McCurtain Daily Gazette
Aug
06
2020
Page In Oklahoma, Epic’s operator refuses to release
010
Clip
spending records. In California, records are public
By Jennifer Palmer
resized Oklahoma Watch
29% The company that manag-
es Epic Charter Schools in
Oklahoma refuses to provide
state auditors details about
how it spends millions of dol-
lars provided by the state to
pay for students’ extra activ-
ities.
The dispute is a central
part of a legal battle between
the school’s management
company, Epic Youth
Services, and state auditors.
Attorneys for the company
have said it has no desire to
be secretive, but releasing
the information publicly will
compromise its entire business
model.
But Epic’s virtual school
in California has already sup-
plied details about similar
spending to the Orange County
Department of Education.
The department provided two
years of data, for 2017-18 and
2018-19, to Oklahoma Watch
in response to a public records
request.
The records show the
amounts that Epic paid per
student to vendors through its
“learning fund,” which Epic
describes as a way for families
to select books, supplemental
items, technology and
extracurricular lessons in
URQTVU CPF ſPG CTVU (COKNKGU
request the items or classes,
and Epic makes the purchase
using state dollars the school
receives per student.
According to the records,
Epic Charter School California
in 2017-18 paid more than
a half-million dollars from
its learning fund to a home-
school co-op that offers sec-
tarian and non-sectarian pro-
grams — accounting for 72%
of spending from the fund.
The following year, the same
co-op and a private “enrich-
ment center” that also caters
to students who are home-
schooled received more than
70% of the funds.
Home schooling fami-
lies and groups are among
those Epic has recruited in
Oklahoma to join the school
by offering the learning fund,
an Oklahoma State Bureau of
Investigation agent alleged in
CUGCTEJYCTTCPVCHſFCXKVſNGF
last summer.
Epic and its supporters say
the learning fund gives its stu-
dents access to the kinds of
Property of OPS News Tracker and members of the Oklahoma Press Association.
activities that students in tradi-
tional school districts receive.
It does so by outsourcing those
services to private vendors.
Students, parents and school
QHſEKCNU JCXG UCKF VJG NGCTP-
ing fund is a major draw
to enroll in Epic. Students
receive $1,000 in Oklahoma
and $1,500 in California and
can receive bonuses for refer-
ring additional students to the
school.
Oklahoma regulators are
pushing to examine the spend-
ing, saying the information
should be public.
One Model, Two States
Epic operates as a pub-
lic online charter school in
both states, but its student
population is much larger in
Oklahoma. Epic California
had 626 students in 2019;
in Oklahoma, Epic reports a
current enrollment of 40,810
students – and growing daily
as families seek out an online
option amid the COVID-19
pandemic.
6JG ſPCPEKCN UVCMGU KP
Oklahoma are much higher.
In California, Epic Charter
School’s total budget was
about $7 million in 2019-20.
Over a two-year span, Epic
paid a total of $1.4 million
to 165 learning fund vendors.
Payments to the vendors are
made by the school, said Paul
MacGregor, the school’s exec-
utive director.
The school is managed by
Community Strategies-CA, a
PQVHQTRTQſV ..% VJCV KU C
subsidiary of the Oklahoma
school.
Epic’s Oklahoma school
has a budget of $262 million
this year. Of the total fund-
ing Epic receives each year, a
portion – 10% – is paid to the
HQTRTQſV'RKE;QWVJ5GTXKEGU
for management services.
The Oklahoma school has
paid Epic Youth Services
about $114 million since
2015, according to an attorney
representing the state auditor’s
QHſEG 1H VJCV  OKNNKQP
went to the company’s bank
account to be used to make
purchases through the learning
fund. The other $44 million
was for its management fee.
The school’s co-founders,
David Chaney and Ben Harris,
jointly operate the company.
Oklahoma auditors probing
'RKEŏU ſPCPEGU CV VJG TGSWGUV
of Gov. Kevin Stitt have
been unable to obtain records
of the funds paid to Epic
Youth Services. The compa-
ny refused to comply with
auditors’ subpoenas, which
requested bank and credit card
statements, vendor contracts,
school emails, records on var-
ious fees and learning fund
revenues and expenditures.
The auditor has asked a
judge to order the documents’
release, and the case is ongo-
ing.
