BASIS proposal to expand to K-4--PCSB hearing today

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. I did review the documents and quickly saw that you are spreading false information. Basis “ is primarily a commercial real estate investment firm”? Shame on you. You are clearly a troll.

Here is the latest reporting from the Arizon Republic (which, BTW, doesn’t cover charter schools in DC):

This Arizona high school landed the top spot in national U.S. News ranking

A charter school in Peoria landed the top spot in a new ranking of the best public high schools across the nation.

BASIS Peoria was ranked first in the nation on U.S. News & World Report's 2024 rankings of best public high schools, rising from 12th place in last year's ranking.

Twelve Arizona high schools in all were included in the top 100 spots of the ranking.

They included 10 schools in the BASIS charter school network — Peoria (first), Oro Valley (24th), Scottsdale (32nd), Tucson (33rd), Ahwatukee (34th), Phoenix (45th), Mesa (56th), Prescott (75th), Chandler (84th) and Flagstaff (94th) — and two district schools: University High School in the Tucson Unified School District (81st) and University High School in the Tolleson Union High School District (83rd).

BASIS Peoria and BASIS Oro Valley were among the top five charter schools in the country, and BASIS Peoria and BASIS Chandler were among the top five STEM high schools, according to the rankings.

The 2024 rankings, which were released Tuesday, evaluated nearly 18,000 public schools across the country.

U.S. News & World Report also ranked the top schools in the metro Phoenix area. The top ten included six BASIS schools and University High School in Tolleson, along with Arizona College Prep in the Chandler Unified School District, Gilbert Classical Academy in the Gilbert Unified School District and Phoenix Union Bioscience in the Phoenix Union High School District.

That is an article abotu US news and world report rankings... it's not anything I would point to as serious.

But does it refute any of the earlier reporting?

And did you check the 990? How much debt DOES BASIS have?

Trolling.

Take off your tin foil hat and quote and cite the reporting. No one has any idea what you are taking about.

IF you send your kid there and you don't know how the school operates you're seriously in trouble.

Go look up the 990 of BASIS and see how much debt they have. Go ahead, I'll wait.

OK and I now see that you are full of cr*p.

You can find the last 990 filed with PCSB for BASIS DC here: https://dcpcsb.org/school-990s.

According to that document, net assets/fund balances are around $5.5 million.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. I did review the documents and quickly saw that you are spreading false information. Basis “ is primarily a commercial real estate investment firm”? Shame on you. You are clearly a troll.

Here is the latest reporting from the Arizon Republic (which, BTW, doesn’t cover charter schools in DC):

This Arizona high school landed the top spot in national U.S. News ranking

A charter school in Peoria landed the top spot in a new ranking of the best public high schools across the nation.

BASIS Peoria was ranked first in the nation on U.S. News & World Report's 2024 rankings of best public high schools, rising from 12th place in last year's ranking.

Twelve Arizona high schools in all were included in the top 100 spots of the ranking.

They included 10 schools in the BASIS charter school network — Peoria (first), Oro Valley (24th), Scottsdale (32nd), Tucson (33rd), Ahwatukee (34th), Phoenix (45th), Mesa (56th), Prescott (75th), Chandler (84th) and Flagstaff (94th) — and two district schools: University High School in the Tucson Unified School District (81st) and University High School in the Tolleson Union High School District (83rd).

BASIS Peoria and BASIS Oro Valley were among the top five charter schools in the country, and BASIS Peoria and BASIS Chandler were among the top five STEM high schools, according to the rankings.

The 2024 rankings, which were released Tuesday, evaluated nearly 18,000 public schools across the country.

U.S. News & World Report also ranked the top schools in the metro Phoenix area. The top ten included six BASIS schools and University High School in Tolleson, along with Arizona College Prep in the Chandler Unified School District, Gilbert Classical Academy in the Gilbert Unified School District and Phoenix Union Bioscience in the Phoenix Union High School District.

That is an article abotu US news and world report rankings... it's not anything I would point to as serious.

But does it refute any of the earlier reporting?

And did you check the 990? How much debt DOES BASIS have?

Trolling.

Take off your tin foil hat and quote and cite the reporting. No one has any idea what you are taking about.

IF you send your kid there and you don't know how the school operates you're seriously in trouble.

Go look up the 990 of BASIS and see how much debt they have. Go ahead, I'll wait.

OK and I now see that you are full of cr*p.

You can find the last 990 filed with PCSB for BASIS DC here: https://dcpcsb.org/school-990s.

According to that document, net assets/fund balances are around $5.5 million.

Interesting to look at the latest 990s filed with PCSB.

If you compare BASIS to KIPP, which runs 18 substandard charters in DC, you can see that BASIS gets a tiny percentage of DC education money compared compared to KIPP.

1) BASIS has the best test scores in DC. BASIS DC had revenue of $13 million and spent $12 million, leaving $1 million.

The best KIPP charter in DC is KIPP DC College Prep, where more than 3/4 of the students are below grade level in English and almost no one is grade level in math or science. KIPP had revenue of $214 million (an average of around $12 million per school) and spent $219 million, leaving a deficit of more than $5 million.

