence is WHY ---20 years into charter schools---charters went from the original intent of being "niche" educational programs: dual language, montessori/experiential learning, etc.---into serving 45% of the kids currently using public education in the District. So now that charters are essentially a parallel school system, the first sentence---creating unreasonable expectations for charters as a result of underfunding---has become the reality.
What I would like to see is a charter that is expressly special-ed---like a charter version of LAB. And with an admissions system that either lets you lottery for it with an existing IEP, OR allows a charter to charter transfer for kids who are identified as needing greater services than the charter can provide. That would seem to be much more practical than the current world---which expects all schools to be all things for SPED kids. I have a SPED kid. We would never have lotteried DC into a program like BASIS and then demanded that BASIS accommodate DC. That would have unreasonable for both the schools and DC.

No, charters are federally required to serve kids with disabilities, and kids with disabilities are entitled to the least restrictive environment. Other charters figured it out and Basis has to as well. Period. BTW SN charters exist already.

Well then, why argue? If you are certain this is all a black and white, simple issue, why continue to post? This sort of repetition of "the law says they have to do X," is just having a tantrum, not furthering discussion. Additionally, nothing as complex as the convergence of education, policitics, kids, education law, school funding, and equity is that simple as you suggest. Which is why the charter board has reviews, why this disucssion has continued for days, and why nothing is easy in the world of educating kids with special needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The crux of the problem is that the ed powers in this city want to have it both ways: they want to continue to underfund charters relative to DCPS programs on a per capita basis while requiring the latter to provide DCPS-level support for SN students and English Language Learners. They don't want students with disabilities and poor kids to be excluded from the best public schools, but refuse to provide the GT education that would help the brightest poor kids students enjoy strong representation in the public HS programs offering the most rigor. They want high-performing test-in magnets that compare to the top performers in other US cities, but won't support the requisite K-8 prep and ability grouping to create them. Something has to give, with the charter board, OSSE and the Mayor's office turning a blind eye because they boxed themselves into a corner long ago. At BASIS, conveniently, it's support for SN and ELL. As long as a couple students a year from BASIS continue to crack MIT and Yale, no politician is going to mess with BASIS DC. It's no secret that the franchise has found far more fertile ground to expand its public school empire in Texas and Louisiana than in DC. The Charter Board is toothless without political backing.

Excellent summation. To that I would add that the failure of DCPS to address the bolded sentence is WHY ---20 years into charter schools---charters went from the original intent of being "niche" educational programs: dual language, montessori/experiential learning, etc.---into serving 45% of the kids currently using public education in the District. So now that charters are essentially a parallel school system, the first sentence---creating unreasonable expectations for charters as a result of underfunding---has become the reality.
What I would like to see is a charter that is expressly special-ed---like a charter version of LAB. And with an admissions system that either lets you lottery for it with an existing IEP, OR allows a charter to charter transfer for kids who are identified as needing greater services than the charter can provide. That would seem to be much more practical than the current world---which expects all schools to be all things for SPED kids. I have a SPED kid. We would never have lotteried DC into a program like BASIS and then demanded that BASIS accommodate DC. That would have unreasonable for both the schools and DC.

No, charters are federally required to serve kids with disabilities, and kids with disabilities are entitled to the least restrictive environment. Other charters figured it out and Basis has to as well. Period. BTW SN charters exist already.

PP, can you give us a list of charters who do SN well?

this is hearsay mostly, but TR.

That's one....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The crux of the problem is that the ed powers in this city want to have it both ways: they want to continue to underfund charters relative to DCPS programs on a per capita basis while requiring the latter to provide DCPS-level support for SN students and English Language Learners. They don't want students with disabilities and poor kids to be excluded from the best public schools, but refuse to provide the GT education that would help the brightest poor kids students enjoy strong representation in the public HS programs offering the most rigor. They want high-performing test-in magnets that compare to the top performers in other US cities, but won't support the requisite K-8 prep and ability grouping to create them. Something has to give, with the charter board, OSSE and the Mayor's office turning a blind eye because they boxed themselves into a corner long ago. At BASIS, conveniently, it's support for SN and ELL. As long as a couple students a year from BASIS continue to crack MIT and Yale, no politician is going to mess with BASIS DC. It's no secret that the franchise has found far more fertile ground to expand its public school empire in Texas and Louisiana than in DC. The Charter Board is toothless without political backing.

Excellent summation. To that I would add that the failure of DCPS to address the bolded sentence is WHY ---20 years into charter schools---charters went from the original intent of being "niche" educational programs: dual language, montessori/experiential learning, etc.---into serving 45% of the kids currently using public education in the District. So now that charters are essentially a parallel school system, the first sentence---creating unreasonable expectations for charters as a result of underfunding---has become the reality.
What I would like to see is a charter that is expressly special-ed---like a charter version of LAB. And with an admissions system that either lets you lottery for it with an existing IEP, OR allows a charter to charter transfer for kids who are identified as needing greater services than the charter can provide. That would seem to be much more practical than the current world---which expects all schools to be all things for SPED kids. I have a SPED kid. We would never have lotteried DC into a program like BASIS and then demanded that BASIS accommodate DC. That would have unreasonable for both the schools and DC.

No, charters are federally required to serve kids with disabilities, and kids with disabilities are entitled to the least restrictive environment. Other charters figured it out and Basis has to as well. Period. BTW SN charters exist already.