+PCEQWTVſNKPI'RKE;QWVJ
Services says it is willing to
provide learning-fund records
to the state auditor if the state
pledges to not release the
information under an Open
Records Act request. The
company also wants assurance
it will not be penalized for not
adhering to public accounting
standards.
Epic Youth Services’
attorneys argue that funds it
receives from the state are no
longer public once they are
paid to the company.
A growing number of public
QHſEKCNUFKUCITGG4GR5JGKNC
Dills, R-Tulsa, has authored
several laws to regulate virtual
charter schools and increase
transparency. She said she’s
especially concerned about
Epic’s learning fund.
“When you move that
money into the private com-
pany, you have no transparen- domly selected learning fund The only public informa- ;QWPI .CORNKIJVGTU EJQUG
cy,” Dills said. “There’s just a purchase made by 20% of the tion about Epic’s learning not to.
lot of hidden information that students in Oklahoma and fund vendors is on its website. ;QWPI .CORNKIJVGTUŏ YGD-
I think taxpayers have a right Tulsa counties over two years. More than 1,400 private learn- site describes the group as
to see. They (Epic) can argue The audit found fewer than 20 ing-fund vendors are listed by running an “academic enrich-
all day long those aren’t pub- small instances of inaccura- Epic in Oklahoma and 300 in ment sectarian and non-sec-
lic dollars, but they are public cies and recommended tighter California, where Epic oper- tarian program for students.”
dollars.” procedures. CVGU KP ſXG EQWPVKGU $WV KVŏU
+VU EJKGH ſPCPEKCN QHſEGT KU
The Statewide Virtual Vendors in California not a comprehensive list.
In California, the vendor Rabbi Verachmiel “Chaim”
Charter School Board, which Auditors have not said pub-
that received most of the Teleshevsky; his wife, Shira
oversees statewide online licly what exactly they would
schools, recently joined the learning funds over two years %WPKPKUEJKGHGZGEWVKXGQHſ-
look for in records about cer, according to California
state auditor’s legal effort to learning fund spending. But was Young Lamplighters
force the management compa- Co-op, a home-school orga- Secretary of State records.
in a pair of search-warrant
ny to turn over learning fund nization located in Santa The couple are directors at
CHſFCXKVUſNGFNCUVUWOOGTCP
records. Board Chairman John Monica and led by a rabbi and Chabad on Montana, a “center
investigator questioned some his wife. The co-op received
Harrington says the school’s for Jewish life and education,”
practices. $886,787 over two years for
contract requires it to provide at the same mailing address as
Epic previously had paid tutoring services, enrichment
spending records, including the school co-op attended by
the learning fund. dues and fees for home-school classes, exercises and excur-
organizations, in violation of Epic students. Several phone
“This is the information sions for Epic students, school messages left for Teleshevsky
that any of our charter schools the Oklahoma Charter School records show.
Act, the investigator alleged. were not returned.
have agreed to provide, and $WV ;QWPI .CORNKIJVGTU
This story is part of a collabo-
we expect to see that type of He also found at least two isn’t on the publicly avail-
instances where Epic entered able list, and it wasn’t in ration with FRONTLINE, the
information,” he said.
An internal auditor at Epic into relationships with con- 2017 either, according to an PBS series, through its Local
recently completed an audit of victed felons; one of those archived version of the site. Journalism Initiative, which
the learning fund but its scope was a vendor advertised as a MacGregor, the school’s is funded by the John S. and
was more limited than what personal trainer. Epic denies director, said vendors have a James L. Knight Foundation
the state auditor is tasked with. wrongdoing, and no criminal choice about whether to be and the Corporation for
The audit examined one ran- EJCTIGUJCXGDGGPſNGF listed on the website, and Public Broadcasting.
 Countywide& Sun
Will It Be Sharp Or Jett For Senate District 17?
By BLAKE DOUGLAS
Nondoc.com
When the dust settled
after Oklahoma’s primary
elections, several incumbent
state senators found them-
selves in more trouble than
Aug they’d bargained for.
Sen. Wayne Shaw (R-
Grove) found himself un-
06 seated after holding office
for eight years, and three of
Shaw’s fellow GOP senators
2020 DUHORFNHGLQWRUXQRͿUDFHV
against strong challengers.
Sen. Ron Sharp (R-Shawnee)
of Senate District 17, also
Page an eight-year incumbent,
is now hoping to avoid the
B04 same fate.
