Investigative Report: Leadership Failures, Poor Financial Oversight Led to Epic’s Budget Crisis
An independent, forensic investigation commissioned by the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board (SCSB) has concluded that financial mismanagement and leadership failures at Epic Charter Schools caused a budget crisis that led to the termination of roughly 500 employees between October 2024 and July 2025. Findings of the independent investigation and a report were presented today to the SCSB at its regular monthly meeting.
As a result of the SCSB investigating Epic’s finances, it contracted with the firm of Carr, Riggs & Ingram LLC in July 2025 to conduct an independent, forensic examination of the school.
During the period investigated by the firm, Epic initially adopted a Fiscal Year 2025 budget projecting about $317 million in revenues and approximately $276 million in expenses. Epic amended that budget multiple times, resulting in nearly $23 million in additional expenses and the elimination of the school’s projected fund balance from the previous year, which had originally been projected to be $60.4 million.
The investigative report links the budget crisis to specific mismanagement and leadership failures, including:
• Profoundly over-hiring for its 2024-2025 school year based on highly questionable projections of enrollment increasing by 6,000 students and failing to promptly make personnel adjustments when it was apparent enrollment would fall drastically short of projections.
• Operating without basic budgeting and oversight controls for leaders to make informed, responsible decisions, creating unsustainable payroll and operational costs.
• Engaging in overly aggressive facility expansion, seemingly without objective metrics or cost-benefit analysis to justify it, resulting in under-used or unopened facilities for which the school was nonetheless required to pay rent.
• Failing to transparently communicate the severity of its fiscal deterioration to the school’s governing board, a breakdown compounded by a board largely disengaged from the school’s annual budget making processes due in a part to an adopted governance model the Board followed at that time.
The investigative report identifies former Superintendent Bart Banfield as a key decision-maker behind aggressive staffing and site expansion initiatives that were not aligned with actual enrollment, financial capacity, or cost-benefit analysis. The report further notes Banfield “was generally not present” during critical leadership meetings once the school’s financial crisis became apparent.
Further, the report cites much of the financial breakdown to the actions and inactions of Epic’s former Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Jeanise Wynn, including unsupported and unchallenged budget assumptions, the absence of written financial policies, missing documentation, and inadequate, and perhaps misleading communication regarding Epic’s worsening financial position to the Board and key staff. The report also describes Wynn as having autonomous control of budgeting data.
The investigative report also indicates Banfield and former Executive Director of Finance Carrie Truver, who reported to Wynn, declined or failed to cooperate with the investigation by not agreeing to be interviewed. Requested executive board meeting minutes and emails involving Banfield and Wynn that included the school’s general counsel also were not provided to auditors, though they were requested. The forensic report states that had Banfield and Truver cooperated, and had all requested records been provided, “additional information may have been discovered that could impact the findings in this report.”
Banfield separated from Epic in July 2025 and Wynn separated in May 2025. Truver is no longer employed at Epic.
While the investigation found no evidence of embezzlement, the report emphasizes that the absence of fraud does not lessen the seriousness of the failures uncovered and risks that still exist.
“These findings underscore why independent board oversight matters, why engaged executive leadership matters, and why basic financial controls are non-negotiable in public education,” said SCSB Chairman Brian Shellem. “The consequences of what happened at Epic were real and tragic, with nearly 500 people losing their jobs and public funds being mismanaged.”
Shellem said that while Epic has taken some corrective steps since the SCSB began its investigation in May 2025, the Board expects Epic to adopt and implement all investigative report finding recommendations and to demonstrate sustained compliance with financial and governance standards expected of every publicly funded school in Oklahoma.
According to the report, the remaining highest-risk issues at Epic include:
- Lack of a formal budget oversight and budget change-order process, including documentation of the reason for changes, financial impact, and evidence of appropriate review and approval.
- Absence of an internal audit or independent monitoring function to periodically evaluate internal controls and financial risk.
- Lack of clear board-approval thresholds for items placed on the Consent Agenda, which auditors warned receive less scrutiny.
The report also identifies weaknesses in Epic’s handling of non-consumable Learning Fund purchases, including the absence of inventory controls and asset tagging for durable equipment families are required to return at the end of each school year. Epic’s “Learning Fund” operates by allotting up to $1,000 worth of approved learning equipment and items to each student each school year.
“Inventorying and asset-tagging non-consumable school assets is standard practice across Oklahoma school districts,” said SCSB Executive Director Dr. Rebecca Wilkinson. “Given the many millions Epic spends annually on Learning Fund items, we expect Epic to immediately begin inventorying, tracking, and properly tagging these assets to ensure accountability and responsible stewardship of public resources.”
In voting to accept the investigative report on Epic, the Board directed SCSB staff to diligently monitor the school’s progress in adopting and implementing all investigative report finding recommendations.
Wilkinson indicated staff would provide future updates as appropriate and that she and Epic’s new superintendent as of Jan. 5, 2026, Dr. Shaun Ross, would be meeting one-on-one with one another monthly.
“Our team will be actively involved in ensuring Epic fully addresses all findings and the risks that still exist,” she said. “I met with Dr. Ross before the holidays, and he assured me he was committed to taking any actions our investigation discovered were needed.”
