Oklahoma: Epic Virtual Charter Severs Ties to Co-Founders’ For-Profit Firm After Paying Them Millions | Diane Ravitch's blog

Oklahoma: Epic Virtual Charter Severs Ties to Co-Founders’ For-Profit Firm After Paying Them Millions | Diane Ravitch's blog

Oklahoma: Epic Virtual Charter Severs Ties to Co-Founders’ For-Profit Firm After Paying Them Millions

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, CONTINUE READNG: Oklahoma: Epic Virtual Charter Severs Ties to Co-Founders’ For-Profit Firm After Paying Them Millions | Diane Ravitch's blog

Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission Removes Gov. Kevin Stitt - THE ROOT

Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission Removes Gov. Kevin Stitt

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt Booted From Tulsa Race Massacre Commission After Signing Anti-Critical Race Theory Legislation

Last week, The Root reported that Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed into law yet another Republican white fragility bill prohibiting teachings in K-12 schools that include conservative’s favorite new boogie man Critical Race Theory or any other race-based curriculum that causes “discomfort, guilt, anguish or psychological distress” to (white) students. The bill pushed by people whose salty white tears could fill the Georgia Aquarium was denounced by both the Oklahoma City Public Schools Board of Education—but what the hell do they know? They’re only literal fucking educators—and the Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission, of which Stitt had the caucasity to be a member of...until now.

The Associated Press reports that the commission—which was formed to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the day patriotic Americans decided that hundreds of Black people should die violently rather than be affluent and free—announced Friday that it removed Stitt from his seat on the panel because he doesn’t get to sign legislation than bans teaching about the brutality of whiteness in America while serving on a board that does just that.

I mean, the commission didn’t say all that, but we know that’s why Stitt got the boot.

From AP: CONTINUE READING: Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission Removes Gov. Kevin Stitt

MEGAN PRATHER: Promised Land recap: How the McGirt ruling is affecting legal matters in Oklahoma - NONDOC

Promised Land recap: How the McGirt ruling is affecting legal matters in Oklahoma

Promised Land recap: How the McGirt ruling is affecting legal matters in Oklahoma

Since last summer’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma, journalists have been covering the details, legal questions and uncertainties in the wake of the landmark court decision. Complicated and delicate in nature, the affirmation of Indian Country reservations and ongoing developments constitute an important storyline for the state of Oklahoma and the Muscogee (Creek), Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Seminole nations.

This story is a part of the Oklahoma Media Center’s Promised Land collaborative effort, which shows how the landmark McGirt v. Oklahoma decision will affect both tribal and non-Indigenous residents in the state. 

Recently, the Oklahoma Media Center launched a collaborative reporting project called The Promised Land: A Supreme Court decision places Oklahoma at a crossroads.

Newsrooms across the state have committed to share their content regarding issues pertinent to court rulings and their effects on Indigenous and non-tribal residents of Oklahoma.

The following recap features the opening paragraphs of five stories that were published between April 17 and April 23 by Oklahoma reporters. To read more from each story, click on the provided hyperlinks.

The snippets below have been edited lightly for date clarity and to include additional links to relevant information.

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Judge rules State of Oklahoma has jurisdiction for former KCA reservation CONTINUE READING: Promised Land recap: How the McGirt ruling is affecting legal matters in Oklahoma

MEGAN PRATHER: Epic board agrees to SVCSB settlement terms - NONDOC

Epic board agrees to SVCSB settlement terms

Epic board agrees to SVCSB settlement terms

The governing board of Epic One-on-One Charter School agreed to the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board’s proposed settlement terms Wednesday night, one day after the SVCSB rejected Epic’s initial proposal.

The new settlement agreement (embedded below) still needs to be approved by the SVCSB, but Epic released a statement Wednesday night saying its new “settlement agreement reflects the exact terms proposed by the SVCSB at its April 20, 2021, meeting.” If approved, the Epic settlement would conclude the SVCSB’s charter termination proceedings, which began months ago in the wake of a state audit of Epic’s governance, finances and controversial “learning fund.”

“While we have objected to the politicization of the (state) audit and some of its findings, we have implemented many changes it recommended to strengthen our school and make our operations more transparent,” said Community Strategies Board President Doug Scott in a statement. “We’re in a different, stronger and better place than we were six months ago, and I’m proud of the hard work of this Board and our school leaders. I want to thank the SVCSB and executive director Dr. Rebecca Wilkinson for her leadership during this period of time. Everyone involved has a servant’s heart and wants to serve children and families to the best of our ability.”