7RUHWDLQKLVR΀FH6KDUS
must overcome challenger
Clip Shane Jett, who served in
resized the Oklahoma House of
Representatives from 2005
29% to 2010. Sharp faces a steep
uphill battle, however, as Jett
earned 44 percent of the vote
during the June 30 primary.
6KDUSÀQLVKHGZLWKRQO\
percent support.
NonDoc interviewed both
candidates ahead of the Aug.
UXQRͿHOHFWLRQWRSURYLGH
an in-depth look at their pri-
orities and platforms
3DVWSDWKVWRR΀FH
After almost four decades
as a school teacher and ten-
nis coach in Shawnee Public
Schools, Sharp won the SD
17 Republican nomination
LQDUXQRͿDJDLQVW(G0RRUH
in 2012. Sharp said his eight
years in the Oklahoma State
Senate have been primar-
ily focused on his desire to
bring “transparency and ac-
countability” to Oklahoma’s
government.
“That’s why I ran, and in
2016 I authored the Perfor-
mance Informed Budgeting
and Transparency Act to
try to make sure that every
single agency puts forth their
performance goals as to what
they’re going to do with the
money of which we give to
them,” Sharp said.
Jett said his desire to run
for public office began in
high school when he served
as a State Senate page for
Sen. Helen Cole, the mother
of current U.S. Rep. Tom Cole
(R-OK4).
“We had a conversation
and she sent me an incred-
ibly nice note, and it said,
‘To whom much is given,
much as expected. I expect
you to do things for Okla-
homa and do great things for
Oklahoma,’” Jett said. “I’ve
always believed that I could
PDNHDGLͿHUHQFHDQGWKDW,
could help.”
After reading Ronald Rea-
gan’s autobiography as a
teenager, Jett said he was in-
spired to know that “a small
WRZQER\FDQPDNHDGLͿHU-
ence in their communities.
“I believe that public ser-
vice is a calling, not un-
like a religious calling, and
that you have an obligation
where you were placed by
\RXUFUHDWRUWRPDNHDGLͿHU-
ence to make things better,”
Jett said.
Jett left the Oklahoma
House in 2010 to make two
consecutive runs for the 5th
Congressional District seat,
but he did not capture the
GOP nomination either time.
The losses have not dissuad-
ed him from returning to the
Legislature, however.
“If you look at those re-
sults, in Shawnee proper
where people knew me, I re-
ceived more votes than then
Sen. Lankford [in 2010] and
also more than Steve Russell
LQ7KDW,WKLQNUHÁHFWV
the investment I’ve made in
the district, the relationships
I’ve developed in the district,
Property of OPS News Tracker and members of the Oklahoma Press Association.
and the skill sets that I bring
to the table,” Jett said. “Quite
frankly, the reason I believe
that we lost the congressional
bid is we got outspent by
people who could raise more
money than we could.”
Cars, COVID and class-
rooms
Sharp and Jett each listed
public education funding as
one of their top three priori-
ties. In 2018, Sharp voted for
the historic tax increase pack-
age that funded substantial
teacher pay raises. During
his time in the Oklahoma
House, Jett supported tax cut
proposals.
“The primary focus of any
good legislator is making
sure they’re representing the
families back home in their
district and making sure the
essential services that are
provided by the government
are in place, are accountable
DQG DUH H΀FLHQWµ -HWW VDLG
“You want businesses to
have jobs available, you want
public school kids to have
all the skill sets necessary to
take those jobs.”
Sharp previously served
as the vice chairman of the
6HQDWH(GXFDWLRQ&RPPLWWHH
and has been an outspoken
opponent of charter schools
drawing funding away from
traditional public schools. In
particular, Sharp has been a
IUHTXHQWFULWLFRI(SLF9LUWXDO
Charter Schools, which sued
him for libel. The lawsuit
was dismissed in February.
“From 93 to 96 percent
of all children in the state
of Oklahoma attend pub-
lic schools, and we cannot
continue to increase charter
schools and virtual charter
schools under the current
equalization education fund-
ing formula that we have,”
Sharp said. “Our education
equalization funding for-
mula was not created to in-
clude charter schools. It was
to fund the constitutionally
created traditional public
schools.”
Since traditional public
schools are funded with local
property taxes and through
dedicated state budget dol-
lars, Sharp said the ones that
don’t receive enough money
locally require state aid.