So, with 6% of the revenue of KIPP, BASIS DC had much better results across the board and didn't spend more than they brought in.

And then we have this: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/late-hyattsville-mayor-kevin-ward-accused-of-stealing-2-2m-from-kipp-dc-schools/3145415/

Yet some people oppose BASIS opening a charter elementary school in DC and want to create more KIPP-like charters here.

Absolutely insane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The attrition rates before 8th grade at BASIS make it impossible to say that BASIS is actually doing a good job of educating the students it enrolls. They obviously do an excellent job of filtering out the students they don’t want to bother trying to educate. But the institution is more of a filter than a school.

You're assuming that the attrition is mostly based on kids washing out of the school. This is highly unlikely from 5th-6th grade, since 5th grade does not include comp exams, and it's difficult to fail that year. The pre-8th grade attrition is likely a mix of:
1. People getting accepted in the lottery for schools they always preferred over Basis. They always intended to use Basis as a stopgap or fallback plan. This is likely a good chunk of the 5th-6th grade attrition (as well as the 8th-9th).
2. People who move out of the area
3. Kids arrive in 5th grade with such poor foundations that they can't really climb out of that academic hole.
4. The kids aren't as bright or motivated as the parents want to think they are.

#1 and #2 aren't Basis' fault. #3 is exactly what they're trying to fix by opening a K-4. For #4, Basis honestly does bend over backward to help kids succeed. Teachers hold frequent student hours where a kid can get individual attention/tutoring. The frequent exams and homework assignments mean that the kid is getting a lot of feedback throughout the year. Basis is pretty upfront that unlike every other school in the area, it is providing advanced instruction. If a kid is not at least above average and motivated, the kid will likely not succeed.

You forgot 5. (which is really part of #1), people opting for their IB middle school over BASIS.

And 2. should include people moving to an IB that they like.

You can say those things "aren't BASIS's fault", and I agree different families like different types of schools, but it is also possible that some people left BASIS because of BASIS' very real disadvantages and shortcomings in various areas. I don't think attracting kids who are IB for Deal should be, or is, a priority for BASIS. But there's a very defensive vibe to PP's list and it doesn't acknowledge that BASIS does have problems and shortcomings.

Of course Basis has shortcomings. Every school does. Why is Basis held to standards significantly higher than any other school?

The true #5 for the list of why people leave Basis is that a lot of parents don't do their research, and then get upset when Basis doesn't offer something that they want. This is the case for the people in this forum who have tantrums about Basis' lack of advanced foreign language for middle school or their lack of a library and green space. Basis never claimed to have any of those things. They didn't pull a bait-and-switch. Obviously, if you value foreign language or some other school amenities that Basis doesn't offer, then Basis is not the right choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. I did review the documents and quickly saw that you are spreading false information. Basis “ is primarily a commercial real estate investment firm”? Shame on you. You are clearly a troll.

Here is the latest reporting from the Arizon Republic (which, BTW, doesn’t cover charter schools in DC):

This Arizona high school landed the top spot in national U.S. News ranking

A charter school in Peoria landed the top spot in a new ranking of the best public high schools across the nation.

BASIS Peoria was ranked first in the nation on U.S. News & World Report's 2024 rankings of best public high schools, rising from 12th place in last year's ranking.

Twelve Arizona high schools in all were included in the top 100 spots of the ranking.

They included 10 schools in the BASIS charter school network — Peoria (first), Oro Valley (24th), Scottsdale (32nd), Tucson (33rd), Ahwatukee (34th), Phoenix (45th), Mesa (56th), Prescott (75th), Chandler (84th) and Flagstaff (94th) — and two district schools: University High School in the Tucson Unified School District (81st) and University High School in the Tolleson Union High School District (83rd).

BASIS Peoria and BASIS Oro Valley were among the top five charter schools in the country, and BASIS Peoria and BASIS Chandler were among the top five STEM high schools, according to the rankings.

The 2024 rankings, which were released Tuesday, evaluated nearly 18,000 public schools across the country.

U.S. News & World Report also ranked the top schools in the metro Phoenix area. The top ten included six BASIS schools and University High School in Tolleson, along with Arizona College Prep in the Chandler Unified School District, Gilbert Classical Academy in the Gilbert Unified School District and Phoenix Union Bioscience in the Phoenix Union High School District.

That is an article abotu US news and world report rankings... it's not anything I would point to as serious.

But does it refute any of the earlier reporting?

And did you check the 990? How much debt DOES BASIS have?

Trolling.

Take off your tin foil hat and quote and cite the reporting. No one has any idea what you are taking about.

IF you send your kid there and you don't know how the school operates you're seriously in trouble.

Go look up the 990 of BASIS and see how much debt they have. Go ahead, I'll wait.

OK and I now see that you are full of cr*p.

You can find the last 990 filed with PCSB for BASIS DC here: https://dcpcsb.org/school-990s.

According to that document, net assets/fund balances are around $5.5 million.

Oh for goodness sake, your link doesn't work.

Here, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/860908854

The answer is $365m in liabilities. And they spend $16.9m a year on interest.

