After a scathing state audit of its finances, the EPIC virtual charter school cut its ties to the school’s for-profit co-founders.
The governing board of Epic Charter Schools underwent a major overhaul Wednesday night and then declared its independence from the for-profit school management company owned by Epic’s co-founders.
Epic’s seven-member board of education unanimously approved a mutual termination agreement, effective July 1, to end its contract with Epic Youth Services, which reportedly has made millionaires of founders David Chaney and Ben Harris.
“Big day for our school; big shift, obviously,” said the newly seated board Chair Paul Campbell, an aerospace and energy executive who founded the Academy of Seminole charter school.
“This school has outgrown its management company, which is why we did what we did today. There is no more CMO (charter management organization). … Not only will we save tens of millions of dollars, but you’re taking a significant leap forward in technology for this school…
In early October, a report on the state’s investigative audit of Epic revealed lax school board oversight and that one of every four taxpayer dollars Epic received went to the for-profit school management company, Epic Youth Services.
The state auditor found that 63% of those monies — nearly $80 million budgeted for students’ learning needs — has been shielded from all public or auditor scrutiny. The auditor is still battling in court to get access to those spending records.null
The state audit also revealed that Epic Youth Services was relying almost solely on Oklahoma public school employees to do the administrative work for both Epic’s Oklahoma and California schools while collecting tens of millions of dollars in management fees.
It also found that the company “improperly transferred” $203,000 in Oklahoma taxpayer dollars from the Oklahoma schools’ student Learning Fund account to help cover payroll shortages at Epic’s California charter school.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“The state auditor found that 63% of those monies — nearly $80 million budgeted for students’ learning needs — has been shielded from all public or auditor scrutiny. The auditor is still battling in court to get access to those spending records”
Right now the ed reform echo chamber are launching a political campaign to examine every dollar public schools spend on covid recovery. They’ve pretty much already determined that public schools have failed.
No scrutiny at all for their own schools but punitive policing of public schools by the Professional Public Schools Critics Association of ed reformers.
Absolute hypocrites on both transparency and accountability. Remember- ed reformers designed these privatized systems. They set them up with no transparency or controls. By design.The same people who are right now privatizing whole K-12 systems and so utterly convinced of their own genius they do no real analysis of their own work.
The IDEA charter chain is refusing public records request on the fraud they revealed because of “covid”.
So I guess the only information we’ll get out of this huge publicly funded private company is what they decide to release, when they decide to release it.
Since it seems clear to me they released the information on the fraud only after they had successfully lobbied for another huge infusion of public funds for expansion, I’m not sure I would continue to allow them to operate on an honor system. Weird how the “accountability” hawks of ed reform apply their accountability and transparency principles only to the public school systems they work to gut, weaken and then replace.
“The relief bill, passed in March, represents the largest-ever, one-time influx of federal funds for K-12, setting up a “fast and furious” planning process for districts over the next few months, said Edunomics Lab Director Marguerite Roza. Meanwhile, leaders are facing heightened scrutiny from parents and advocacy groups looking to hold leaders accountable for the funds, and districts are expected to make extensive efforts to get input from parents, educators and students, Roza said. “That means districts can’t go into a dark, smoke-filled room and make a plan.”
The ed reform police force are on the case, starting with the same assumptions they always do, that all public school leaders and employers operate wholly in bad faith.
There is no such assumption for the charter schools they all market and promote and no comparable level of oversight, and obviously there will be little or no transparency on public funding of private schools, which the echo chamber members also all support.
Why two sets of standards? Other than an ideological preference for privatized systems, I mean?
Public schools get harshly policed with a wholly negative and adversarial approach and charter/private schools get nurtered and promoted and supported. It’s an ideological preference.
“That means districts can’t go into a dark, smoke-filled room and make a plan.”
Charters and publicly funded private schools are in a dark room, but the dark room is filled with supporters in the ed reform “movement” so therefore no outside oversight is necessary. They self police with only fellow echo chamber members allowed inside, but we need them to police our schools because obviously everyone who works in a public school operates wholly out of “self interest” and everyone who works in a charter/private school works “for children”.
Public schools don’t have to accept this lesser status, particularly because it’s being conferred by people who work to replace them. No charter school leader would accept evaluations given by a “movement” who oppose the existence of charter schools and work against them. Why should public schools?
EPIC money for an EPIC SCAM. .
Communities should realize that privatization is mostly about slick advertising, not substance. Sending unaccountable tax dollars to private companies while simultaneously undermining public schools is harmful policy. Public schools are public assets. They need to be protected for the good of the community and all the young residents that deserve a good education. CMOs are private parasites that feed on tax dollars that are funneled to them. Without oversight or regulation, they often drain public coffers while providing little value in comparison to what they are paid. Some CMOs are operated by scammers.