Epic Charter Schools cut budget, lay off staff as enrollment plummets https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/education/2021/11/18/epic-chart...

Oklahoman
Published 11:54 a.m. CT Nov. 18, 2021

With the loss of about 23,000 students, staff layoffs and budget cuts have begun at Epic
Charter Schools.

Three out of five students who enrolled in Epic during the pandemic have departed for
other school districts, the public virtual charter school system announced Tuesday.

Oklahoma's state funding of public schools is distributed per student. As a district's

enrollment fluctuates, so does its budget. The cuts at Epic are not related to any
investigations into the school system or the funds administrators are pursuing from the
school's co-founders.

Epic projects a $60 million loss in per-pupil state funding, prompting the school system's
governing board to approve budget cuts on Wednesday.

More education news: Charter school superintendent allegedly misused taxpayer

dollars

Superintendent Bart Banfield said enrollment decline necessitated a “painful process”

to right-size the school system’s personnel.

“We can’t operate a 40,000-kid school with 60,000-kid staff,” Banfield said during
the board meeting Wednesday evening.

Layoffs began Friday and will continue through this month. The school system hasn't
disclosed how many positions it will eliminate.

Read more: Two Oklahoma virtual charter school officials resign unexpectedly

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Epic’s enrollment more than doubled to 61,000 students last year, as families flocked to
virtual learning during COVID-19. The school system’s personnel grew to 1,988.

Epic expected some enrollment attrition after last year’s peak, Banfield said. Many
families informed Epic they intended to leave after the 2020-21 school year.

But, Banfield said it was difficult to quantify how many would go, particularly with the
delta variant causing another COVID-19 surge at the beginning of the school year. The
losses in enrollment – and the accompanying financial hit – became clearer this fall, he
said.

Epic’s governing board amended its annual budget to slash expenses from $209.7 million
to $165.3 million for its largest branch, Epic One-on-One.

Although the school expects its state funding to fall by $60 million, federal stimulus
dollars will soften the blow to a $44 million cut. Epic One-on-One will dip into its
contingency fund and reduce non-payroll spending to account for the gap.

More coverage: Epic co-founders potentially owe millions to the school they created

A flush of federal aid will keep finances more than above water at Epic Blended Charter,
the system's branch based in Oklahoma and Tulsa counties. Despite losing students, Epic
Blended projects enough revenue for a $14.3 million increase to its spending budget,
which the board approved Wednesday.

Board Vice Chairperson Kathren Stehno questioned why the reduction in force was
necessary, especially before the holidays.

With financial losses beginning in January and continuing through the spring, Epic would
have burned through millions of dollars if it chose to keep every employee, said Jeanise
Wynn, deputy superintendent of finance.

“We would probably have eaten up our entire carryover and had not what we needed to
start the next year healthily,” Wynn said.

Two of five students who joined Epic last year returned, leveling out enrollment at 38,000
across the system’s two branches. The school system

Banfield said it’s “huge” that so many students chose to stay. Epic tallied fewer than
28,000 students before COVID-19 sent its enrollment soaring.

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“I think it’s indicative of the service that we’re offering families and the choice that we're
offering families because they don’t have to come to our school,” Banfield said. “They’re
choosing to come to our school.”

Reporter Nuria Martinez-Keel covers K-12 and higher education throughout the state of
Oklahoma. Have a story idea for Nuria? She can be reached at nmartinez-
keel@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @NuriaMKeel. Support Nuria’s work and that of
other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at
subscribe.oklahoman.com.

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