Charter schools — which are
also public schools — draw
their funding only from the
“state tier” of funding, Sharp
added, meaning that the tra-
ditional public schools most
in need of state aid have less
available.
“I’m not against charter
schools, but those need to
have a system that is not
as detrimental to our local
schools as our current fund-
ing formula is,” Sharp said.
With Oklahoma’s sharp-
ly spiking COVID-19 case
numbers presenting com-
plications for in-person in-
struction in schools this fall,
both candidates shared their
thoughts on how the state
should handle the upcom-
ing school year amid the
pandemic.
Jett said he believes the
government ordering busi-
nesses to close or limit their
operations is an overreach
of authority, but he said
state leaders are within their
rights to control how schools
approach the fall semester.
“The government has ev-
ery right to and should man-
age their public institutions
to the best of their ability
and address the fears of real
public school teachers,” Jett
said. “Before they’re pub-
lic school teachers, they’re
moms and dads. They have
fear about their own safety
or fear of children, and that’s
legitimate.”
Jett said he supports the
government providing data
on best practices for the fall
semester.
“Provide scientifically
based information, health
care-based information with
no hype. Cut through the
hyperbole and focus on what
LVHͿHFWLYHµ-HWWVDLG´,ZDQW
them to be safe, have a safe
environment, have a science
based — not a media frenzy,
fear-mongering approach
— to what’s the best way to
keep themselves safe and
their kids safe.”
Sharp said it would be best
to do everything possible to
have children in classrooms
come the fall to ensure they
are receiving the best pos-
sible instruction.
“As a school teacher for
38 years, I know very well
that a child’s development
must have a school teacher
present,” Sharp said. “You
have to have a teacher in
front of that child who can
answer questions, who can
put things together when the
child cannot just process the
information.”
Sharp emphasized that
the ultimate decision should
be left up to local govern-
ments, however, because of
the varying circumstances
between COVID-19 in cities
and more rural communities
with fewer students.
“It is important that we
maintain local control be-
FDXVH WKHUH·V D ORW RI GLͿHU-
ence in between a small town
(…) as compared to a school
that has a huge student pop-
ulation,” Sharp said. “They
have to be able to make that
decision based on the popu-
lation density of that school
district. Obviously, if you
have a tremendous amount
of social distancing, class-
rooms are not large enough
for the amount of social dis-
tancing of which it would be
necessary keeping students
six feet apart.”
Jett and Sharp both
touched on their desire to
improve Oklahoma’s infra-
structure as well, with Sharp
stating he would continue to
support the Oklahoma De-
partment of Transportation’s
(LJKW<HDU3ODQ
“We are developing one
of the best highway systems
in the United States through
our excellent planning over
the last several years. We’ve
funded it, so now most of our
county roads are accessible
through pavement or some
type of overlay,” Sharp said.
“We’ve done an excellent
job in our county roads here
in the last, you know, eight
\HDUVWKDW,·YHEHHQLQR΀FHµ
Sharp smeared by dark
money mailers
Sharp told NonDoc anoth-
er opponent not on the ballot
contributed to sending his
UHHOHFWLRQELGWRUXQRͿ³D
mailer campaign funded by
dark money groups propa-
gating what Sharp called
various “absolutely false”
claims.
One of the groups, the
Oklahoma Federation for
Children, released mailers
claiming Sharp was linked
to convicted rapist and for-
mer movie producer Harvey
Weinstein. The connection
was made because Sharp
supported an increase to cash
UHEDWHVJLYHQWRÀOPPDNHUV
producing their movies in
the state.
“When they say that I’ve
transferred money to Hol-
lywood, that’s actually a tax
credit of which that movie
producer has to spend mil-
lions in the state of Okla-
homa, and he gets a tax break
RͿRIVSHQGLQJWKHPLOOLRQVµ
Sharp said. “So there’s no
money (transferred), and
you’ve got to film that in
Oklahoma, and that was
very strongly supported
by the Commerce Depart-
ment and the Labor Depart-
ment and again, it required
a majority of the Republican
Party.”
According to The Oklaho-
man, the Oklahoma Federa-
tion for Children supported
other incumbent lawmakers
this year who also backed the
tax credit program.
The OFC Action Fund
supported Jett in the primary
election according to the
website of its parent orga-
nization, the American Fed-
eration for Children. Sharp
raised concerns that his op-
ponent had not rejected the
organization’s support de-
spite its involvement in the
mailer campaign.
