Owasso Reporter
Jan
16
2019
Page
A005
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41% Exterior of Epic Charter Schools Blended Learning Center in Tulsa.  TULSA WORLD FILE
Epic makes gains at midyear
Owasso, among
other districts,
were biggest losers
BY ANDREA EGER
Tulsa World
Epic Charter Schools is
seeing its share of state
aid soar by $38.7 million
in annual, midyear ad-
justments just made by
the Oklahoma State De-
partment of Education.
“Their enrollment is
increasing dramatically
— that really is the story.
Virtual is up about 3,000
kids and their blended
(learning) centers are up
2,500, so they have a lit-
tle over 20,000 students
now enrolled between the
two,” said Matt Holder,
deputy state superinten-
dent of finance and fed-
eral programs.
The Oklahoma City, Tul-
sa, Broken Arrow, Owasso
and Moore districts are
the biggest losers of state
aid at midyear, each los-
ing between $1.3 million
and $2.1 million.
Twelve charter schools,
including all four of the
state’s virtual school
choices, are among the
top 20 in gaining state
aid for the fiscal year
ending June 30. The only
traditional schools in the
Tulsa area to make the
top 20 are Bixby and Ver-
digris.
In making midyear ad-
justments, state educa-
tion officials distributed
the final remaining 1.49
percent, or $33.4 million
among all of the state’s
public schools.
Midyear adjustments
are based on a variety of
factors, including schools’
increases or decreases in
student enrollment dur-
ing the first nine weeks
of the school year and
changes in local tax rev-
enues.
Property of OPS News Tracker and members of the Oklahoma Press Association.
That means that some
districts see their funding
docked when all of those
factors are considered.
Oklahoma City Public
Schools and Tulsa Pub-
lic Schools lost the most
state aid dollars — $2.1
million each — since ini-
tial allocations of state aid
were released to public
schools in August.
Coming in third and
fourth are Broken Arrow
and Owasso, which lost
$1.9 million and $1.5 mil-
lion, respectively.
Long the state’s largest
virtual charter, Epic Char-
ter Schools, expanded last
year with two new “blend-
ed learning” centers in
Tulsa and Oklahoma City.
Their virtual school op-
tion is authorized by the
Oklahoma Virtual Char-
ter School Board, while
the new blended learning
centers are authorized by
Rose State College.
By comparison, that
school system’s total state
aid was $60.9 million at
this juncture last year,
and now it’s $112.9 mil-
lion.
Shelly Hickman, the
school’s spokeswoman,
said it is worth noting
that initial funding is
calculated differently for
virtual schools than for
traditional public schools.
Specifically, initial state
aid is calculated on virtual
schools’ enrollment as of
Aug. 1 and the academic
year for EPIC doesn’t be-
gin until September.
And she noted that
Epic’s staggering growth
in students means the
school doesn’t get nearly
as much funding as it
would if its current en-
rollment was counted for
midyear adjustments.
“Our current enroll-
ment is significantly high-
er than the enrollment
our midterm will be based
on. We have about 800
more students now than
we did in October. We
will be receiving no state
funding on those students
for this school year,” Hick-
man said.
Holder, the deputy state
superintendent of finance
and federal programs,
said strong state revenue
collections means he has
good news for all public
schools for the first time
in his four years of over-
seeing the distribution of
state aid.
“This is the first year I
feel very confident in tell-
ing schools that the mon-
ey being shown in mid-
year adjustments, they
should receive all of that
this year,” said Holder,
who in his previous years
has had to reduce state
aid payments because of
too-low state revenue col-
lections.