A group of elite private schools in Manhattan and Brooklyn is owned by a company headed by an executive who has been named as a one-time senior member of the Chinese Communist Party who keeps close ties to it.
Basis Independent Schools, which has two campuses in each borough, charges up to $44,500 a year and boasts that its graduates “gain entry into some of the world’s most prestigious colleges.”
Its Basis grades 3-12 school in Red Hook, Brooklyn, was ranked among the best college prep schools in private school rankings by Niche.
The other three schools are its pre-K-to-grade 2 school in downtown Brooklyn, pre-K-to-grade 5 on the Upper West Side, and grades 6-12 in Chelsea.
In 2019, the schools’ founders sold the schools to Spring Education Group, which is controlled by Primavera Capital Group, based in Hong Kong.
Primavera’s chairman and CEO is Fred Zuliu Hu, who has previously been named as a one-time senior member of the Chinese Communist Party. He is also a Harvard PhD graduate and a current adviser to it and Columbia University, and previously worked at Goldman Sachs.
After publication spokesperson for his Primavera Capital Group said: “Your characterization of Fred Hu in the article is incorrect. He is not a member of the CCP or any other political party. He was not a CCP member at the time when he was an executive at Goldman Sachs.”
Spring Education also disputed that he is a Communist Party member but declined to offer any details of his political affiliation.
They declined to say whether Hu denied ever being a member, or provide details of when and how he left the party.
Primavera Capital’s links to Basis were first highlighted in late September when Florida’s Department of Education suspended public scholarships to other schools owned by Spring Education in the state, accusing them of ties to the CCP which were an “imminent threat” to students’ and the public’s welfare.
Through Spring Education, Hu’s Primavera Capital bought out Basis’ founders, Michael and Olga Block, for an undisclosed amount in 2019.
The couple, both economists, had established at least four Basis schools in China, according to the Basis Global website, before the deal.
Shortly afterward, the Blocks went on a property-buying spree, picking up an $8.4 million penthouse in a Tribeca tower and a series of sprawling properties in their home state of Arizona, including a $6.7 million “spacious modern masterpiece” estate in an upscale suburb of Phoenix.
Under its ultimate owner’s CEO, Basis has expanded its network. Last year, it opened two Basis Independent Schools in Silicon Valley — where Spring Education has its headquarters.
There are now 10 Basis independent schools across the country.
And last year, Primavera acquired test preparation company Princeton Review and online tutoring platform Tutor.com, continuing its drive into the education sector.
While Basis schools tell parents in a disclaimer that its parent company, Spring Education Group, is controlled by Primavera, which it says “is itself owned by Chinese persons residing in Hong Kong,” the schools do not acknowledge the Communist link. Primavera dispute that Hu is currently a Communist Party member.
A source with knowledge of the schools said there is “nothing covert or clandestine” about them, and that Primavera does not set the curriculum.
The schools are “carefully vetted by the federal government,” the source said, adding that Hu “has nothing to do with how the schools are run.”
Hu’s one-time status as a senior party member in China, was first reported by the Financial Times. However, a spokesperson for Spring Education Group told The Post that Hu is not a member of the CCP.
But Hu has previously lectured at the Communist Party School in Beijing, and advised the Chinese government on debt restructuring.
He is also a member of the Hunan National Committee of the Chinese People’s Consultative Conference, a body which helps disseminate CCP messaging to other elite figures, including tech, academic and business leaders.
“This famous economist from Hunan is considered a ‘symbol of the world’ and one of China’s most influential investors,” according to a 2017 post on a CCP website.
Hu grew up in Hunan province, has a master’s degree in engineering from Tsinghua University and a doctorate in economics from Harvard University, where he remains an adviser to both the Kennedy School and Harvard itself, through its global advisory council.
That is not his only connection to the US: He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations’ “global advisory board,” and an adviser to Columbia University’s Jerome A. Chazen Institute of International Business.
Hu has also been a delegate to the World Economic Forum, which holds its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
The WEF’s website notes that “he initiated and led investment transactions” in companies such as Alibaba Group and ByteDance, the parent company of social media platform TikTok.
But last month, Spring Education’s Communist ties came under scrutiny when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ department of education moved against its four schools in the state, two in the greater Orlando area and two in greater Fort Lauderdale.
It announced that “through a thorough investigation,” it had concluded that Lower and Upper Sagemont Preparatory Schools in Weston, Parke House Academy in Winter Park and Park Maitland School in Winter Park “have direct ties to the CCP and their connections constitute an imminent threat to the health, safety, and welfare of these schools’ students and the public.”
A spokeswoman for Spring Education, the parent company, told The Post that the company was not contacted in advance by the Florida governor’s office.
“We … are seeking more information regarding the basis for this decision,” she said. “In the meantime, we will be working directly with our families to ensure they can remain enrolled in our schools.”
In New York City, Mandarin is on the curriculum, and was before the Communist-backed purchase.
In 2016, students were invited to show their language skills to Chinese diplomats, with the school reposting an article from the China Press in 2016 praising their ability.
“At the Brooklyn location, students learn Mandarin with visual cues and songs,” the article said. “Students from every grade are happy to learn Mandarin and become conversational after one year of learning. The school also has a popular Chinese choir club in which students study and sing Chinese songs.”
In addition, students participate in Lunar New Year celebrations, learn Chinese calligraphy and painting and analyze Chinese movies, according to a report.
The Basis network opened its first school in Tucson, Arizona, in 1998 after founders Michael Block, an economics professor, and his Prague-born wife, Olga, wanted a school that offered the rigor that they had found in educational systems abroad.
“These schools are regularly acknowledged as one of the best private schools in our area and have a track record of delivering outstanding educational outcomes, which is why parents choose us,” the spokeswoman for Spring Education told The Post Tuesday.
“Our schools are locally run, abide by local, state and federal laws, and do not have ties to any government or political party, either foreign or domestic.”