“Now Shane Jett can say,
‘Well, I’m not the one who
put out these mailers,’ but
he certainly he accepted their
endorsement,” Sharp said.
“If some adverse group that
was very bad for our society
were to say, ‘We’re going to
endorse you,’ I would tell
that group, ‘I don’t want
your endorsement.”
Jett, however, said the
JURXS KDV QRW R΀FLDOO\ HQ-
dorsed him.
“They have posted on
Facebook a number of can-
didates they support. There
was no endorsement to my
knowledge,” Jett said. “It
was not solicited, it was not
coordinated.”
Jett added that such “in-
dependent expenditures” by
groups like the Oklahoma
Federation for Children are
not illegal in and of them-
selves.
The second group re-
sponsible for funding an
anti-Sharp mailer campaign,
however, is not listed with
the Secretary of State’s of-
ILFH RU WKH 2NODKRPD (WK-
ics Commission. That has
drawn the supposed Oklaho-
ma Conservative Project LLC
allegations of felony election
fraud and mail fraud.
That group’s mailers have
criticized Sharp, claiming
that he forced teachers to join
labor unions.
“That’s an absolute false
statement, because we’ve
had right to work since 2001,
and less than 60 percent of
our total school districts are
even represented by a profes-
sional organization,” Sharp
said. “And then we don’t
even have binding arbitra-
tion, so the school board can
negotiate and then at the last
moment just reject negotia-
tions.”
Jett said he doesn’t believe
the mailer campaign had a
WDQJLEOHHͿHFWRQWKH-XQH
primary election.
“I don’t feel like it helped
me or (primary challenger)
Brandon Baumgarten. I don’t
even know that it really hurt
Ron Sharp, quite frankly,
because it was so heavy-
handed and so over-the-top
that it came across as silly,”
Jett said. “I think it prob-
ably galvanized some of his
supporters — all 33 percent
of the votes that he got. I
think they were probably
mobilized by some of those
ridiculous, over-the-top,
negative attacks.”
Will Jett jettison Sharp?
When asked why he felt
he had the edge in the Au-
JXVW UXQRͿ 6KDUS SRLQWHG
to the fact that serving as
state senator has become
his full time job. He said the
lack of a learning curve for a
returning incumbent would
EHQHÀW6'FRPSDUHGWRD
newly-elected legislator.
“Regardless of which can-
didate wins on Aug. 25,
each of us can only serve
one elected four-year term,”
Sharp said. (Jett previous-
ly served six years in the
House, and Oklahoma law
limits an individual’s total
service in either legislative
body to 12 years.)
“I will walk into the State
Senate with seniority be-
cause of my eight continuous
\HDUVLQR΀FH6R,ZLOONQRZ
the agency directors, he does
not know the agency direc-
tors because he’s not served
(recently),” Sharp said. “I’ll
be able to be elected with
one job, and that is a state
senator. He has a full time
job with a Native American
tribe. He cannot do this job
and that job at the same time
without having to determine
which is his priority.”
A citizen of the Cherokee
Nation, Jett is currently the
&(2RIWKH&LWL]HQ3RWDZD-
tomi Community Develop-
ment Corporation, where he
says he has “been creating
jobs” through lending to
small businesses.
While Sharp pointed to
Jett’s current employment
obligations as a potential
weakness, Jett said he feels
his experience in finance
and business give him the
advantage, particularly as
the state moves forward
under the economic fallout
of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The situation is similar to
WKHÀQDQFLDOFULVLV-HWW
said, which occurred when
he was still in the House of
Representatives.
“In 2021, you’re going
to have a Republican-con-
trolled Senate, a Republican-
controlled House, and a real
opportunity to return the
state of the state budget to
UHÁHFWFRQVHUYDWLYHYDOXHVµ
Jett said. “I believe my expe-
rience from 2008 and 2009
in the Republican-controlled
House is going to be vital, be-
cause I’ll be the only one on
the Senate side that will have
that institutional knowledge
as a sitting legislator.”
Jett also holds a degree
in business from Oklahoma
Baptist University.
´0\RSSRQHQWKDVDWUDFN
record in public education,
and frankly, would be an
expert that one could reach
out to in discussing public
HGXFDWLRQµ -HWW VDLG ´0\
skill sets are focused on a
broader range of problems
that are especially relevant in
today’s economic situation.”
