Epic Charter Schools Announces Major Staff Cuts Due To Students Transferring Back To Traditional School Districts

Epic Charter Schools announces major cuts. 

Enrollment skyrocketed for the virtual school during the pandemic, but the school said it's now lost 60% of its students as kids return to traditional classrooms.

Epic's enrollment surge during the pandemic made it the state's largest school district. Now that so many students have left, administrators said they won't be able to afford to keep the same staff numbers.

Right now, there are roughly 2,000 people employed by the virtual charter school, but Epic's superintendent said there are too many staff members for the decreased number of students. 

Epic Charter Schools began the 2020-2021 school year with about 61,000 students and now has an enrollment of about 38,000. 

The district said that drop has led to reduced funds of about $60 million, money it would have received in January. 

The first round of cuts began on Friday and will continue throughout the month. 

So far, it's not clear how many employees will be let go but Epic told News 9 the number of staff and students will even out by the end of the school year.

News 9 has out to several school districts to see if there has been a spike in enrollment. Oklahoma City and Edmond schools have both had about 2,000 more students enroll this year.