Holt said that while Community Strategies has main oversight responsibility as the district’s school board, members did not review certain transactions or documentation, such as purchase orders, invoices or bank statements. “There was very little verification of the underlying documentation of Epic. “Oversight as a whole was weak,” Holt said. Epic also is governed by Community Strategies, which acts as Epic’s school board and has ultimate jurisdiction over the transactions of the district. Epic’s schools are sponsored by Rose State College (Epic Blended) and the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board (Epic One-on-One). Holt said all of Epic’s audits and reviews had been previously completed by an independent auditor.Įpic is accountable to three entities, including the State Department of Education. The state auditor’s report also mentioned a lack of proper oversight and accountability over the spending of public funds for the charter school. We know more than 60,000 students and their families are counting on us to work with the State Department of Education to resolve issues and we will not let them down.” Blurred lines ![]() But the dedication of Epic’s 2,100 employees working here to get things right and improve our processes is. ![]() “It’s no secret we dispute some of the material findings and have requested through an open records request its work papers to review their calculations so we can go beyond our initial audit response to exercise our due process and debunk these calculations,” Banfield said. ![]() Epic Superintendent Bart Banfield defended the virtual schools. In a press release, Epic offered a response to the Board of Education meeting. “It’s strictly reporting on the management of Epic Schools and related financial activity.”Īlso on Monday, Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter appointed special counsel Melissa McLawhorn Houston to review the audit of Epic. “This audit is not about charter schools, it’s not about school choice,” Holt said. That included the $8.9 million, as well as $2.6 million in prior administrative costs and $203,000 from the Learning Fund that had been transferred to Epic California. The audit also said Epic had used Oklahoma tax dollars to fund Epic Charter Schools California.ĭuring a nearly four-hour meeting, deputy director of the special investigative unit of the State Auditor’s office Brenda Holt presented the audit findings to the board. 1 and said that Epic owes Oklahoma $8.9 million after violating state law that limits the amount of money that can be spent on administrative costs with a 5 percent cap. The audit of Epic Charter Schools was initially released Oct. “We have, as a state board, a duty to recoup those funds,” State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister said during the meeting. The board’s motion said Epic must comply within 60 days of receiving related paperwork. The money represents alleged over-expenditures on administrative costs and state dollars used for development expenses in California, as detailed by an audit from the Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector’s Office. During a special meeting of the Oklahoma State Board of Education today, members unanimously approved a motion to demand Epic Charter Schools One-on-One and Epic Blended return $11,235,919 to the State Department of Education.
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