A judge in Oklahoma Fined the company that manages EPIC virtual charter school $500,000 for trying to suppress the fre speech of a critic, plus his legal fees.
Unfortunately, despite poor results and ongoing legal controversies, enrollment at EPIC and other virtual charter schools is soaring due to the pandemic.
An Oklahoma County district judge leveled a $500,000 fine against the nonprofit overseeing Epic Charter Schools on Wednesday.
Judge Cindy Troung sanctioned Community Strategies Inc. for filing a libel and slander lawsuit against state Sen. Ron Sharp last year. Truong dismissed the lawsuit in February. On Wednesday, she ruled the case was an attempt to censor Sharp’s free speech.
The judge decided the nonprofit was subject to a fine under Oklahoma Citizens Participation Act, a law that sanctions plaintiffs who file meritless lawsuits intended to silence critics.
Troung also awarded Sharp $35,912 to cover all of his legal fees. A news release from Sharp said the senator is “very pleased” with the judge’s decision.
Epic will appeal the ruling, said Shelly Hickman, assistant superintendent of communications…
Sharp, R-Shawnee, has been one of Epic’s most outspoken critics. In multiple news releases and comments to media, he alleged Epic unlawfully counted student enrollment and misused taxpayer dollars.
Truong threw out the lawsuit and said Sharp’s public comments about Epic did not rise to the level of actual malice, which is the standard to prove libel and slander against a public entity.
“Clearly, Epic was trying to do this to destroy my credibility and to divert attention from what I was asking,” Sharp said after the lawsuit was dismissed in February. “The fact that they filed this just before the deadline for legislation, they clearly wanted legislators to be intimidated by this lawsuit.”
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation alleged Epic illegally inflated its enrollment counts and embezzled millions in state funds, according to court documents filed last year. Epic has denied any wrongdoing. No charges have been filed.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The ed reformers in the Trump Administration held another “education” event where public school teachers, leaders, students and families were excluded:
I know none of these folks attended public schools, send their children or grandchildren to them, or have any interaction or experience with our schools at all other than acting as professional critics, but would it be possible to have SOMEONE at the table to represent 90% of students and families in the country?
Why is public school policy being set by people who oppose public schools? That harms our students. I reject this. I insist there be public school supporters present when public school students are discussed. This simply isn’t fair to our kids.
Would charter and voucher proponents accept this? Their school policy should be set by people who don’t believe those schools should exist? Why should public school students be stuck with it?
Ed reformers are passionate advocates for charter and private schools. Why don’t public school students deserve passionate advocates for THEIR schools?
a question for years: why are there not passionate public education advocates being interviewed on all the news shows; generally the public only gets to see so-called “experts” who tell everyone that we need change, that the kids are failing, that charters are a great idea, that testing is crucial
Here’s a (supposedly) ‘liberal” ed reform echo chamber think tank advising rural districts without internet access to solve the problem themselves:
“While COVID-19-related school closures in spring 2020 challenged every school district, students in rural districts faced especially significant barriers. In particular, lack of consistent internet limited their access to online instruction.
These gaps in access to the internet and instruction were evident in our research. However, we also found that rural districts devised innovative strategies to help put materials and instruction in the hands of students.”
This “movement” exists to let powerful people off the hook for really outrageous neglect of public schools and public school students. Twenty years we’ve been spending billions on ed reform and they haven’t managed to get basic internet access to lower income students. Their solution? Dump it on schools to solve! God forbid we should expect any of our lawmakers to actually DO something.
Apparently basic access to an internet utility is beyond imagination in the United States. It’s too much to ask. Every other developed country managed it, but the United States cannot.
Thank goodness this “movement” wasn’t around when we provided electricity to rural areas. Rural students would be sitting in the dark while elite ed reform think tanks scolded them to make candles.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2020/08/10/rural-school-districts-can-be-creative-in-solving-the-internet-connectivity-gap-but-they-need-support/?preview_id=965463
Does anyone really believe that a fine of $500K will mean anything to EPIC. That much money to these money crumbling charter schools is a drop in the bucket compare to all the tax dollars they bilk the states for each year. This is a slap on the wrist.
EPIC lawyers are laughing all the way to the bank. EPIC owners will just go out and buy another yacht or airplane.
That’s what I was going to say. The good side is that they got this negative publicity trying to silence negative publicity.
“The judge decided the nonprofit was subject to a fine under Oklahoma Citizens Participation Act, a law that sanctions plaintiffs who file meritless lawsuits intended to silence critics.” Too bad there is not a version of this applicable to TRUMP who is trying every way possible to prevent citizens from voting.
When will the corporate headquarters of virtual charters start to relocate to Russia or North Korea to avoid being taken to court?
The 1889 Institute quoted at the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma site, “America’s Public Schools Fail Black Children, School Choice Empowers Them”. The 1889 Institute is an affiliate of the Koch’s State Policy Network (Sourcewatch). The site also quotes Trump’s view that school choice is the civil rights issue of our times.
Catholic bishops may be similar to the head of the USCCB, Bishop Dolan, who praised Trump. The highly political Providence R.I. Bishop Tobin tweeted the following, adding a sad emoji, “Biden-Harris, first time in awhile that the Democratic ticket hasn’t had a Catholic on it. Sad”. There are a few answers to explain the slight, e.g. Tobin was so outraged at a woman selected for the ticket that he forgot Biden was Catholic, he intentionally lied to drum up support for the GOP.
Responses to Tobin’s tweet, “If it bothers you, just look the other way for a hundred years” and, “Bishop who knew about child sexual abuse but did not report incidents calls LGBTQ Pride month harmful for children”.
Those who pretend the leadership of the American Catholic Church is different than Jerry Falwell Jr…..