I guess running a big, profitable charter school isn’t so easy when you’re not ripping off Oklahoma taxpayers!
Epic Charter Schools—the famed online charter school that is sponsoring a mall playground near you—has announced massive layoffs and teacher pay cuts due to what’s being reported as “declining” enrollment numbers.
Here are the details via KOKH:
"Epic Charter Schools (ECS) is going through a school-wide reorganization, which includes layoffs, base pay, and salary adjustments.
In an email sent to staff Friday morning, Epic Charter Schools said it’s experiencing financial challenges due to declining student enrollment numbers. ECS reported its enrollment number was at 30,042 as of Monday morning.
The email also said the HR team would contact employees affected by position adjustments to help explain the off-boarding process and answer questions."
That’s interesting. It looks like we have an embattled online school district that’s been involved in various scams and scandals over the past decade suddenly conducting layoffs and teacher pay cuts in the middle of the school semester.
That may sound alarming, but don’t worry! We have a competent Oklahoma State School Superintendent in place to monitor the situation and make sure everything is on the up and up.
There’s nothing to see here. Everything is fine!
Actually, there may be some truth to that sarcastic statement.
I have friends who work for Epic and swear the district is legit now that its founders have been indicted and forced out, and that this really is related to the school not meeting new enrollment goals.
If that’s true, I wouldn’t say the declining enrollment is surprising.
Let’s be honest—now that the Oklahoma government is offering $7,500 tax credits for parents to send their kids to religious private schools, pocketing $1,000 or so for a 'learning fund'—wink, wink—from an online public charter school just doesn’t have the same allure as it once did.
“Rhonda, where should we send Lil’ Timmy to school?”
“Dammit, Darryl. Whichever one gives us the most money!”
Seriously, I doubt it’s a coincidence that Epic’s enrollment numbers are “suffering” right around the same time the Oklahoma School Privatization Voucher Act—or whatever the State Chamber calls it—went into effect.
As a fan of cruel irony, I have to admit that's a bit delicious. Epic Charter Schools—the original gangster of the grifty Oklahoma 'School Choice' movement—is now grappling with the same challenges that brick-and-mortar schools faced when Epic first burst onto the scene like a playground bully over a decade ago. Turns out, public school privatization and profiteering can be an unforgiving game, huh?
Of course, late-stage capitalism isn’t the only thing hurting Epic.
As I mentioned earlier, they’re likely still dealing with the negative fallout from the fraudster founders who orchestrated one of the largest grifts of Oklahoma taxpayer funds in our state’s history.
Sure, the average Oklahoman might be too slow and uninformed to be aware of Epic's troubles, but even if just a small percentage of parents decide to enroll Jane or Johnny elsewhere, it could still have a big impact on Epic’s numbers.
Anyway, as is usually the case when I write about layoffs, I’d like to offer my condolences to the staffers and educators who lost their jobs in the middle of the school year or were forced to begrudgingly take a 15% pay cut.
I wish you the best of luck finding new work, perhaps at a private school that is likely hiring.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
