Judge rules Oklahoma must fund charter school

The ruling also ostensibly created a new school district for the charter school, allowing Epic 1 on 1 Charter School to manage its own funding and enrollment.

After the decision, state schools Superintendent Sandy Garrett expressed concern that the ruling had created a new school district outside the purviews of governmental oversight, unlike any other district in the state.

"We're perplexed as to why the judge would create another school district," Garrett said. "We don't have a school district that has no representation through their community through a democratic election."

While all school districts have elected school boards, the private nonprofit corporation operating Epic 1 on 1 will not have an elected governing board.

Co-founders of the school, Ben Harris and David Chaney, hoped to open the school's virtual doors to 400 students on Sept. 1, but their application to obtain a "school number" from the state was denied.

Epic sued the state, asking Oklahoma County District Judge Patricia Parrish to force the state to issue the essential school code for funding and student enrollment.