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The Oklahoma Eagle
Amid Enrollment Spike, EPIC Announces It
Is Resuming Hiring For 2020-21
By Eagle Newswire
Oklahoma City, Okla. -
Amid a marked enrollment
spike during the pandemic,
EPIC Charter Schools an-
nounced today it is again
hiring faculty for the 2020-
21 school year. As the
school year draws nearer
and Oklahoma parents are
deciding what is in the best
interest of their children for
this school year, EPIC's en-
rollment for 2020-21 is pro-
jected to grow by 40%. Prior
to the pandemic, the school
was the state's third largest
public school system.
"Our learning model is
uniquely positioned to be a
meaningful option for fami-
lies anxious about the pan-
demic and traditional class-
rooms this fall," said EPIC
Superintendent Bart Ban-
field. "We have technology
and connectivity to offer
families for free and we
limit our student-to-teacher
ratios to an average of 28:1.
This provides a high level of
daily attention and support
that our experience in oper-
ating for 10 years tells us
students need for a high-
quality, distance learning
model."
EPIC is encouraging both
certified teachers and pro-
fessionals who have college
degrees and aim to become
alternatively certified
through EPIC's free UTeach
Property of OPS News Tracker and members of the Oklahoma Press Association.
program to apply for the
2020-21 school year. EPIC's
average teacher salary is the
highest in Oklahoma and the
school also pays full health
and Teacher Retirement
System of Oklahoma bene-
fits. EPIC teachers are em-
ployed across the state of
Oklahoma, office from their
homes and are assigned a
roster of students who live in
close proximity to them-
selves.
EPIC families will be
given the option in 2020-21
to meet with their teachers
in person (as was the prac-
tice pre-COVID) or have
daily interaction with their
teachers with such common
video conferencing tools as
Zoom, FaceTime, Google
Chat, Skype and the like.
"We anticipate many of
our families are not going to
elect to meet in person,"
Banfield said. "So teachers
we hire for this coming
school year who may not be
comfortable being in a class-
room this school year could
find a good professional fit
for themselves this year with
EPIC."
To apply to EPIC, visit
https://epiccharterschools.or
g/employment. For more in-
formation about applying
for EPIC's free UTeach pro-
gram to gain alternative cer-
tification, visit
https://epiccharterschools.or
g/uteach.html.
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Midwest City Beacon

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Midwest City Beacon

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 Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise
EDUCATION
Epic Charter School budgets
Jul
30
2020
$270 million in revenue
Page By Nuria Martinez-Keel
A001 The Oklahoman
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72% Epic Charter Schools projects nearly
$270 million in revenue this fiscal
year as its enrollment skyrockets into
the largest public school system in
Oklahoma.
The board for Community Strategies,
the nonprofit in charge of Epic, voted
unanimously Tuesday night by tele-
conference in favor of Fiscal Year 2021
budgets for Epic One-on-One and Epic
Blended Learning Centers.
The board approved a $173,453,428
budget for Epic One-on-One, a state-
wide online learning platform. Epic
Blended Learning Centers, located in
Tulsa and Oklahoma County, will oper-
ate with a budget of $95,968,952.
Epic One-on-One budgeted for
$170.8 million in expenditures, and Epic
Blended estimated nearly $91.4 million
in spending.
These budgets are based on an
enrollment of 40,000 total students,
a benchmark Epic achieved this week.
The virtual charter school system
reached 40,631 students on Tuesday,
riding a wave of enrollment that began
after the July 4 holiday.
The recent spike, propelled in part
by the coronavirus pandemic, pushed
Epic past Tulsa Public Schools and
Oklahoma City Public Schools for the
highest enrollment in the state.
Superintendent Bart Banfield said the
virtual charter school system projects a
total enrollment of 55,400 by the end of
Property of OPS News Tracker and members of the Oklahoma Press Association.
the 2020-21 school year. The first day
of school is Sept. 8.
Epic is a free public virtual charter
school that receives state funds for
every student enrolled and a smaller
portion of federal support. It does not
receive any local tax revenue.
Initial state funding for Epic, which
is distributed in August, will be based
on its student count at the end of the
previous school year, when the virtual
system had about 32,000 students.
State funding is adjusted mid-year
to account for enrollment changes
between the end of the previous
school year and Oct. 1. Epic could see
a large hike in funding in its mid-year
adjustment on account of its massive
enrollment growth over the summer.
In less than a month, Epic has added
thousands of new families, 60% of
whom said they are seeking virtual
schooling because of COVID-19,
according to a survey Epic conducted
of 2,300 newly enrolled parents. Nearly
50% said they did not intend to return
to their previous school once the pan-
demic ends.
The board also heard results from an
internal audit of Epic’s Learning Fund,
a bank account that has drawn the
attention of law enforcement and Okla-
homa’s state auditor and inspector.
Epic’s Internal Auditor Linda Ladd
presented a clean report to the board.
Ladd said her audit had no material
findings and all expenses were “appro-
priate and for the purpose of educating
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Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise
EPIC
From Page A1
children.”
Epic directs some of
its annual funding to an
account called the Learn-
ing Fund, and its private
management company,
Epic Youth Services, doles
out the money. Each stu-
dent is allocated $1,000 to
put toward extracurricular
activities, a supplemental
curriculum or educational
technology.
The Oklahoma State
Bureau of Investigation
alleged Epic used the
Learning Fund to entice
homeschoolers and pri-
vate school students to
dual-enroll in the virtual
charter school as a way to
SCHOOLS
From Page A1
Property of OPS News Tracker and members of the Oklahoma Press Association.
illegally inflate its enroll-
ment counts, according
to court documents filed
last year.
Epic has denied any
wrongdoing. The OSBI
investigation is still
ongoing.
State Auditor and
Inspector Cindy Byrd said
she has requested Learn-
ing Fund records from
Epic Youth Services, but
the company refused to
divulge any documents.
Byrd is conducting an
investigative audit of
Epic at the request of Gov.
Kevin Stitt.
The dispute over finan-
cial records is now in
Oklahoma County Dis-
trict Court. Attorneys
representing Epic Youth
Services said a private
business should not be
are set to begin Aug. 12.
Area districts are relying
on guidelines set by state
subject to a public audit.
In March, Epic’s school
board requested Ladd,
who works for Epic, per-
form an internal audit of
the Learning Fund. She
reviewed transactions
between July 1, 2017,
through June 30, 2019,
involving about 2,700
students. The audit
report did not specify the
total amount spent on the
Learning Fund over that
time.
Ladd said any dis-
crepancies she found
were minor and were
not recurring issues.
Her audit found nine
instances, amount-
ing to $42, in which a
Learning Fund payment
differed from third-party
documentation.
to send their children into
the school environment at
all this year.
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The Konawa Leader