Wilkinson did not return a phone call seeking comment about the Epic settlement CONTINUE READING: Epic board agrees to SVCSB settlement terms

John Thompson: More Oklahoma Charter School Scandals - Network For Public Education

John Thompson: More Oklahoma Charter School Scandals - Network For Public Education

John Thompson: More Oklahoma Charter School Scandals

John Thompson keeps a close eye on Oklahoma education shenanigans, which means he has a lot to do these days.

As the Oklahoma charter school scandals keep expanding, they provide a case study in the political dangers traditional public schools face as extreme charter advocates attack schools struggling with the COVID pandemic. Each week brings new headlines about some Market-driven charter activists, and their devotion to the law of the jungle. Others are propelled by self-righteousness, denigrating the sincerity of anyone who disagrees with them. But these attacks also show that the choice zealots’ tactics could backfire, putting their competition-driven reform experiment in jeopardy.

It is hard to tell these intertwined stories without a frustrating amount of detail, but a cartoonby Mike Allen in NonDoc.com seems to illustrate a crucial dynamic. The Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) is portrayed as a coach holding a ball which is labeled “audit.” Three players are identified as charter schools; one being Epic, the biggest target which has been accused of the greatest malfeasance, and another charter, Seeworth, which was closed due to a financial scandal, and the third being Santa Fe South, which had previously seemed to be above the political fray. The portrayal of Santa Fe South as a part of the same team, which has played fast and loose with the rules, and is threatened by an audit, foreshadows the following narrative.

In Oklahoma, the latest twist in the state’s biggest, most drawn-out scheme by Epic Charter Schools is that the State issued a new $10.5 million fine. This follows an $11.2 million fine that Epic has not paid.

The Statewide Virtual Charter School Board has scheduled a contract termination hearing for Epic One-on-One for May12-13 but now it looks like both sides could come to an CONTINUE READING: John Thompson: More Oklahoma Charter School Scandals - Network For Public Education

MEGAN PRATHER: 'Where my beliefs are': Stitt hires, fires State Board of Education members

'Where my beliefs are': Stitt hires, fires State Board of Education members

‘Where my beliefs are’: Stitt hires, fires State Board of Education members

When Gov. Kevin Stitt’s most recent appointee to the State Board of Education, Trent Smith, successfully moved to approve a sweeping resolution about charter school funding at a March meeting in an effort to settle a 2017 lawsuit, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister called the move “unexpected.”

“This is a radical departure from following the law. Instead, it is really an outrageous step in creating law,” Hofmeister said, emphasizing that the Oklahoma Legislature is tasked with creating state statute regarding education policy. “That process has been stripped away and, instead, four Gov. Stitt appointees chose what they wanted and just did it.”

Hofmeister’s comments touched on a question that had been brewing for some time: Does the governor have too much influence in determining how State Board of Education members vote?

“We believe all appointed board members of state agencies should be acting in the best interest of Oklahomans,” said Alicia Priest, president of the Oklahoma Education CONTINUE READING: 'Where my beliefs are': Stitt hires, fires State Board of Education members

MEGAN PRATHER: Epic's controversial 'learning fund' will change, settlement proposed for SVCSB

Epic's controversial 'learning fund' will change, settlement proposed for SVCSB

Epic’s controversial ‘learning fund’ will change, settlement proposed for SVCSB

In meetings Tuesday that lasted until after midnight, the governing board of Epic Blended and Epic One-on-One charter schools, Community Strategies, approved a motion that will move the school’s controversial learning fund from private account management to public bank accounts.

The board also approved items after a nearly four-hour executive session, including a settlement proposal regarding contract termination proceedings with the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board.

Epic’s learning fund reimburses the families of Epic Blended and Epic One-on-One students for up to $1,000 of educational curriculum or extra-curricular purchases and is currently administered by the for-profit management company Epic Youth Services, which is owned by Epic co-founder Ben Harris and David Chaney.

Epic’s assistant superintendent of finance, Jeanise Wynn, presented the proposed changes, which would, effective July 1, place all funds allocated to the learning fund in bank accounts owned by Community Strategies doing business as either Epic Blended Learning Charter or Epic One-on-One Charter School, respectively.

“This will also require that all revenue and expenditure records for the public bank CONTINUE READING: Epic's controversial 'learning fund' will change, settlement proposed for SVCSB

An Open Letter from the Jealous Cabal

 An Open Letter from the Jealous Cabal

 An Open Letter from the Jealous Cabal

In case you haven’t heard yet, the State Board of Education (SBE) approved a settlement with the Oklahoma Public Charter School Association during their March 25 Board meeting. Against the advice of their in-house counsel, the SBE voted 4-3 essentially to allow charter schools to have access to local revenue, in addition to the state revenue they already receive.

