A History of BASIS Charter Schools

For more than 25 years, BASIS Charter Schools have been educating students to the highest international levels. Starting in 1998 as a single school in Tucson, Arizona, our network has expanded to 40 campuses across Arizona, Louisiana, Texas and Washington, D.C.

1998

BASIS 1998
First BASIS Charter School opens in Tucson, Arizona. Led by Michael and Olga Block, the school opened with 58 students and six teachers.
1998

2004

BASIS 2004
BASIS Scottsdale opens as the second campus in the BASIS Charter Schools network.
2004

2008

BASIS Tucson North ranks as the #1 high school in the U.S. by Newsweek.
2008

2009

BASIS 2009
Craig Barrett, former CEO of Intel, joins BASIS Charter Schools, Inc. as Chairman of the Board of Directors.
2009

2012

BASIS 2012
BASIS Washington, D.C. opens as the first BASIS Charter School outside of Arizona.
2012

2013

BASIS Tucson Primary opens as the first primary school in the BASIS Charter School network.

BASIS San Antonio Shavano opens as the first BASIS Charter School in Texas.

2013

2014

Peter and Patti Bezanson join BASIS Ed, the educational management company for BASIS Charter Schools. Today, Peter and Patti Bezanson serve as Co-Chairmen of BASIS Educational Ventures.

BASIS students outperform average scores from every country in the world on the OECD Test for Schools (based on PISA).

2014

2018

BASIS Charter Schools are ranked as the top five best high schools in the U.S. by U.S. News & World Report.

Two BASIS Charter School students—one from BASIS Phoenix and one from BASIS Peoria—are named U.S. Presidential Scholars.

2018

2019

BASIS Baton Rouge Materra opens as the first BASIS Charter School in Louisiana.
2019

2020

BASIS 2020
The total number of students attending BASIS Charter Schools nationwide surpasses 20,000.
2020

2023

BASIS Cedar Park and BASIS Cedar Park Primary open to 984 students, marking the largest school opening in the history of our network.
2023

Learn More About BASIS Charter Schools

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About BASIS Charter Schoool

BASIS Charter Schools are a network of high-performing, tuition-free K–12 public charter schools.
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Ratings and Rankings

BASIS Charter Schools are consistently ranked among the top in the nation, and our students outperform on both national and international assessments.
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Curriculum

BASIS Charter Schools offer an accelerated curriculum that goes beyond traditional learning.