In January, the Statewide Charter School Board released an investigative audit that found leadership failures and a lack of financial oversight at the school caused a budget crisis, which led to nearly 500 layoffs.
Faulty enrollment projections contributed to two rounds of mass layoffs during the 2025 fiscal year.
The audit did not find evidence of embezzlement.
At Monday’s meeting, board staff said Epic is actively addressing all 15 audit findings. Epic previously employed an enrollment model in which they hired a certain number of teachers based on enrollment projections. If those teachers aren’t needed, Epic conducts a reduction in force.
Board staff said Epic is putting policies in place to prevent students from enrolling at the end of the school year and to disincentivize teachers from keeping high schoolers enrolled if they graduate early. Now, teachers will still get paid for those students but allow them to graduate early.
An additional audit follow-up was recommended in six months.
Former Epic superintendent Bart Banfield resigned last year. Current superintendent Shaun Ross is a former Oklahoma City Public Schools executive.
“I think what was most clear coming in was there was not a systematic approach on how we spend money,” Ross told the board. “I think the reason we got in financial hot water was not through intent or maliciousness, but more of a lack of assistance and lack of checks and balances as all organizations should have.”
At the meeting, staff also presented the Performance Framework for Epic. The report comes from an annual evaluation required by state law. Charter authorizers, such as the Statewide Charter School Board, measure performance in academics, finance and operations.
According to the report, Epic is lagging significantly in academics. For the 2024-25 year, the district scored a 23 out of 100.
Scores dropped as low as 7.8% proficiency in high school math, compared to 35.4% statewide.
Scores also dropped precipitously from the previous year. For instance, scores fell from 35% to 15% proficiency in fourth grade reading and English language arts. Scores are calculated from the Oklahoma School Testing Program state assessments.
Students in the special education subgroup also show steep differences from the state average. Statewide, those students in high school score 51.9% proficiency. At Epic, students in the subgroup scored 14.8%.
Wide margins persisted in other evaluated areas, such as students who are economically disadvantaged and English language learners.
Ross said his district is charged with bringing stability to its teachers so that the needs of the students are prioritized.
“Our academics are struggling because our eyes were on a different topic,” Ross told the board. “We need to get them where they need to be, which is on the academics.”
Buoyed by a higher financial and organizational score, Epic’s combined index of 60.81 barely eluded the trigger for its charter renewal to be at risk of non-approval. An index of less than 60% requires a reauthorization application to the Statewide Charter School Board.
Board Chair Brian Shellem said at the meeting that while some students succeed in a virtual environment, it’s not a model that fits all students.
“I think every one of us is concerned [about] the direction where we seem to be going in a lot of our virtual schools.”
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