![]() Your relationships with other government agencies and stakeholders, outside of some political theater which too shall pass, is the best it’s ever been.”Ĭampbell joined the Epic Schools Board in May of 2021 as the school was in the process of making corrective actions following a scathing audit from the State Auditor & Inspector’s Office and cutting ties with co-founders Ben Harris and David Chaney, who were arrested in June on charges of racketeering, embezzlement and conspiracy. ![]() A school literally on the brink of closure is now fully in compliance with its authorizer and I would argue is now a state leader in all things compliance,” Campbell wrote. “In my time here, you have completely shifted from a for profit model to a ‘students first’ model. (Megan Prather)Įpic Charter Schools Board Chairman Paul Campbell announced this week that he would be resigning from his position in order to spend more time with his family and to focus on his business, Spartan Energy Services, and on the charter school Academy of Seminole, which he founded in 2018 and where he currently serves as board chairman.Ĭampbell announced his resignation in a letter to Epic Charter Schools Board members and staff dated July 20. Epic Charter Schools Board chairman resigns Epic Charter School Board President Paul Campbell leads a board meeting on Wednesday, July 13, 2022. However, an incentive grant program managed by the State Department of Education, which was used to support educational needs such as internet connectivity and mental health support, did meet federal guidelines. The audit shows that the state did not follow federal guidelines for four education-relief programs, including the Stay in School Program, Learn Anywhere Oklahoma, Skills to Rebuild and Bridge the Gap Digital Wallet. State officials have said that ClassWallet assured them no fraud would take place and have even threatened to sue the company, but the audit states that Oklahoma did not use all of the available controls in the ClassWallet system to monitor how grant money was being spent. However, the audit shows that $652,720 in funds were used on non-educational expenditures such as televisions and gaming consoles. ![]() The audit recommends the state return more than $650,000 in misspent funds.ĭuring the pandemic, the state gave a no-bid contract to the Florida-based company ClassWallet to administer a program called Bridge the Gap Digital Wallet, which provided $1,500 grants to low-income families for educational purchases. Department of Education Office of the Inspector General released an audit of Oklahoma’s use of $40 million in Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER) money that the state received during the COVID-19 pandemic. ![]() What else do you expect in an election year?Įarlier this week, the U.S. If you happened to fall behind on the plethora of headlines, don’t fret! The following roundup of Oklahoma’s education happenings should catch you up before we head into what one can only imagine will be another week of nonstop news. From the release of a federal audit revealing the state’s misuse of more than $650,000 to the resignation of Epic Charter Schools Board Chairman Paul Campbell, the Oklahoma education news cycle this week was relentless.Īlso this week, a local college forgave $4 million in student debt and we saw some head butting between the state’s top education officials regarding the release of funding for early childhood education.
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