I’m not going to rehash that decision, which for the record, I find problematic. Instead, I’d like to address the multi-faceted defense of that decision that seems to rest on the shoulders of the newest member of the SBE, Trent Smith.

Smith made the motion to approve the resolution settling the lawsuit and has been its most vocal proponent. This weekend alone, he appeared on News 9’s The Hot Seat with Scott Mitchell and penned a letter to the editor that appeared in the Tulsa World. 

The letter in the World was pretty straightforward. He simply stated that the resolution rights a mis-application of state law. Those of us opposed to the settlement disagree and point to the original intent of the charter school movement, which leaned on public-private partnerships for the funding of charter schools. 

Smith’s interview with Mitchell, however, was quite a journey. I watched it a few times, took CONTINUE READING:  An Open Letter from the Jealous Cabal

John Thompson: Oklahoma Takes The Economic Guardrails Off - Network For Public Education

John Thompson: Oklahoma Takes The Economic Guardrails Off - Network For Public Education

John Thompson: Oklahoma Takes The Economic Guardrails Off

John Thompson has been tracking Oklahoma shenanigans. This time, he’s watching the governor play games with poverty statistics while the legislature takes steps to further privatize the education system.

Across the nation, too many corporate school reformers are using alt facts when attacking traditional public schools as they struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week, a particularly disgusting one-two punch was thrown at high-poverty Oklahoma public schools. This assault is especially deserving of fact checking. Fortunately, the Network for Public Education blog also posted a link to the Rutgers University Shanker Institute’s School Finance Indicators Database project, and its new dataset, the District Cost Database, which updates the evidence of what it would actually take to bring every district’s test scores up to the national average.

As explained by Oklahoma Watch’s Jennifer Palmer, the Republican-controlled legislature and the governor rammed through a change in the school funding formula, which had cushioned districts with declining enrollments from the need to make rushed budgetary cuts. The value of such a buffer, I would add, is most clear during a crisis such as the pandemic.

But, Gov. Stitt proclaimed the new funding formula and a student transfer bill as “the most transformative education reform legislation in Oklahoma history.”

In fact, as State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister responded, “This bill removes financial safeguards meant to protect all students from the abrupt changes in the local economy. CONTINUE READING: John Thompson: Oklahoma Takes The Economic Guardrails Off - Network For Public Education

The 10 Most Important Slides from the State Auditor and Inspector’s Epic Presentation | okeducationtruths

The 10 Most Important Slides from the State Auditor and Inspector’s Epic Presentation | okeducationtruths

The 10 Most Important Slides from the State Auditor and Inspector’s Epic Presentation

Yesterday, State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd’s gave a virtual presentation over her office’s findings in the investigation of Epic Charter Schools. The 45 minute video is now all over the World Wide Web Web and continues to be shared. It should also be required viewing for all educators parents, and … well, taxpayers. And probably legislators.

As important as the presentation is, I know that the tl;dr phenomenon applies to video content as well. I taught high school English long enough to understand that just because I assign it, doesn’t mean you’ll read all of it. That being said, let me cut it up into bite-size pieces for you.

I have taken screenshots of what I think are the ten most important slides from Auditor Byrd’s presentation. I’ll do my best to summarize them, but honestly, watching the whole thing (with captioning), is really worth it. After watching it in the morning, I even kept it on loop again yesterday afternoon while working in my office.

1. Governor Stitt initiated the audit process, writing to Auditor Byrd, “I respectfully request an audit of Epic Charter School and all related entities.” This isn’t the first slide in the presentation, but I’m doing the first two in reverse order. Too many times, I’ve seen the state’s leading far-right think tank accuse Epic’s detractors of being anti-choice.

Hardly.

This audit, which began six months into Stitt’s term, is about assuring that tax dollars go where they’re supposed to.

The other notable part here is that Stitt addresses not only Epic, but also all related entities. As Byrd demonstrates clearly, there is  CONTINUE READING: The 10 Most Important Slides from the State Auditor and Inspector’s Epic Presentation | okeducationtruths

OKLAHOMA ELECTION UPDATE - Paula Lewis re-elected chairperson of OKCPS Board of Education - NonDoc

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OKLAHOMA ELECTION UPDATE

T.W. Shannon concerned ‘political pressure’ may be delaying tribal highway projects

by Tres Savage / 25min

In consultation with Gov. Kevin Stitt’s office, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation is creating “new processes and procedures” for highway projects undertaken in partnership with tribal nations, a stark shift in policy that caused Transportation Commissioner T.W. Shannon to ask frustrated questions of ODOT director Tim Gatz during the restructured Transportation Commission’s meeting Monday.