Sharp maintains that the
fact Jett can only serve a
single full, four-year term is
a deal breaker owing to the
time it will take for Jett to
become fully familiar with
the state’s current political
landscape.
“I would not have a learn-
ing curve that he would
have to overcome. We will
start that legislative process
in September and October,
DQGKHZRXOG³IRUKLVÀUVW
year — be absolutely a non-
essential legislator, at least,”
Sharp said. “No voter is go-
ing to provide campaign do-
nations for a legislator who
says I’m just going to serve
one four-year term, because
they know that you’re going
WR EH LQHͿHFWLYH IRU DW OHDVW
WKH ÀUVW \HDU DQG SHUKDSV
even the second year of your
legislative experience.”
The winner between Sharp
and Jett will face Libertarian
candidate Greg Sadler in
November.
 Clip
Aug 2020 Page resized
07 A004 61%
Sequoyah County Times
Epic Charter Schools releases
county-by-county enrollment numbers
Epic Public Charter Schools re-
leased county-by-county enrollment
data ton July 28 on the heels of last
week’s announcement that the vir-
tual charter school is now the largest
public school district in the state.
The virtual public charter school
has students in all 77 counties in
Oklahoma. Current total enroll-
ment for the upcoming school year
is 40,631 students, and hundreds
more are enrolling each day, accord-
ing to a press release.
In Sequoyah County, 452 students
have already enrolled.
“The shift to distance learning
happened slowly and then all at
once,” EPIC Assistant Superinten-
Property of OPS News Tracker and members of the Oklahoma Press Association.
dent Shelly Hickman said. “EPIC
has had 10 years to sharpen best
practices for virtual learning, which
include giving our parents a lot of
choices and supporting our faculty
through competitive compensation
and low class sizes. We’re ready to
meet the challenges of the upcom-
ing school year and do our part to
help our state.”
Hickman said the school’s internal
data shows about 60 percent of new
enrollments are due to the pandem-
ic, while 40 percent of new enrollees
have indicated their enrollment is
unrelated to COVID-19.
“Whatever their reasons for com-
ing to us are, we’re ready,” Hickman
said. “We serve kids and families
in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, but
we also serve kids from places like
Guymon and Atoka. We understand
the uncertainty of the times, and we
hope to be a bridge for the families
who have chosen to start the school
year with us.”
EPIC begins its school year, as it
does every year, the day after Labor
Day, September 8.
EPIC’s school model provides free
choice of online curriculum, tech-
nology (laptops, tablets, etc.) and
wi-fi service for students who need
it, easing the technology burden for
families that opt for distance, blend-
ed learning.
 Weatherford Daily News
PAGE 12 - WEATHERFORD DAILY NEWS, FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 2020
Oklahoma Watch
In Oklahoma, Epic’s operator refuses to release spending records
In California, records are public
Aug Jennifer Palmer
Oklahoma Watch
07 Editor’s Note: This story is
part of a collaboration with
FRONTLINE, the PBS series,
through its Local Journalism
2020 Initiative.
The company which manages
Epic Charter Schools in Oklahoma
Page refuses to provide state auditors
details about how it spends millions
0012 of dollars provided by the state to
pay for students’ extra activities.
Clip The dispute is a central part of a
legal battle between the school’s
resized management company, Epic
28% Youth Services, and state auditors.
Attorneys for the company said it
has no desire to be secretive, but
releasing the information publicly
will compromise its entire business
model.
But Epic’s virtual school in
California already has supplied
details about similar spending to
the Orange County Department of
Education. The department provided
2 years of data, for 2017-18 and
2018-19, to Oklahoma Watch in
response to a public records request.
The records show the amounts
Epic paid per student to vendors
through its “learning fund,”
which Epic describes as a way
for families to select books,
supplemental items, technology and
extracurricular lessons in sports
and fine arts. Families request the
items or classes, and Epic makes
the purchase using state dollars the
school receives per student.
According to the records, Epic
Charter School California in 2017-
18 paid more than a half-million
dollars from its learning fund
to a home-school co-op which
offers sectarian and non-sectarian
programs — accounting for 72
percent of spending from the fund.
The following year, the same co-op
and a private “enrichment center”
which also caters to students who
are home-schooled received more
than 70 percent of the funds.
Home schooling families and
groups are among those Epic has
recruited in Oklahoma to join the
school by offering the learning
fund, an Oklahoma State Bureau
of Investigation agent alleged in a
search-warrant affidavit filed last
summer.
