This week, Epic Charter Schools announced they were going to layoff teachers. Their enrollment was lower than anticipated and they had more teachers than their funding can support. https://kfor.com/news/local/epic-charter-schools-announce-future-layoffs-due-to-low-enrollment/

That raises some important questions

1. How did this happen?

2. Why don’t we see this more often?

Let’s start with the second question. It provides some foundational info for the first question.

Unless there are disciplinary issues, traditional school districts in Oklahoma don’t release or layoff teachers before the end of the school year because they can’t. The law doesn’t let them do that. The law also requires teachers to stay with a school district for the entire school year. That’s important for students, because it minimizes disruption during the school year.

However, Epic is a charter school. Those laws doesn’t apply to charter schools. That’s why Epic can layoff teachers.

Now… for the first question. How did this happen?

In March of 2021, the Oklahoma Legislature passed HB 2078. That bill eliminated the “hold harmless” provision in the school funding formula. Prior to the change, the formula used both the student count from April (technically, the prior school year) as well as the October count in the current school year. The formula took the higher of those two counts.

Why did it do that?

The reason is actually simple, and it has nothing to do with some nefarious scheme to “fund ghost students.” It’s because it guaranteed that, at a minimum, schools would have the same funding in October as they did in April. And that’s critical - because April is when districts decide which teachers to sign for the upcoming school year. (Remember - traditional districts can’t layoff teachers.) And districts can’t be sure how many kids will enroll in the fall. So, this “hold harmless” provision allowed districts to keep the same teachers. That provides continuity. Without the “hold harmless” provision, responsible districts are forced to “shoot low.” They might not have the funds to pay for all their teachers, so they don’t offer contracts to all of them. As a result, teachers float from district to district. Then, when districts know their actual enrollment in the fall, they scramble to find qualified teachers for all their classes. Districts that experience significant growth or decline are hurt the worst.

During the debate, members were told that was okay, because declining districts deserved to lose that money. It was “right sizing.” The reality is that it perpetuates annual “wrong sizing” for ALL districts. It contributes to larger class sizes. It creates teacher “churn.”

What’s perhaps worse, is that teachers who aren’t signed to a contract in April often find other non-teaching jobs where they don’t have to go through this heartache and worry each year. That leads to classrooms led by non-certified teachers and certified teachers working elsewhere.

What’s going to happen to the teachers laid off by Epic? Perhaps other districts will hire them. But most districts have already filled their openings.

In the end, I feel justified in saying, “I told you so!” to the legislature. ‘

Because I did.