Paula Lewis re-elected chairperson of OKCPS Board of Education

100+by Megan Prather / 12h

Paula Lewis will continue to serve as chairperson of the Oklahoma City Public Schools Board of Education after winning Tuesday’s general election with about 52 percent of the vote. Challenger and current District 1 Representative Charles Henry walked away with about 48 percent of Tuesday’s vote despite finishing ahead of Lewis in February’s primary. Results […] The post appeared first on NonDoc

Bradley Carter, Barbara Young win OKC City Council runoffs

34by Matt Patterson / 12h

Bradley Carter and Barbara Young are headed for the OKC City Council horseshoe. Carter defeated Shay Varnell in the OKC Ward 1 race today, picking up 54 percent of the vote to about 45.6 percent for Varnell. In Ward 3, Young edged out Jessica Martinez-Brooks. Young picked up 57 percent of the vote while Martinez-Brooks […] The post appeared first on NonDoc .

Incumbent Councilman Darrell Davis elected Edmond mayor

300+by Tres Savage / 12h

Edmond voters selected Darrell Davis as their next mayor today. Davis, who has already served on the Edmond City Council for nine years, received about 62 percent of the vote against homebuilder Nathan Walters. “I am humbled and honored to serve as the 36th Mayor of Edmond,” Davis said in a statement to NonDoc. “I […] The post appeared first on NonDoc .

Republican Jake Merrick wins Senate District 22

69by Andrea DenHoed / 13h

Jake Merrick has won the special election in Oklahoma State Senate District 22, securing the district for Republicans with 65.5 percent of 11,330 total votes cast. He defeated Democrat Molly Ooten. The seat, which was vacated when U.S. Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK5) was elected to Congress in November, has been firmly in Republican hands for […] The post appeared first on NonDoc .

In Norman, Kelly Lynn ousts Alison Petrone, streets bond passes

62by Archiebald Browne / 13h

In today’s election, Norman voters passed a $27 million bond for street projects while Ward 3 voters elected Kelly Lynn over incumbent Alison Petrone. In south Norman, voters re-elected their current board of education president. Lynn, a political newcomer, defeated Petrone with 52.4 percent of the vote, preventing her from earning a second term. All […] The post appeared first on NonDoc .

SVCSB denies Epic’s motion for summary judgement, sets new hearing date

100+by Megan Prather / 15h

After an executive session during Tuesday’s meeting, the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board unanimously voted to deny Epic Charter School’s motion for summary judgement regarding the board’s intent to hold a termination hearing on Epic’s charter authorization. The board also approved May 12 and May 13 as new dates for the charter termination hearing. “I […] The post appeared first on NonDoc

Gov. Stitt selects Rick Nagel for OU Board of Regents

39by Tres Savage / 22h

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has nominated Acorn Growth Companies CEO Rick Nagel for a position on the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents. If confirmed, Nagel will fill the seat previously held by Chairman Gary Pierson, who Stitt appointed in 2019 after the death of another regent. “Rick Nagel is passionate about education, and his […] The post appeared first on NonDoc .

Insolvent insurance? Oklahoma Schools Risk Management Trust could dissolve

27by Megan Prather / 1d

The Oklahoma Schools Risk Management Trust, a self-insurance pool that provides property and casualty insurance for public school districts in the state, recently sent an email to its 78 member districts saying the program needs an additional $850,000 in order to operate for the rest of the 2020-2021 school year, the cost of which will […] The post appeared first on NonDoc .

SD 22 candidates pursue unconventional paths to victory

70by Andrea DenHoed / 1d

News coverage of the special election in Senate District 22 — the only legislative seat that will be on the April 6 ballot — has been hampered somewhat by one candidate’s refusal to talk to almost anyone in the press. While Democrat Molly Ooten has done the usual election rounds of interviews and forums, the […] The post appeared first on NonDoc .

Oklahoma County commissioners approve sheriff’s department reality show

500+by Matt Patterson / 1d

Less than a year after television shows Live PD and COPS were canceled amid criticism that the programs were exploitative and racially insensitive, Oklahoma County commissioners approved a contract this morning for the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office to be featured in a reality series that will

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