Epic Charter Schools under investigation

Epic Charter Schools, the Oklahoma-based online education juggernaut, is the target of scrutiny by state and federal law enforcement in addition to state lawmakers. In Oklahoma, Epic's statewide virtual charter school, as well as three centers in Tulsa and Oklahoma City that blend online and in-person instruction, have drawn 10,000 new students and tens of millions more in state funding this year alone. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation says it is once again investigating Epic Charter Schools. “There are no additional details to release, as this is an active investigation,” said Beth Green, an assistant special agent in charge at OSBI. And public records indicate widespread accounts of Epic Charter Schools students being dually enrolled in private schools appear to be at least one line of inquiry by federal investigators. A host of new bills have been generated at the state Capitol, seeking everything from a greater share of public dollars for such popular charter schools to imposing some of the same requirements and restrictions traditional public schools face onto charters, which are deregulated public schools of choice operated by independent governing boards. Epic was founded by two Oklahoma City men, Ben Harris and David Chaney, under a nonprofit corporation by the name of Community Strategies. But Harris and Chaney, Epic's superintendent, are both owners of Epic Youth Services LLC, a separate company that the school contracts with for its operation. That contract indicates an annual cost of $125,000 for “development services” plus 10 percent share of the school's collected revenues as an “indirect cost allocation.” To put that 10 percent into context, Epic Charter Schools has been allocated $112.9 million in state aid funding alone for Fiscal Year 2019. “We don't think that our private company should have to make any disclosures that any other private company shouldn't have just because who our customers are,” Harris told the Tulsa World on Tuesday. Its reach in recent years continues to expand beyond its two own schools. Epic also operates in Orange County, California, runs the Panola Public School District in Latimer County, provides instruction to most of Thunderbird Youth Academy's residents in Pryor and just this month entered into contract negotiations to provide online education beginning this fall in Pulaski County, Arkansas.

Feds eye possible dual enrollment

Former Gov. Mary Fallin previously requested an investigation into 2013 allegations of fraud. About a year later, OSBI turned over its findings to the Attorney General's Office but no charges were filed against Epic and no announcement was ever made about the case. Over the summer of 2018, Tulsa Public Schools and Oklahoma City Public Schools received visits from investigators from the Office of Inspector General, the law enforcement arm of the U.S. Department of Education. An inspector general's spokeswoman said they do not confirm or deny active investigations but release reports after completion. Records obtained by the Tulsa World under the Oklahoma Open Records Act from Tulsa Public Schools indicate that investigators appear to be looking into accounts of Epic Charter Schools students being dually enrolled in private schools. E-mail records show that the federal investigators sought and received documents about the federal dollars a few local private schools are receiving for qualifying students. Private schools with qualifying disadvantaged and disabled students can receive federal funding through their local school district. Rebecca Wilkinson, executive director of the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, the authorizer of Epic One-on-One virtual school, told the Tulsa World at this time there are no official complaints “regarding abuse of this issue for any of the virtual charter schools.” But she said a review by the board's legal counsel found that there is no statutory authorization for “dual enrollment,” and that existing state statutes, the state constitution and attorney general opinions prohibit the use of public funds to aid any private or sectarian schools. Based on that legal research, Oklahoma's virtual charter school authorizer even provides a contract template for its member schools and potential members that specifically prohibits the funding or offering of any instruction to homeschooled students or private school students. The template also states that charter schools “shall implement and enforce policies and procedures prohibiting enrollment of students on a part time basis,” with one or two limited exceptions allowed under state law. Harris told the Tulsa World he was unaware of OSBI's renewed attentions on Epic.