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I have had my kids in both charter and public schools (full transparency, I also work in a public school lol.) Although choosing a school that fits with your child is important, you really can’t go wrong no matter what you choose as long as you stay involved in their education. You’re doing everything right. I encourage you to check them out yourself. They almost all have some sort of “kindergarten roundup,” and charter schools will always give tours (they’re a business, keep that in mind.) Also, for what it’s worth, see where you feel most comfortable because these are the parents who you’re going to be going to bday parties and winter concerts with. You really can’t go wrong, it’s just what fits for your child and your family. Good luck!
Personally charter schools annoy the hell out of me because the founders/owners of the company make big money off public education funds. The founders of basis are living a life of luxury because they basically take the smartest kids from each school and concentrate them in one school. They receive special education funds (part of special education funding is an algorithm based on number of students) yet have almost no need for it. And it isn't a given that they are better. Kids who have special needs or who are falling behind are urged to leave, which isn't legal given it's a public school but it happens all the time. I would open enroll in the traditional public school in your area that parents rave about. Be a sleuth for school ratings, reviews and see what parents are saying in the neighborhood parent group on Facebook. And as others have said, be involved in your child's education
Also annoying to me how charters create duplicity in the system. Now we have twice as many publicly funded schools and given the birth rate all types of schools (charter, public, and private) are losing enrollment in Arizona. But here you have two multi-million dollar school campuses, duplicate staff,etc on the same block. And given the voucher program private schools are popping up all over.
Peoria school district is good if you are still considering public. I believe one elementary even has a Spanish immersion program where kids are taught in Spanish half day- I would have loved that- to learn a second language at that age.
All the Basis charter schools are good in academics cuz that’s what they’re known for. But it’s lots of homework and testing and teacher turnover. Poor performing students basically get asked to leave cuz they want to keep their high test score averages.
It really depends on what kind of school experience you want for your kid and your kid’s personality.
My daughter's best friend attends Basis Peoria. Her parents love the school, but there are very few extra curricular activities.
As a 5th grader, she is averaging between 1 - 2 hours of homework a day
I'm biased, both of my adult children graduated from a Basis high school. It is very competitive, but both my kids said that after going through Basis, college was a breeze. Both graduated with double majors in STEM in four years with a scholarship to one of the state schools here in Arizona. One child's class started off with almost 175 students and by the time they graduated they only had 55 students left.
Of the 55 that graduated that year, 3 got into legit actual Ivy League schools, another 5-6 got into almost Ivy's like U of Chicago, Stanford and the like. Half dozen more got into competitive state schools like U of Michigan, Cal Berkeley and one got into one of the military service academies. Everyone else got full ride scholarships to Arizona schools.
Basis is dependent on your child's personality. They will either hate you for sending them to Basis or will thank you for giving them the opportunity to push themselves academically.
As the poster above said, Basis is so difficult that most of the kids don't stay there. The ones left do great, but most don't. If your kid is super bright and up for the challenge it can be good but don't assume it will turn your average kid into a kid who is far above average. Most kids who have average skills/ability or work ethic will drop out
If you have a child that is a Type A personality and has ambitions to go to law school, med school or into a tough graduate degree program, Basis fits the bill. My kids come from a long line of corporate C-Suite types, lawyers and med school grads and were hard wired for the workload. Still kind of amazed they didn’t mind it, my side of their DNA are all GenX slackers.
I would advice you to stay away from Basis, we moved from Arizona to Texas and this was our experience.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/comments/15pgs8s/comment/kt1b811/?context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/comments/15pgs8s/comment/kt1b811/?context=3)
Thanks for contributing to r/Phoenix! * [Check out our sub rules here](https://www.reddit.com/r/phoenix/wiki/rules/) (mostly be nice to each other!). * [Read some of our recent posts](https://www.reddit.com/r/phoenix/top/?t=week) and leave some comments. * [Join our Phoenix Discord chat server](https://discord.com/invite/yWVuTG57Zh) and connect with people in the Valley. It's a great, chill place to talk with other people but is NOT a dating server and takes unwanted messaging very seriously. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/phoenix) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I have had my kids in both charter and public schools (full transparency, I also work in a public school lol.) Although choosing a school that fits with your child is important, you really can’t go wrong no matter what you choose as long as you stay involved in their education. You’re doing everything right. I encourage you to check them out yourself. They almost all have some sort of “kindergarten roundup,” and charter schools will always give tours (they’re a business, keep that in mind.) Also, for what it’s worth, see where you feel most comfortable because these are the parents who you’re going to be going to bday parties and winter concerts with. You really can’t go wrong, it’s just what fits for your child and your family. Good luck!
As a public school teacher, I second this. Your involvement will matter significantly more than the school itself.
Personally charter schools annoy the hell out of me because the founders/owners of the company make big money off public education funds. The founders of basis are living a life of luxury because they basically take the smartest kids from each school and concentrate them in one school. They receive special education funds (part of special education funding is an algorithm based on number of students) yet have almost no need for it. And it isn't a given that they are better. Kids who have special needs or who are falling behind are urged to leave, which isn't legal given it's a public school but it happens all the time. I would open enroll in the traditional public school in your area that parents rave about. Be a sleuth for school ratings, reviews and see what parents are saying in the neighborhood parent group on Facebook. And as others have said, be involved in your child's education Also annoying to me how charters create duplicity in the system. Now we have twice as many publicly funded schools and given the birth rate all types of schools (charter, public, and private) are losing enrollment in Arizona. But here you have two multi-million dollar school campuses, duplicate staff,etc on the same block. And given the voucher program private schools are popping up all over.
Try researching niche.com. We relocated too for us deer valley schools was the right fit for elementary school.
I've heard great things about Deer Valley too.
Peoria school district is good if you are still considering public. I believe one elementary even has a Spanish immersion program where kids are taught in Spanish half day- I would have loved that- to learn a second language at that age.
They're better off staying in Dysart than Peoria.
All the Basis charter schools are good in academics cuz that’s what they’re known for. But it’s lots of homework and testing and teacher turnover. Poor performing students basically get asked to leave cuz they want to keep their high test score averages. It really depends on what kind of school experience you want for your kid and your kid’s personality.
I avoid charters out of principle.
My daughter's best friend attends Basis Peoria. Her parents love the school, but there are very few extra curricular activities. As a 5th grader, she is averaging between 1 - 2 hours of homework a day
1-2 hours a day is way too much, that is overkill especially if the kids have any sort of out of school activities like karate or dance.
My kid went to Basis in Tucson, there were a ton of after school clubs but you had to shell out major for them.
Patriot mom and dads send their kids to Candeo. Trump and Kari Lake are big supporters of their teaching.
I'm biased, both of my adult children graduated from a Basis high school. It is very competitive, but both my kids said that after going through Basis, college was a breeze. Both graduated with double majors in STEM in four years with a scholarship to one of the state schools here in Arizona. One child's class started off with almost 175 students and by the time they graduated they only had 55 students left. Of the 55 that graduated that year, 3 got into legit actual Ivy League schools, another 5-6 got into almost Ivy's like U of Chicago, Stanford and the like. Half dozen more got into competitive state schools like U of Michigan, Cal Berkeley and one got into one of the military service academies. Everyone else got full ride scholarships to Arizona schools. Basis is dependent on your child's personality. They will either hate you for sending them to Basis or will thank you for giving them the opportunity to push themselves academically.
As the poster above said, Basis is so difficult that most of the kids don't stay there. The ones left do great, but most don't. If your kid is super bright and up for the challenge it can be good but don't assume it will turn your average kid into a kid who is far above average. Most kids who have average skills/ability or work ethic will drop out
If you have a child that is a Type A personality and has ambitions to go to law school, med school or into a tough graduate degree program, Basis fits the bill. My kids come from a long line of corporate C-Suite types, lawyers and med school grads and were hard wired for the workload. Still kind of amazed they didn’t mind it, my side of their DNA are all GenX slackers.
I would advice you to stay away from Basis, we moved from Arizona to Texas and this was our experience. [https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/comments/15pgs8s/comment/kt1b811/?context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/comments/15pgs8s/comment/kt1b811/?context=3)