The biggest and worst charter scandals are perpetrated by virtual charter schools. Why do states tolerate their waste, fraud, and abuse?

The only online charters should be operated and supervised by public officials, not by grifters and entrepreneurs.

Indiana was just scammed of more than $68 million by two virtual charters. This was money that should have spent on children and in classrooms to reduce class sizes and pay teachers.

Why did the authorizer ignore the graft? Could it be that it was getting paid a commission for each student supposedly enrolled in these “schools”? Enough fraud to pay off almost everyone.

Early estimates of just how much money two online schools stole from the state of Indiana were wrong, according to a report filed Wednesday by the Indiana State Board of Accounts.

A special investigation into malfeasance by Indiana Virtual School and Indiana Virtual Pathways Academy found that the schools inappropriately received more than $68.7 million collectively.

Last summer, state investigators revealed that the charter schools had inflated their enrollment to defraud the state — by enrolling students who’d simply requested information on the schools’ website, re-enrolling students after they’d left the schools or, in one case, by keeping a deceased student on their books more than a year after their death.

The state funds public schools — which include virtual charter schools — based on the number of students enrolled each year. At the time, investigators estimated overpayments to be around $40 million.

The new report details widespread fraud, misuse of state funds and a severe lack of oversight by school officials and the schools’ charter authorizer, Daleville Community Schools.