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Epic charter school teacher salary12/15/2023 ![]() ![]() Establishing financial transparency would help reveal any potential conflict of interest this overlap may involve. Ensuring greater accountability is also important because the Superintendent of Epic Charter Schools is the co-owner of Epic Youth Services, the for-profit management company. This incongruity makes understanding how virtual charters spend state funding especially important. Virtual charter schools receive the same enrollment-based level of state aid funding as brick-and-mortar charters despite the fact that they do not have school facilities to operate or maintain. This lack of transparency makes it difficult to hold Epic accountable for the approximately $11 million of public money flowing through Epic Youth Services, its contract management company. Epic Youth Services receives 10 percent of Epic’s total revenue to pay for its management costs along with $125,000 for “development services.” While public schools are required to report how state funds are spent through the Oklahoma’s Cost Accounting System, Epic does not have to issue financial reports for the companies it contracts with. which governs the school, and the for-profit Epic Youth Services provides its management services. While Epic is the school’s public-facing name, state funding goes to a nonprofit called Community Strategies, Inc. Virtual charter schools are not held to the same financial reporting requirements as brick-and-mortar schools, and Epic’s management structure raises questions about the school’s fiscal responsibility. Virtual charter schools lack financial transparency and accountability In 2019, Epic will receive $112 million in total state aid funding, nearly double what they received in 2017.Įpic’s graduation rate is considerably lower than the state’s 86 percent average with just 44 percent of students graduating from Epic in 2017-2018. Epic’s total state funding has grown substantially as well. The State Department of Education distributes adjustments mid-year largely based on actual fall enrollment counts. In January 2019, Epic Charter Schools received $38.7 million in mid-year adjustments, the largest of any school district and more than the total amount ($33.4 million) that was distributed to the rest of the state’s public schools during mid-year adjustments. This year alone Tulsa Public Schools lost almost 500 students to Epic from August to December, and this growth affects funding. It now boasts more students than Oklahoma’s fifth-largest school district, Putnam City Public Schools. Of the four statewide virtual charter schools Epic Charter Schools is by far the largest and has received the most scrutiny over the years. One company dominates virtual charter school enrollment in Oklahoma Skyrocketing student growth over the past seven years means that virtual charter schools receive a growing share of state funding, and concerns center around how these public dollars are used and their impact on student outcomes. Students enrolled in virtual charter schools take classes online and may receive some face-to-face instruction with a teacher. Since the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board was created in 2012, total enrollment in virtual charter schools has soared to over 24,000 students. A slew of education bills this session seek greater regulations for virtual charter schools, and these calls for greater oversight are warranted. ![]()
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