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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This Hunter College NYC MS & HS grad and person of color, with no dog in this fight, disagrees strongly.

DC Charter's decision to invite BASIS to set up shop, in a rehabbed office building no less, was a desperate act. The District is in the top 5 jurisdictions on ed spending per capita nationally, yet can't run a single high-performing by-right HS. The only other jurisdictions to work with BASIS Arizona (BASIS Educational Group) have been Texas and Louisiana, hardly bastions of excellence where public school performance is concerned.

A situation where a big East Coast city can't run home-grown advanced high school programs on a par with the best in other cities of similar size demands voter-driven ed reform, not additional BASIS campuses.  [/quote]

Clearly you are not from here because you lack a fundamental understanding of how the Charter system works and the scale of DC and its schools. I haven't time to explain it all, but here are just a couple of things you got wrong.

*DC didn't "invite" Basis to set up shop here. DC has a process by which charter schools apply to be approved by the PCSB. They applied. They were approved Your turn of phrase implies some sort of improper entanglement.

*DC didn't give Basis (or any Charter) their buildings. Or ask them to set up there. That's not how it works. Charters are required to fund their own physical infrastructure (as start-ups and as going concerns).

*Basis DC was the first Basis school outside of Arizona. It opened here because DC is required by Federal Law to allow charters so it makes sense that an operator would want to locate here. LA and TX are also charter friendly, so, again, makes sense they would set up shop there as well. KIPP is also in those states. KIPP started in NY and TX. What exactly is your point in bringing up those cities?

*DC is NOT a large east coast city. It isn't a large anything. Based on your blind ignorance to our demographics can I assume you don't live in the DC area? Our population in the last census was @700,000. Fairfax County VA has more than a million. PG County has more than 900,000. We aren't even the largest district the DMV!

*School enrollment in your beloved NYC is more than a million kids. There are @50% more kids in NYC schools than residents of DC! Heck, Fairfax county has 178,000 kids compared to the 100,000 in DC (1/2 of which are in charters). You are comparing apples and oranges.
 
You are entitled to your opinion. Must you so blatantly expose your ignorance on the very topic on which you purport to speak?[/quote]

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