Proceed with your arguments now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. I did review the documents and quickly saw that you are spreading false information. Basis “ is primarily a commercial real estate investment firm”? Shame on you. You are clearly a troll.

Here is the latest reporting from the Arizon Republic (which, BTW, doesn’t cover charter schools in DC):

This Arizona high school landed the top spot in national U.S. News ranking

A charter school in Peoria landed the top spot in a new ranking of the best public high schools across the nation.

BASIS Peoria was ranked first in the nation on U.S. News & World Report's 2024 rankings of best public high schools, rising from 12th place in last year's ranking.

Twelve Arizona high schools in all were included in the top 100 spots of the ranking.

They included 10 schools in the BASIS charter school network — Peoria (first), Oro Valley (24th), Scottsdale (32nd), Tucson (33rd), Ahwatukee (34th), Phoenix (45th), Mesa (56th), Prescott (75th), Chandler (84th) and Flagstaff (94th) — and two district schools: University High School in the Tucson Unified School District (81st) and University High School in the Tolleson Union High School District (83rd).

BASIS Peoria and BASIS Oro Valley were among the top five charter schools in the country, and BASIS Peoria and BASIS Chandler were among the top five STEM high schools, according to the rankings.

The 2024 rankings, which were released Tuesday, evaluated nearly 18,000 public schools across the country.

U.S. News & World Report also ranked the top schools in the metro Phoenix area. The top ten included six BASIS schools and University High School in Tolleson, along with Arizona College Prep in the Chandler Unified School District, Gilbert Classical Academy in the Gilbert Unified School District and Phoenix Union Bioscience in the Phoenix Union High School District.

Wait.

Of the 18,000 high schools in the United States, BASIS has 10 in the top 100 nationwide?

Seems like the BASIS network of public charter schools is doing fine.

They game the rankings.

A big part of the US News formula is percentage of seniors who have passed an AP exam. US News uses that metric because at most high schools, that number reflects how well the kids learn the material.

But the BASIS system is, if you don’t pass an AP exam by junior year, you don’t become a senior. So the percent of seniors who have passed an AP exam is always 100%, at all BASIS schools. By definition. Doesn’t help any kids learn anything, and it’s not a model a true public school could ever adopt, but it sure makes the rankings look good!

The AP score is only worth 30% of the US News ranking.

[Anonymous]

How do AP classes and test scores not reflect any learning?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. I did review the documents and quickly saw that you are spreading false information. Basis “ is primarily a commercial real estate investment firm”? Shame on you. You are clearly a troll.

Here is the latest reporting from the Arizon Republic (which, BTW, doesn’t cover charter schools in DC):

This Arizona high school landed the top spot in national U.S. News ranking

A charter school in Peoria landed the top spot in a new ranking of the best public high schools across the nation.

BASIS Peoria was ranked first in the nation on U.S. News & World Report's 2024 rankings of best public high schools, rising from 12th place in last year's ranking.

Twelve Arizona high schools in all were included in the top 100 spots of the ranking.

They included 10 schools in the BASIS charter school network — Peoria (first), Oro Valley (24th), Scottsdale (32nd), Tucson (33rd), Ahwatukee (34th), Phoenix (45th), Mesa (56th), Prescott (75th), Chandler (84th) and Flagstaff (94th) — and two district schools: University High School in the Tucson Unified School District (81st) and University High School in the Tolleson Union High School District (83rd).

BASIS Peoria and BASIS Oro Valley were among the top five charter schools in the country, and BASIS Peoria and BASIS Chandler were among the top five STEM high schools, according to the rankings.

The 2024 rankings, which were released Tuesday, evaluated nearly 18,000 public schools across the country.

U.S. News & World Report also ranked the top schools in the metro Phoenix area. The top ten included six BASIS schools and University High School in Tolleson, along with Arizona College Prep in the Chandler Unified School District, Gilbert Classical Academy in the Gilbert Unified School District and Phoenix Union Bioscience in the Phoenix Union High School District.

That is an article abotu US news and world report rankings... it's not anything I would point to as serious.

But does it refute any of the earlier reporting?

And did you check the 990? How much debt DOES BASIS have?

Trolling.

Take off your tin foil hat and quote and cite the reporting. No one has any idea what you are taking about.

IF you send your kid there and you don't know how the school operates you're seriously in trouble.

Go look up the 990 of BASIS and see how much debt they have. Go ahead, I'll wait.

OK and I now see that you are full of cr*p.

You can find the last 990 filed with PCSB for BASIS DC here: https://dcpcsb.org/school-990s.

According to that document, net assets/fund balances are around $5.5 million.

Oh for goodness sake, your link doesn't work.

Here, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/860908854

The answer is $365m in liabilities. And they spend $16.9m a year on interest.

Proceed with your arguments now.

lol

Here is the link: https://dcpcsb.org/school-990s

You didn't post the 990 for BASIS DC.

Lay me lay it out for you in terms a 5 year old can understand:

1) BASIS DC gets money from DC;
2) BASIS DC educates students;
3) The money BASIS DC makes is more than they money they spend; and
4) The stuff that BASIS DC has is worth more than what they owe

End of story.