How does a state determine whether students on a virtual school’s rolls exist?
Oklahoma investigators believe Epic Charter Schools embezzled money by inflating its enrollment with homeschool and private school students. Because of the state’s dedication to privacy, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister says the alleged abuse would not have been preventable under current state law.
The Enrollment Loophole
Virtual charter schools are taxpayer-funded public schools. Like traditional public schools, they are free to families and receive funding from the state based on student enrollment. Unlike traditional public schools, they are run by private companies or non-profits, and student instruction and coursework happen online instead of in-person.
With over 20,000 students on the books last year, Epic is the largest virtual charter school in Oklahoma, and it appears to be exploiting a loophole in state law.
All virtual charters are under the purview of a separate agency, the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, but verifying enrollment falls to the State Dept. of Education.
The education department has the data to easily keeps tabs on kids enrolled in public schools, including Epic, but it cannot track private or homeschooled students because they aren’t required to register with the state government. That makes it nearly impossible to weed out these so-called “ghost students” who are dually or falsely enrolled in homeschool or private school as well as a virtual charter school during routine audits…
Epic Charter Schools touts many benefits, but one reason for its popularity is financial incentives.
“For the homeschool community, the appeal has been the money,” explained Teresa Burnett, a homeschool parent from Shawnee.
Epic teachers get bonuses for recruiting students and families receive up to one thousand dollars per child. That money is part of what Epic calls its “Learning Fund,” which can be used to purchase extra products and courses.
Burnett regularly joins with other homeschool families in a co-op to do lessons and go on outings. While she has stuck exclusively with home education, many of those in the co-op she participated in last year have joined Epic.
“By the time we got to October, November, I’m going to estimate approximately 50 percent of the families had all enrolled in Epic,” Burnett recalled. “They were still participating in the co-op and still enrolled at Epic. These moms were being told that they basically can have the best of both worlds. We can home educate, and then we get to also take advantage of the perks that Epic will provide. ‘Perks’ being the financial perks.”
State law enforcement describes these kids as “ghost students”— homeschool and private school students that are also enrolled at Epic but receive little to no instruction from the school. Epic’s founders allegedly used them to embezzle millions of taxpayer dollars.
Another #CharterChicanery!
**************************************************************************************
Aurelio Manuel Montemayor
Senior Education Specialist
Intercultural Development Research Association
5815 Callaghan Road, Suite 101
San Antonio, Texas 78228
210.444.1710 ph. • 210.444.1714 fax
aurelio.montemayor@idra.org • http://www.idra.org
Connect with us online! Twitter • Facebook • LinkedIn • Slideshare • YouTube
Check out IDRA Classnotes Podcasts
Sign up for IDRA eNews, for occasional news updates
Our mission is to achieve equal educational opportunity for every child through strong public schools that prepare all students to access and succeed in college.
**************************************************************************************
________________________________
It’s up at https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Oklahoma-Officials-Imposs-in-General_News-Charter-School-Failure_Charter-Schools_Fraud_Funding-190808-690.html#comment741499
with this comment: With 15,880 separate school systems in 50 states, the fraud and the embezzlement of money that should go to improving public education is rife. Her his florida ! Carol Burriswrote this article about the confluence of charter schools and greed in Florida.
“Just when you think you have heard it all, there is yet another story of cupidity associated with ‘nonprofit charter school’… the corruption never ends, says Diane Ravitch
“Virtual charter schools are taxpayer-funded public schools.”
Hmmm, no they aren’t. That should read “Virtual charter schools are taxpayer-funded PRIVATE schools.”
“Epic is the largest virtual PRIVATE charter school in Oklahoma.”
There corrected.
Another:
“who are dually or falsely enrolled in homeschool or private school as well as a virtual PRIVATE charter school during routine audits…”
Catch my drift?
Lack of oversight and regulation are an invitation to those tthat create schemes to game the system. Public dollars provided with few strings are a ticket to waste and fraud. Taxpayers should hold representatives accountable for such reckless policies.
I would not be surprised to wake up one morning to the news that an online virtual charter school in a red state claimed it has more students than the number of children in the state it is located in.
Can’t or choose not to?
I suspect it is the latter.
When the curtain closed on the 2018 political campaign season, about 15 people with ties to Epic had donated a total of $180,000 to about 78 different candidates for legislative and statewide office.
https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/government-and-politics/people-with-ties-to-epic-charter-donated-to-candidates-for/article_04398428-d88b-5f8b-8e48-817c88108de7.html
Harris and Chaney have donated a combined $227,374 to political campaigns, political action committees and other causes since Epic One-on-One Charter School opened eight years ago. In addition to being a school co-founder, Chaney is superintendent of the virtual and blended charter schools.
Epic-tied donation totals represent about one-third of Hofmeister’s total 2018 campaign funding from education-affiliated sources.
Asked about her interactions with the school, Hofmeister said she accepted an invitation to greet Epic teachers at a professional development day right before school began, which is something she does routinely for other districts.
Among the recipients was state Sen. Gary Stanislawski, R-Tulsa, who received $1,000 from Harris. The senator sponsored legislation in 2012 that authorized such statewide virtual charter schools.
It’s amazing how little it costs to buy state legislators. Give them a few thousand dollars and they let you steal millions.
They ain’t the brightest bulbs in the House.
Epic teachers get bonuses for recruiting students and families receive up to one thousand dollars per child. That money is part of what Epic calls its “Slush Fund,” which can be used to purchase politicians.
Fixed.