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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Loooong post above says little more than the v. short post above it.

BASIS is decent for 5th grade for almost everybody. But the higher you go, the more complicated it gets. We left after middle school not because the work, rigor and testing were stressful.

We were out the door because the curriculum is narrow, the facilities and enrichment weak, the best teachers tend to leave, admins are OT pushy and parents are absurdly disempowered.

On top of all that, the campus (and franchise?) is ridiculously indebted and cash strapped.   [/quote]

They've been running a surplus for years. It's actually something that pisses me off since I'd rather see the money reinvested. The only debt they have is the building. All charter schools have mortgage service. But by all means don't let facts get in the way of your narrative.

P.S. This is "Exhibit A" for why it is useless to try and get info about BASIS on DCUM. [/quote]

No. The nonprofit runs the school and the for profit, which is heavily leveraged, owns the property, the curriculum etc

Just pull the real estate records if you don’t believe me. [/quote]

BASIS DC is not a for profit school. BASIS DC is a non-profit. By your logic a charter school school that rents space from a corporation as landlord is essentially a corporation? You are digging deep if the best you can do is faux concern that [GASP] a piece of real estate is leveraged. Also can't help but notice you just pretended you didn't get their finances totally backwards. The financials are public. BASIS DC has run a surplus for several years. We call these "facts".[/quote]

No, that’s not my logic.

It’s a for profit corporation that controls the curriculum, the brand and the real estate and they set up a local non profit to handle the contract with the school district.

If for profit basis doesn’t get paid, or if nonprofit basis doesn’t abide by the for profits system, there is no nonprofit. It’s different from your scenario because if it’s purely a landlord tenant relationship, the school, its curriculum and teaching material isn’t ties to the landlord.

So, yes, the local is a nonprofit - but the basis system is a for profit operation and all of the nonprofits (they link both for profit and nonprofit schools around the country) rely on the for profit arm.

This isn’t a secret - they pioneered the system starting out of Arizona and facing pushback about having education be a totally for profit system, they incorporated some of the branches as nonprofits, which does provide some insulation between kids and investors.

But whether the local operation is a for or nonprofit, independently operated or run by the parent, it’s essentially a franchise of a successful for profit company (albeit one that has recently become over leveraged).

Look, in some places it’s been a successful system (depending on your chosen metrics) and it’s not totally insane to understand…

There are other charter networks that are purely nonprofit (parent and local) although if you’d like to argue about whether they are really nonprofit I’m happy to do that to.

None of this affects the debate over whether basis’ test scores are reality or whatever else everyone is banging on about, but you should understand the scenario. [/quote]

Given that BASIS is the top charter network in the United States, with 11 of the top 100 high schools in the country, it sounds like other charter networks should be following its model.[/quote]

There are some things where it doesn’t really matter how you get the result… education is one of those things where it does matter.

The most profitable way is not necessarily the best way, even if it sometimes deliver good standardized test scores.

[/quote]

Basis doesn’t need to be anything close to the “best” way. It’ just needs to do a solid enough job by a critical mass of students, who are hardly harmed by decamping to Walls, Banneker, or privates for HS or staying and getting a spot at Carnegie Mellon or Haverford.

[/quote]

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