In other words, the education department doesn’t have the data to weed out students that are dually or falsely enrolled in homeschool or private school as well as a virtual charter school.
“So, if indeed what is being alleged and investigated is true, there isn’t a mechanism to be able to cross check-information and certify that what they report is accurate.” of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister in July. “We do not have at the state level a list of homeschool students or private school students,” said Supt. Private or homeschooled students, however, are not required to register with the state government, so they would not show up in routine audits designed to detect dual enrollment. To do this, a unique number is assigned to each public school student to track their enrollment from year to year.
Virtual charter schools are mostly regulated by a separate agency, the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, but verifying enrollment falls to the State Dept. Public records obtained by Jennifer Palmer at Oklahoma Watch and Andrea Eger at the Tulsa World indicate that Epic is also being investigated by federal authorities for similar issues. The second warrant shows the scope of OSBI’s investigation has widened to include the school’s chief financial officer and some current and former board members. The warrant also says parents were incentivized by Epic’s Learning Fund, from which parents would receive between $800 and $1,000 per child to be used for extracurricular activities of their choice. Rather than participating in the publicly-funded virtual charter school, the investigator wrote the “ghost students” continued with traditional homeschooling and private education, receiving “little to no instruction from Epic.” Teachers allegedly received bonuses for keeping “ghost students” enrolled. In the first warrant, OSBI’s investigator alleged that Epic’s founders, Ben Harris and David Chaney, illegally pocketed $10 million over five years by enrolling so-called “ghost students.” These are private school and home school students who were ostensibly recruited so Epic could receive the per-pupil funding each public school receives. Two recent search warrants filed in Oklahoma County show the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation believes Epic Charter Schools and its management company were set up with the intention of profiting from state tax dollars. With multiple ongoing investigations into the school’s finances and enrollment, here is a comprehensive look at what has transpired and what it could mean for future state policy.
Epic charter school logo tv#
That totaled $11.2 million that auditors said should be owed back to the state.From TV and radio ads to advertisements on and radio to the steady flow of news stories, it has been difficult to ignore Epic Charter Schools lately.
The state auditor and inspector’s office reported last year that Epic overspent by more than $8 million in pay for its top brass, illegally transferred $203,000 to a California charter school and wrongly paid $2.7 million to the company that managed Epic. The latest withholding of funds means Epic will have repaid $20 million to the state. When a district exceeds that cap, the state withholds the difference from its funding.Įpic has been charged similar administrative cost penalties of $530,527 in 2020 and $10.5 million earlier this year. Schools with more than 1,500 students cannot spend more than 5% of their funds on administrative salaries and costs, a rule intended to keep more school dollars in the classroom.
State schools Superintendent Joy Hofmeister during the Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting June 24.įor subscribers: Epic Charter School leaders welcome investigation as new allegations surface
0 kommentar(er)
