| The Deep State's Oklahoma affiliate appears to have another ally in the State Auditor's office. Newly elected state auditor, Cindy Byrd; has violated state law in making a demand for private industries to turn over all receipts and contract details pertaining to their services provided to the state's most widely successful charter school. That issue is being fought in the courts because Epic Charter and their contractors are not going to be intimidated by bullies with state agency letterhead on their thuggish writs. But now the auditor is claiming that Epic Charter, the best-paying employer in Oklahoma public schools, is somehow to be shamed for not depositing more into state-sanctioned retirement trusts. It didn't take OCPA, the state's most honored thinktank; very much digging to confirm that Auditor Byrd is pressuring this charter school to violate state law in the state teachers' trust. What makes this even more pathetic is that when the preliminary draft was presented to Epic, they attempted to save Byrd the public embarrassment, and replied. Byrd claims she didn't hear back from Epic, but the Epic administration provided proof of correspondence. Proper documentation is essential to the role of state auditor. We give the office great powers and authority. But when false reports of the auditor are clearly refutable, the people have a growing shadow of doubt in both the competence and integrity of the Auditor, and her vast army of investigators who are becoming less respectful of constitutional rights. |  |
Here's a short portion of the OCPA findings, and a link to their full report. Ray Carter published the article.
Ray Carter
Director, Center for Independent Journalism |
A recently released special investigative audit of EPIC Charter Schools, an online K-12 provider, says the school failed to make appropriate payments into the state Teachers Retirement System (TRS) for some employees. But documents provided by EPIC in response indicate the actions recommended in the audit violate state law and regulations. The audit said payroll data reported by EPIC for employees of its Blended Learning Centers “did not appear to accurately report the complete and total compensation of Blended employees to TRS.” For example, the audit said the salary reported to the retirement system for one employee was listed as $42,623 when the individual received total compensation of $63,168. Another employee’s reported salary was $34,813 when total compensation was $46,954. |
Read the full OCPA Report, here.
