For the Epic Love of Money

   I've received several messages from parents over the past year who are concerned about their children's education. The concerns have always been about Epic Virtual or Blended Charter Schools, and have come from all areas of the state. Also, the questions and concerns have usually been of two different varieties. For instance, one parent lamented that even though his or her child had received A's and B's while attending Epic, the child was suddenly and without explanation, dropped from the roll. The question for me was "Why?". I do not know the answer, but I suspect it is about"money". The parent suspects it is because the child doesn't test well. It could be a little bit of both. When an Epic student is dropped from the rolls, the school may have already received the funding to educate said child. The child is not counted as a full academic year (FAY) student if dropped, so doesn't count against the school's test scores and A-F letter grade. The child is usually allowed to re-enroll, and the cycle starts over again - 1) child enrolls 2) Epic receives money 3) Epic drops child, no FAY 4) child re-enrolls. It's not only a cycle, but a vicious cycle - a money making racket.
   Another parent contacted me concerned that he or she received a phone call from Epic, even though Epic was never contacted by the parent. Epic asked the parent if enrollment in Epic was to proceed. (The parent had been home-schooling the student, so was not enrolled in any public school at the time.) The parent was also concerned that Epic may have the ability to "drop" the student from enrollment at another public school, without the parent's knowledge or consent. While I don't think Epic has that authority, nothing surprises me any more. My suspicion is that Epic's recruiting antics are also all about money and once again involves the Epic racketeering cycle - 1) child enrolls 2) Epic receives money 3) Epic drops child 4) child re-enrolls 5) Epic receives more money...
Follow the money!