Well then, why argue? If you are certain this is all a black and white, simple issue, why continue to post? This sort of repetition of "the law says they have to do X," is just having a tantrum, not furthering discussion. Additionally, nothing as complex as the convergence of education, policitics, kids, education law, school funding, and equity is that simple as you suggest. Which is why the charter board has reviews, why this disucssion has continued for days, and why nothing is easy in the world of educating kids with special needs.

I mean - it is pretty easy and black and white, in some ways. Basis needs to improve its metrics, and they need to do that by standing up a better SN program and writing strong IEPs. Education isn’t simple - but I’ve been a few rounds, and throwing resources at then problem goes quite a long way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The crux of the problem is that the ed powers in this city want to have it both ways: they want to continue to underfund charters relative to DCPS programs on a per capita basis while requiring the latter to provide DCPS-level support for SN students and English Language Learners. They don't want students with disabilities and poor kids to be excluded from the best public schools, but refuse to provide the GT education that would help the brightest poor kids students enjoy strong representation in the public HS programs offering the most rigor. They want high-performing test-in magnets that compare to the top performers in other US cities, but won't support the requisite K-8 prep and ability grouping to create them. Something has to give, with the charter board, OSSE and the Mayor's office turning a blind eye because they boxed themselves into a corner long ago. At BASIS, conveniently, it's support for SN and ELL. As long as a couple students a year from BASIS continue to crack MIT and Yale, no politician is going to mess with BASIS DC. It's no secret that the franchise has found far more fertile ground to expand its public school empire in Texas and Louisiana than in DC. The Charter Board is toothless without political backing.

Excellent summation. To that I would add that the failure of DCPS to address the bolded sentence is WHY ---20 years into charter schools---charters went from the original intent of being "niche" educational programs: dual language, montessori/experiential learning, etc.---into serving 45% of the kids currently using public education in the District. So now that charters are essentially a parallel school system, the first sentence---creating unreasonable expectations for charters as a result of underfunding---has become the reality.
What I would like to see is a charter that is expressly special-ed---like a charter version of LAB. And with an admissions system that either lets you lottery for it with an existing IEP, OR allows a charter to charter transfer for kids who are identified as needing greater services than the charter can provide. That would seem to be much more practical than the current world---which expects all schools to be all things for SPED kids. I have a SPED kid. We would never have lotteried DC into a program like BASIS and then demanded that BASIS accommodate DC. That would have unreasonable for both the schools and DC.

No, charters are federally required to serve kids with disabilities, and kids with disabilities are entitled to the least restrictive environment. Other charters figured it out and Basis has to as well. Period. BTW SN charters exist already.

PP, can you give us a list of charters who do SN well?

this is hearsay mostly, but TR.

That's one....

Well the charter board said Basis is among the worst so … every other charter? For MS I’ve specifically heard TR, DCI, and Latin. I’m also going to look into ITS and Sojourner Truth for my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The crux of the problem is that the ed powers in this city want to have it both ways: they want to continue to underfund charters relative to DCPS programs on a per capita basis while requiring the latter to provide DCPS-level support for SN students and English Language Learners. They don't want students with disabilities and poor kids to be excluded from the best public schools, but refuse to provide the GT education that would help the brightest poor kids students enjoy strong representation in the public HS programs offering the most rigor. They want high-performing test-in magnets that compare to the top performers in other US cities, but won't support the requisite K-8 prep and ability grouping to create them. Something has to give, with the charter board, OSSE and the Mayor's office turning a blind eye because they boxed themselves into a corner long ago. At BASIS, conveniently, it's support for SN and ELL. As long as a couple students a year from BASIS continue to crack MIT and Yale, no politician is going to mess with BASIS DC. It's no secret that the franchise has found far more fertile ground to expand its public school empire in Texas and Louisiana than in DC. The Charter Board is toothless without political backing.

Excellent summation. To that I would add that the failure of DCPS to address the bolded sentence is WHY ---20 years into charter schools---charters went from the original intent of being "niche" educational programs: dual language, montessori/experiential learning, etc.---into serving 45% of the kids currently using public education in the District. So now that charters are essentially a parallel school system, the first sentence---creating unreasonable expectations for charters as a result of underfunding---has become the reality.
What I would like to see is a charter that is expressly special-ed---like a charter version of LAB. And with an admissions system that either lets you lottery for it with an existing IEP, OR allows a charter to charter transfer for kids who are identified as needing greater services than the charter can provide. That would seem to be much more practical than the current world---which expects all schools to be all things for SPED kids. I have a SPED kid. We would never have lotteried DC into a program like BASIS and then demanded that BASIS accommodate DC. That would have unreasonable for both the schools and DC.

No, charters are federally required to serve kids with disabilities, and kids with disabilities are entitled to the least restrictive environment. Other charters figured it out and Basis has to as well. Period. BTW SN charters exist already.

BASIS simply can't fulfill its mission as the DC public HS offering the most math and science rigor while serving kids with a wide range of disabilities well without a dramatic increase in funding per capita. They just can't afford to hire the resource staff they'd need to do this. If they're forced to water down their curriculum to accommodate students with disabilities at the expense of their math whizzes, what they're going to do is exit the DC stage in search of greener pastures. No doubt that Texas would be thrilled to gain another BASIS campus, with no quibbles about how well SN and ELL students are accommodated by the franchise in the Lone Star State. In that case, you might be better off pointing the finger at the DC Council and Mayor for failing to pony up for funding than the BASIS franchise.