They Recruit, They Skim, They Flunk Out The Weak ... They are Arizona's Top Charter Schools

2016

Arizona is a leader in the charter school movement. They lead in % of students in charter schools, and they lead the world in "Lack of Accountability." And no one in a position of influence really cares. The Governor loves charter schools and even wrote to the Scottsdale City Council urging them to approve even another BASIS charter school in their city. But of course, the reality is that Arizona's charter schools are ripping off the public purse and contributing greatly to the resegregation of public education.

The Blog known as Arizonans for School Accountability is the single best investigator of the charter school scene — maybe the single best investigator of charter fraud anywhere. It's originator and sole proprietor may be losing hope, because exposé after exposé is met with a shrug from anybody in position to stop the abuse. He posted the following entry on a "survey" performed by the Phoenix Business Journal to find the 20 best charter schools in Arizona.

The 20 "best" charters in Phoenix serve White and Asian children...almost exclusively. The Phoenix Business Journal just released the top 20 charter schools in Phoenix based on AzMerits fifth grade scores.

The "best" charter schools in Phoenix are:

• BASIS Phoenix
• BASIS Scottsdale
• Bright Beginnings
• BASIS Ahwatukee
• BASIS Peoria
• Challenger Basic
• Archway North (GH -Great Hearts)
• Adams Traditional
• Self-Development Charter
• AZ School for the Arts
• Archway Veritas GH
• BASIS Central Primary
• Candeo Peoria
• Archway Chandler GH
• Paragon Science Academy
• Archway Glendale GH
• BASIS Mesa
• Archway Cicero GH
• Benchmark

13,452 students go to these charter schools:

Asian 17%
• Black 2%
• Hispanic 11%
• White 66%

Free Lunch - only Paragon has free lunch students. ELL - None. Special Education 4%

86% are either White or Asian. BASIS Ahwatukee has 330 Asian students and 283 White students. There is not a single public district with demographics like these and almost no districts outside of Reservation schools that have 11% or less Hispanic students. There are thousands of minority students who could do well in these college prep schools - if their parents had the skills to wade through the enrollment process - if they had transportation - if these schools really wanted to recruit them. They don't. A great school helps assure each child is successful. These schools assure that they only serve students who are already successful. There is a big difference.

Eleven of these 20 schools are run by corporations: BASIS and Great Hearts.

One truly weeps.