Over the weekend, a parent on Reddit reported that their daughter’s BASIS charter school in Austin was promoting “exclusive opportunities” for donors, including access to a “VIP car line, ensuring a seamless and efficient dismissal process for your child.”
We have several thoughts:
10. Is this the supposed charter school waitlist we’ve heard so much about?
9. If a parent purchases this VIP access, will it apply to their child’s charter school’s luxury horse ranch too?
8. Or what about their child’s charter school’s boutique hotel?
7. If $2,500 gets you into the VIP car line, what earns you access to the VIP jet line?
6. Charter schools receive more per-pupil funding than public ISDs. Where is that money going — and why isn’t it into teachers’ salaries?
5. It seems like there might be a less flamboyant way to ostracize students from homes with lower socioeconomic status …
4. The school claims this money will fund teacher bonuses, but unless its self-appointed board opens its finances to public view, we’ll never know if it did.
3. Would sponsoring a room in the school or buying your way to the front of the line be a reimbursable expense under a private school voucher program?
2. Public school districts in recapture subsidize this charter school system. Shouldn’t Austin ISD get sponsorship rights to at least one BASIS room?
1. We’ll leave the last word to Rep. Gina Hinojosa:
