Founders of charter cash in on N.Y. condo

Owning a charter-school operation might be as close as it gets to owning a professional-sports franchise. Better, even.

Taxpayers give them money to build up their business and make themselves even more wealthy without raising a fuss.

Pro football, basketball, baseball and hockey owners must be wildly jealous.

Look at the folks who founded Basis Charter Schools, Michael and Olga Block.

These are public schools. They’re funded with tax dollars. Your money.

In fact, as The Arizona Republic’s

Craig Harris pointed out in his May 7 article on azcentral.com, Basis receives more in basic per pupil funding than traditional public schools.

At the same time, Basis asks parents to “donate” at least $1,500 per child each year, which it says is used to improve teacher pay.

Sort of a de facto tuition that is way, way cheaper than private school (because taxpayers are funding the rest.)

Essentially, Basis Charter Schools, a tax-exempt non-profit corporation, gets to operate like a private company while using the public’s money. And the founders — among others affiliated with the operation — have done very well.

As Harris so succinctly pointed out:

As Scottsdale parents were receiving yet another solicitation for donations to pay teachers, the Blocks made a $1.68 million down payment on an $8.4 million condominium in New York City, property records show.

Their Manhattan home is in a 60story building with “breathtaking panoramas” of the city, an infinity pool, and an indoor/outdoor theater, according to a sales brochure. It is located near two private Basis schools controlled by the Blocks. Tuition at those schools is more than $30,000 a year.

Arizona property records show the Blocks also own homes in Tucson and Scottsdale, where Basis and Basis.ed are headquartered.

Perhaps you remain one of those individuals who believe charter schools are NOT a ripoff.

Certainly, Basis has a reputation for academic excellence. And well-deserved.

Then again, there are many, many requirements made of regular public schools that most charters avoid. There are, for example, subtle ways to pick and choose the students you want.

Given the public status of the schools, it also allows owners very favorable ways to borrow money for new construction. And those buildings aren’t owned by taxpayers, but by charter owners.

Bruce Baker, an education professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey who specializes in charter school business practices, told Tucson.com, “That seems illogical that we would allow them to use a share of public dollars to acquire an asset with public dollars that is then owned by this private entity.”

Likewise, Jim Hall of Arizonans for Charter School Accountability told The Republic that financial audits for charter schools are “a fairly useless exercise.”

And Curt Cardine of the Grand Canyon Institute, which has exhaustively studied charter schools, said of the state’s control of charters, “It’s really, ‘We expect you to do this, but if you don’t, we’re not going to do anything. We can’t.’”

The owners of professional sports franchises must be green with envy.

Whenever they come begging for public money to build their facilities or otherwise subsidize their business operations taxpayers break out the torches and pitchforks and threaten to storm city hall.

With charter schools, the attack goes the other way, with taxpayers wondering why regular public schools can’t be like some charters.

The reason, of course, is that charters don’t have to follow the same rules. The owners get to pay themselves with your money, hire their relatives, avoid the bidding process for work and make very little of their financial practice available for you to see.

Just the opposite of regular public schools. It’s a perfect scam.

Lawmakers and politicians like Gov. Doug Ducey go along with it because they hate teachers unions and because charter owners are big supporters of their careers.

But ask yourself this: Who was the last person working in a regular public school who could afford a house in Tucson, a house in Scottsdale and an $8.4 million condo with “breathtaking panoramas?”

Yeah. I couldn’t think of anyone either. Breathtaking, isn’t it?