That’s not how it works
Earlier this week I ran across an online discussion where one of the commenters was complaining, saying Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Public Instruction had jumped on the bandwagon to hold Epic Charter’s founders accountable. In the course of that discussion there were several untrue assertions made that assume powers and responsibilities that frankly, don’t exist.
So let’s go through these…
Did the Superintendent have the authority to request an audit of Epic Charter Schools?
No.
Oklahoma Law, Title 74, Section 213, Paragraph C.1 is the section of law that specifically states who can request a special investigative audit of a school.
"The State Auditor and Inspector shall perform a special audit on elementary, independent, and technology center school districts upon receiving a written request to do so by any of the following: the Governor, Attorney General, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives, State Board of Education, or the elementary, independent, or technology center school district board of education."
As you can read, the Superintendent is not listed.
Well… the Superintendent leads the State Board of Education and they have to do what she says!
Ummm. No.
Except for the State Superintendent, who is a member because of her position, all the members of State Board of Education are appointed by the Governor. They also serve at the pleasure of the Governor and can be replaced at any time. He has specifically done this when a member of the board does something he doesn’t support. For example: Governor Stitt replaced board member Kurt Bollenbach with anti-mask crusader, Melissa Crabtree because Bollenbach supported some forms of mask mandate.
Stitt’s actions were even more blatant when he fired/replaced John Harrington, the president of the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board. Harrington was preparing to launch an investigation into Epic Charter Schools when Stitt fired him. Harrington had just notified Stitt’s office that he was going to have the board vote to force two board members to recuse themselves from any discussions regarding Epic Charter Schools. As it was later revealed, one of the two members, Phyllis Shepherd, was the Great Aunt of one of the Epic Charter Schools owners, David Chaney.
As for the assertion that the Superintendent has authority over the board, here’s what Title 70, Section 3-107.1 says:
Control and Duties of the State Superintendent
The State Superintendent of Public Instruction shall have the control of and direct the State Department of Education. In addition to any other powers and duties as set forth by the Oklahoma Constitution or by law, the State Superintendent shall:
1. Give advice and make recommendations to the State Board of Education on all matters pertaining to the policies and administration of the public school system;
2. Adopt policies and make rules for the organization, operation and administration of the State Department of Education;
3. Organize and have control of the administration of the State Department of Education and any other supervisory agencies, divisions, personnel and their appointment and salaries and other operations necessary to carry out the powers, duties and functions of the State Superintendent and the State Board of Education;
4. Have authority to require the coordination of all divisions of the State Department of Education and have general supervision of all employees of the Department;
5. Present all recommendations of the Department to the State Board and require employees of the Department to present specific matters directly to the State Board; and
6. Be responsible for interpretation of policy and rules set by the State Board.
As you can see, the Superintendent does NOT have authority over the SBE.
But she still should have recommended the audit! Why didn’t she???
Ummm. Actually, she did.
The Superintendent issued the call WITH the Governor as he announced the special investigative audit of Epic Charter. But the Governor had the statutory authority to make the request. She did not.
Here is the Governor's press release dated July 19, 2019 referencing BOTH of them...
Here is the AP News story that covered the press conference. It recounts her involvement in this process.
One final note regarding the Epic Special Investigative Audit. Epic was already under investigation by the OSBI. The OSBI were looking into allegations that Epic was enrolling Ghost Students. As it turns out, that was correct. Epic had also gone before a grand jury under the authority of Oklahoma County DA David Prater. So the investigations were well underway. If the Superintendent is guilty of bandwagon jumping, then the Governor is just as guilty.
Our State Auditor and Inspector’s role in the investigation was to put together the pieces through a special investigative audit, also known as a forensic audit. During the entire audit, Auditor Byrd was fought tooth-and-nail by naysayers and, shockingly, she received NO DEFENSE from the Governor. When she finished, Auditor Byrd turned her findings over to the Governor’s hand-picked Attorney General, John O’Connor. Guess what he did with them? Nothing. He sat on them while Auditor Byrd criss-crossed the state, speaking to crowds and sounding the alarm about the gross abuses her office had uncovered. Fortunately, District Attorney Prater requested that he regain control over the prosecution… and well, here we are.
