In researching Basis Schools, the last couple of weeks, I kept running into connections with the Goldwater Institute, the Phoenix-based conservative/libertarian think tank.
Most surprising to me was that all six members of the 2007 board of directors — the most recent listing available on tax returns — had connections to Goldwater, most of them close:
• Attorney Clint Bolick is director of the Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation at the Goldwater Institute.
• Scottsdale attorney Steve Twist, a prominent Arizona Republican, was a co-founder of the institute.
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• Jeffrey S. Parker, a law professor at George Mason University in Virginia, is also a senior fellow at the institute.
• Phoenix accountant Terry Sarvas is a member of the institute.
When I called the Goldwater Institute to speak with Bolick about this and other issues, he wasn’t available, but I was connected to vice president for research Matthew Ladner. As it turns out, Ladner is on the advisory board of Basis’ Scottsdale school, though he has no children there.
Founders Olga and Michael Block also have their Goldwater connections. The institute published a 1998 book co-authored by Olga Block, “Rethinking Desegregation: The Effect of Compliance on Arizona Desegregation Districts.” It has also published Michael Block’s research.
The institute also represented Basis in a lawsuit against the state superintendent of public instruction in 2007.
So what does it matter, considering that the Goldwater Institute has been a major supporter of charter schools over the years?
The board make-up bothered Tucsonan David Safier, a retired high school teacher, Democratic activist and researcher of charter schools at Blog for Arizona.
“One of the big red flags about charters is, does this school have a board that is representative of the community? If not, then you’ve got a real problem,” he said.
For myself, I take note of the fact that none of the outside board members are from Tucson, where most of the schools’ operations are located, and none are educators. The Blocks are economists, then there are three attorneys and an accountant. It’s great not to have all teachers and school administrators on the board, but none?
What the institute and the Blocks seem to have in common is being philosophically or ideologically aligned on education.
Asked about the connections Ladner acknowledged them but dismissed concern.
“Basis is not a project of the Goldwater Institute,” he said.
