Best Schools In Phoenix Az - The Charter Gamble: In this series, we examine how Arizona committed to the untested idea of charter schools 25 years ago, and what the program has meant for the state. Today, part 3, the rise of big chains
Gov. Doug Ducey had been in office for a year when he revealed his identity.
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"In the coming years, Arizona will be among the states that are making the most new investments in public education, without raising taxes," Ducey said. "This is the first step. The first big step. But not our only step to improving public education in Arizona."
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First, Ducey created a plan to speed up the land trust, which voters will approve later that year as Proposition 123. It will provide an immediate increase in funding to all public schools in Arizona.
One would help "excellent public schools" grow by securing affordable funding and state aid. One would benefit from funding "schools that produce students who graduate from AP-level, college-prep courses."
Only a careful audience would have realized at the time that Ducey's plans were sure to benefit some of his friends in the charter school industry.
After the money was distributed and the loans secured, it was clear: Basis Charter Schools Inc. and Great Hearts Academies, two successful chains, were successful in Ducey's plans.
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The analysis found that of the charter schools that received the money, their overall student body is whiter than the rest of the state.
Since the law authorized charter schools in 1994, Republicans have been quick to support them. But the winners and losers of Ducey's education revealed that the day showed how things have changed since the first small schools opened their doors in 1995.
The mom-and-pop schools that dominated the first wave have given way to big operators with powerful friends at the highest levels of government.
Basis and Great Hearts, which combined to educate more than 30,000 of Arizona's 1.1 million students, have provided nearly two-thirds of the construction loans for 500 schools including charters in Arizona. And the high schools' acceptance of the test and focus on Advanced Placement courses also allowed them to take a large part of the money that Ducey does.
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When Arizona's charter school system exceeded the expectations of even its staunchest supporters, the state made it difficult to open one.
What was once simple to use has grown to require more money, a list of possible products and examples of everyday activities.
The state began experimenting with a $6,500 fine, designed to get rid of all but the highest registrants. leads people in a $155 hourly counseling process with no guarantee of success.
Mark Francis, founder of the Arizona School for the Arts, said the application fee has changed the type of applicants who want to open charter schools. If someone is paying $6,500 to use it, they have to make sure that their idea will work, he said, and the people who know that their idea will succeed are people who have seen success before.
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The result, experts say, is that small school administrators in Arizona's first charter schools have been filled by the rich and well-heeled. Large charters with many schools now dominate.
Between 2014 and 2017, just 10 companies, including Basis and Great Hearts, accounted for 73 percent of the growth in students attending charter schools in Arizona, according to a study by the nonpartisan Grand Canyon Institute.
"You're starting to see the seeds," said Damon Norris, who funded the Legacy Traditional Schools charter chain before joining the Charter Schools Association, where he trains charter operators on finance and business development.
These reforms have brought economic stability and encouraging growth. Banks and donors, who initially did not want to finance the construction of the schools, opened their wallets. That concentration has allowed charters to expand and attract more students to the state — and generate significant profits.
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For example, Damian Creamer paid himself $10.1 million in the past two years running the Primavera online school, where state records show a 49 percent dropout rate. State legislator Eddie Farnsworth will receive $13.9 million after selling his Benjamin Franklin schools to a nonprofit he created. And American Leadership Academy founder Glenn Way made at least $18.4 million from unsolicited contracts to build ALA classrooms.
"If you didn't have these great players, you probably wouldn't have the training schools that are important ... the law, and then they opened three schools in south Phoenix."
But experts see some of the innovations that charter schools have helped make disappearing under the industry. And some small charter operators believe their voice has been drowned out by the dominance of the big chains.
Basis, founded in 1998, has 22 campuses in Arizona, three in Texas and one each in Louisiana and Washington, D.C. Great Hearts, which opened in 2004, has 22 schools in Phoenix and seven in Texas.
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Kelly Horn, principal of Create Academy, a small K-6 school located in central Phoenix, said the Charter Association, which advocates for high schools at the state Capitol, likes to promote Basis and Great Hearts. But it doesn't really help schools like his that educate minority students and their families, he said.
Most of the students at Basisand Great Hearts are white and come from wealthy homes, state education department records show. Both ask parents to contribute more money to support teachers, which is low in both chains. Great Hearts wants $1,600 per child; The foundation requires $1,500 per student.
"They don't want to talk about a school like ours," said Horn, whose school has many low-income students and has low test scores. "It's just another type of work we do."
In 2016, Governor Doug Ducey unveiled new programs to support Arizona schools. But two charters emerged as big winners: Basis and Great Hearts.
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This is, among other things, made by his board and senior positions, which are filled by people who are supporters of Ducey's administration and each other make a strong network.
Maricopa County District Attorney Bill Montgomery, a political ally of Ducey's, sits on the Great Hearts board. Board member and Arizona Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall donated more than $10,000 to Ducey's re-election campaign this year.
Great Hearts' Arizona President Erik Twist is the brother of Ducey's advisor and campaign manager JP Twist. Heisnso a member of the State Charter Board.
Co-founder Jay Heiler was chief of staff to former Gov. Fife Symington, who signed Arizona's 1994 law, is also the president of the Charter Association. The group's vice chairman is Glenn Hamer, president and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a major financial supporter and cheerleader for Ducey's campaign to expand school choice.
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Meanwhile, Erik Twist was working at Basis. Her father, Steve Twist, is on the Basis Board of Directors and the executive committee of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce. Steve Twist is also the founder of the Goldwater Institute, and served on the State Charter Board.
In 2016, Ducey appointed Goldwater Institute attorney Clint Bolick, a former board member, to the Arizona Supreme Court.
Basis' board chairman is Craig Barrett, a former Intel executive who endorsed Ducey's 2012 campaign to defeat a ballot measure that would have created a 1-cent school tax. (Erik Twist also publicly opposed the campaign.)
This connection gives Basis and Big Hearts a direct line to the Governor's Office, said Stephanie Parra, a member of the Phoenix Union High School Board.
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"It also helps them to have power over the law," Parra said. "You have to think that over the years, through their cooperation, they have created laws that have led to very few laws and finally benefited the kingdoms that they are trying to build. it benefits them.
Officials at Ducey, Basis and Great Hearts said their merger is not related to the additional funding for public education and low-interest loans that have gone off the charts.
Basis Principal DeAnna Rowe said the board had nothing to do with Ducey to start the programs, and never benefited from the school principal's relationship with the governor.
When asked about the millions of dollars his programs sent to Basis and Great Hearts, Ducey said, "We run the program from the Governor's Office."
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"Until the thousands of children on public school waiting lists have access to our best teachers and great teachers, our work is not done," the governor said in his 2016 State of the Union address as he unveiled his plans.
Great Hearts, which has around 12,000 students waiting for a place, offers high-quality courses in Latin, Shakespeare and the arts.
But critics say it's hard to see the plan as anything but deliberately designed to favor the governor's cronies in the mortgage business.
"It was a decision to make the program look like this," he said
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