y p y

Epic Releases Their County

Enrollment Numbers
Epic Public Charter Schools
released county-by-county
enrollment data today on the
heels of last week’s announce-
ment that the virtual 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 enrollment for the upcom-
ing school year is 40,631 stu-
dents, and hundreds more are
enrolling each day.  unrelated to COVID-19.
“The shift to distance learn-
ing happened slowly and then
all at once,” EPIC Assistant
Superintendent 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
upcoming 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 pandemic, while 40
percent of new enrollees have
indicated their enrollment is
“Whatever their reasons for
coming 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 fam-
ilies 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. 
  A county-by-county break-
down of EPIC students can
be found here: https://drive.
google.com/drive/folders/1VW-
JZNaZwq9xzgxgJgP8E7I_
lbAUNN-u4?usp=sharing.  
EPIC’s school model pro-
vides free choice of online cur-
riculum, technology (laptops,
tablets, etc.) and wi-fi service for
students who need it, easing the
technology burden for families
that opt for distance, blended
learning.

Property of OPS News Tracker and members of the Oklahoma Press Association.
 Tahlequah Press

Epic releases enrollment

figures, county by county
Epic Public Charter be found at drive.
Jul Schools released county- google.com/drive.
30 by-county enrollment
data Tuesday on the heels
of last week’s announce-
2020

Page
ment that the virtual char-
ter school is now the larg-
est public school district
The B
B06
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resized
in Oklahoma.
The virtual public char-
ter school has students 2n
2
55% in all 77 counties in Okla-
homa. Current total en-
rollment for the upcom-
ing school year is 40,631
students, and hundreds
more are enrolling each
$
day. Area county numbers
include: Cherokee, 303;
Adair, 64; Sequoyah, 452;
Wagoner, 789.
“The shift to distance
learning happened slowly
and then all at once,” said
EPIC Assistant Superin-
tendent Shelly Hickman.
“EPIC has had 10 years to
sharpen best practices for
virtual learning, which in-
clude giving our parents a
lot of choices and support-
ing our faculty through
competitive compensa-
tion 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 pandemic, while 40
percent of new enrollees
have indicated their en-
rollment is unrelated to
COVID-19.
“Whatever their rea-
sons for coming to us,
we’re ready,” Hickman
said. “We understand un-
certainty 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,
which is Sept. 8.
A county-by-coun-
ty breakdown can

Property of OPS News Tracker and members of the Oklahoma Press Association.