Nation - Oklahoma Judge: Charter school can get state funds

By Murray Evans Associated Press Writer OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The state Department of Education must provide a planned online charter school with a district code that will allow it to receive public funding, an Oklahoma County judge ruled this week. But the Epic One on One Charter School is not likely to be launched by Sept. 1, co-founder David Chaney said. That's because District Judge Patricia Parrish also ruled that the school can accept transfer students only during open transfer dates and that deadline has passed for this academic year. Bill Hickman, the school's attorney, said he didn't know if it would appeal the second part of Parrish's ruling and that it was unclear if the judge meant to keep Epic from accepting so-called emergency transfers, which much be approved by the district the student is leaving. Open transfers do not require such approval. "From our perspective, it's a victory," Hickman said. "We're very proud and looking forward to the opportunity to provide academic choices to the parents and families in the state of Oklahoma." Epic would be the first online charter school in the state, allowing students to take classes online without attending a physical location. Organizers "plan on opening our program" as soon as possible, Chaney said. It is planned for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The school and parents of two potential students from Newkirk and Lawton sued the state Department of Education and the Oklahoma City Public Schools district after Epic was unable to obtain the district code from the state agency. State Superintendent Sandy Garrett said the state does not oppose charter schools, but she is concerned about the addition of a school district that does not have a locally elected board and whose creation was not approved by a governing board. "There has to be an accountability for taxpayer dollars," Garrett said. Under state law, charter schools must have a school district, a CareerTech or a university as a sponsor. Epic said it has a signed contract with the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond to sponsor the school. That contract, apparently signed June 28 by UCO executive vice president Steve Kreidler, was not approved by regents with the Regional University System of Oklahoma, who oversee UCO. Hickman said Kreidler had the authority to sign the contract and that it did not need the regents' approval. Hickman also said the state Education Department could not require regents' approval of such a deal as long as the school had a valid charter. Kay Harley, general counsel for the Education Department, said the state's other university-sponsored charter schools provided the state agency with minutes of a regents meeting at which their contracts were approved. "We asked the same thing of this charter school," she said. UCO had maintained that because it withdrew its request to sponsor Epic before a regents meeting on July 28, that there was no agreement in place between it and the charter school. Parrish ruled otherwise, saying that UCO has "accepted sponsorship of the school." UCO was not named as a party in the lawsuit, although Harley argued Monday that the university should have been. UCO spokeswoman Adrienne Nobles said the university is "gathering information and evaluating the situation to determine how today's rulings may affect the university." The second part of the lawsuit involved whether students wishing to transfer into Epic needed to first transfer into the Oklahoma City school district, because Epic's address is within the district's boundaries. Parrish said that was not necessary, but also said those students would have to transfer to Epic under the state's open transfer rule and that the deadline for such transfers had passed for the upcoming academic year. "You can put an 'X' through this calendar year," Parrish said. Rose Welch of Lawton had planned to have her two children -- including a 7-year-old son with what she said are an articulation disorder and attention issues -- take classes through Epic. Parrish's decision on transfers, she said, is "absolutely contrary to what Oklahoma education is supposed to stand for. Everybody standing here, including myself, pay a lot of money every year so that children like Micheal can go to school and get the help that they need." She said her son could return to a traditional classroom only if he was heavily medicated, which she is not willing to do. Published: Thu, Aug 19, 2010

––––––––––––––––––––
 Subscribe to the Legal News!
 https://test.legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available