Gov. Kevin Stitt’s new general counsel has submitted his resignation from the Statewide Charter School Board , a spokeswoman for Stitt said Friday.
Stitt appointed Ben Lepak to serve as his top attorney on Monday. Lepak, the current executive director of the State Chamber Research Foundation, also has served since July on the new charter school board, which authorizes charter schools and virtual charter schools and develops and implements educational online learning courses and tools.
Stitt’s spokeswoman, Abegail Cave, said Lepak submitted his resignation from the charter school board Friday to House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, who had appointed Lepak to the nine-member board on July 3, two days after it officially began its work.
Lepak’s father is Rep. Mark Lepak, R-Claremore, and his sister is Sarah Lepak , whom Stitt appointed to the Oklahoma State Board of Education in 2022.
Ben Lepak has attended two of the five Statewide Charter School Board meetings held to date. During the July 30 meeting, he made a motion — approved 8-1 by the board — that it pursue an appeal of the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s decision that the board rescind its contract with St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School to the U.S. Supreme Court. That appeal has since been filed .