Epic and its supporters say the
learning fund gives its students
access to the kinds of activities
students in traditional school
districts receive. It does so by
outsourcing those services to private
vendors.
Students, parents and school
officials have said the learning
fund is a major draw to enroll in
Epic. Students receive $1,000 in
Oklahoma and $1,500 in California
and can receive bonuses for
referring additional students to the
school.
Oklahoma regulators are pushing
to examine the spending, saying the
information should be public.
One model, two states
Property of OPS News Tracker and members of the Oklahoma Press Association.
Epic operates as a public online
charter school in both states, but its
student population is much larger
in Oklahoma. Epic California had
626 students in 2019; in Oklahoma,
Epic reports a current enrollment
of 40,810 students — and growing
daily as families seek out an
online option amid the COVID-19
pandemic.
The financial stakes in Oklahoma
are much higher.
In California, Epic Charter
School’s total budget was about $7
million in 2019-20. In a 2-year span,
Epic paid a total of $1.4 million
to 165 learning fund vendors.
Payments to the vendors are made
by the school, Paul MacGregor, the
school’s executive director, said.
The school is managed by
Community Strategies-CA, a not-
for-profit LLC which is a subsidiary
of the Oklahoma school.
Epic’s Oklahoma school has a
budget of $262 million this year. Of
the total funding Epic receives each
year, a portion — 10 percent — is
paid to the for-profit Epic Youth
Services for management services.
The Oklahoma school has paid
Epic Youth Services about $114
million since 2015, according to
an attorney representing the state
auditor’s office. Of that, $69 million
went to the company’s bank account
to be used to make purchases
through the learning fund. The other
$44 million was for its management
fee.
The school’s co-founders, David
Chaney and Ben Harris, jointly
operate the company.
Oklahoma auditors probing Epic’s
finances at the request of Gov.
Kevin Stitt have been unable to
obtain records of the funds paid to
Epic Youth Services. The company
refused to comply with auditors’
subpoenas, which requested bank
and credit card statements, vendor
contracts, school emails, records
on various fees and learning fund
revenues and expenditures.
The auditor has asked a judge to
order the documents’ release, and
the case is ongoing.
In a court filing, Epic Youth
Services says it is willing to provide
learning-fund records to the state
auditor if the state pledges to not
release the information under an
Open Records Act request. The
company also wants assurance it will
not be penalized for not adhering to
public accounting standards.
Epic Youth Services’ attorneys
argue funds it receives from the state
are no longer public once they are
paid to the company.
A growing number of public
officials disagree. Rep. Sheila Dills,
R-Tulsa, has authored several laws
to regulate virtual charter schools
and increase transparency. She said
she’s especially concerned about
Epic’s learning fund.
“When you move that money into
the private company, you have no
transparency,” Dills said. “There’s
just a lot of hidden information I
think taxpayers have a right to see.
They (Epic) can argue all day long
those aren’t public dollars, but they
are public dollars.”
The Statewide Virtual Charter
School Board, which oversees
statewide online schools, recently
joined the state auditor’s legal effort
to force the management company
to turn over learning fund records.
Board Chairman John Harrington
says the school’s contract requires
it to provide spending records,
including the learning fund.
“This is the information any of
our charter schools have agreed to
provide, and we expect to see that
type of information,” he said.
An internal auditor at Epic recently
completed an audit of the learning
fund but its scope was more limited
than what the state auditor is tasked
with. The audit examined one
randomly selected learning fund
purchase made by 20 percent of the
students in Oklahoma and Tulsa
counties in 2 years. The audit found
fewer than 20 small instances of
inaccuracies and recommended
tighter procedures.
Vendors in California
Auditors have not said publicly
what exactly they would look for
in records about learning fund
spending. But in a pair of search-
warrant affidavits filed last summer,
an investigator questioned some
practices.
Epic previously had paid dues and
fees for home-school organizations,
in violation of the Oklahoma
Charter School Act, the investigator
alleged. He also found at least
two instances where Epic entered
into relationships with convicted
felons; one of those was a vendor
advertised as a personal trainer. Epic
denies wrongdoing, and no criminal
charges have been filed.
The only public information about
Epic’s learning fund vendors is
on its website. More than 1,400
private learning-fund vendors are
listed by Epic in Oklahoma and 300
in California, where Epic operates
in five counties. But it’s not a
comprehensive list.
In California, the vendor which
received most of the learning
funds over two years was Young
Lamplighters Co-op, a home-school
organization located in Santa
Monica and led by a rabbi and his
wife. The co-op received $886,787
in two years for tutoring services,
enrichment classes, exercises and
excursions for Epic students, school
records show.
But Young Lamplighters isn’t on
the publicly available list, and it
wasn’t in 2017 either, according
to an archived version of the site.
MacGregor, the school’s director,
said vendors have a choice about
whether to be listed on the website,
and Young Lamplighters chose not
to.
Young Lamplighters’ website
describes the group as running an
“academic enrichment sectarian and
non-sectarian program for students.”
Its chief financial officer is Rabbi
Verachmiel “Chaim” Teleshevsky;
his wife, Shira Cunin, is chief
executive officer, according to
California Secretary of State
Records.
The couple are directors at Chabad
on Montana, a “center for Jewish
life and education,” at the same
mailing address as the school co-op
attended by Epic students. Several
phone messages left for Teleshevsky
were not returned.
Addressing the vendor’s religious
ties, MacGregor said students do not
need to be Jewish to attend Young
Lamplighters and all the services,
materials, programs and activities
provided to Epic students are
secular.
“Young Lamplighters is a
nonprofit organization which
provides home schooled students
and students of non-classroom
based independent study programs
opportunities for individual subject
tutoring, enrichment classes, and
activities,” MacGregor wrote. “Just
because the director of Young
Lamplighters is a rabbi does not
mean their organization will only
serve Jewish people.”
The second largest vendor is
Friends of Willow Tree, a former
charter school which now operates
as an “enrichment center,” though its
current and earlier Facebook pages
refer to it as a “private school.”
In 2018-19, the center, located in
Fallbrook, received $131,280 in
learning fund dollars for at least 64
students.
Director Bethany Chaffin said
charter students who also attend
Willow Tree can attend the main
classes or electives, such as art,
woodwork or music, but aren’t
allowed to attend four days a week.
“We are not their full-time
educators. They have to use the Epic
curriculum, or any other charter
they are enrolled with, as their main
focus,” she said.
Friends of Willow Tree follows
Waldorf principles, which caution
against screen time for young
children and recommend strict limits
for older children — placing it in
sharp contrast to Epic’s model,
which offers full-time online
curriculum and instruction. Fewer
students at Friends of Willow Tree
enrolled in Epic last year because
they felt it was too much online
work, Chaffin said.
Information withheld
The California school’s learning
fund details were released to
Oklahoma Watch by the Orange
County Department of Education,
which oversees 16 charter schools,
including Epic.
If the Oklahoma school’s
authorizer, the Statewide Virtual
Charter School Board, had
similar learning-fund figures, the
information might also be obtainable
through a public-records law request
because it’s a government agency.
But the board has failed to gain
access to the records. Rebecca
Wilkinson, the board’s director, said
she reviewed some learning fund
details in 2019 at the Epic office in
Oklahoma City but doesn’t have a
copy.
In response to the audit, Epic
Youth Services said it has provided
some records but State Auditor
Cindy Byrd said the company has
not provided sufficient records
to get a complete picture of its
finances. The State Chamber of
Oklahoma has filed an amicus
brief in the case siding with Epic;
it argues that allowing auditors to
subpoena private businesses would
be a “dangerous expansion” of the
auditor’s power under state law.
Epic is now subject to stronger
accounting standards. A 2019
proposal by Dills, the legislator, led
to a change in state law that now
requires itemized spending by an
educational management company to
be reported to the state Department
of Education. But auditors have
asked for documentation back to
2015.
Epic Charter grads
less likely to enroll in
college
Learning fund spending is not
the only information Epic has
declined to make public citing
its management firm’s right
to confidentiality. Epic denied
Oklahoma Watch’s request for the
number of students enrolled in each
of the dozens of curriculum choices
that Epic offers to students, saying
Epic Youth Services handles the
purchasing and has the records.
“Because the school contracts these
functions to a private entity, the data
you have requested is proprietary
to Epic Youth Services, a private
company,” Ben Wadley, director of
legal services for the school, wrote
in an email to Oklahoma Watch in
June.
The arrangement also has also
kept as confidential the salaries of
Chaney and Harris, joint operators
of Epic Youth Services.