By Richard Bammer
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson on Friday announced that the California Department of Education has contracted with the State Controller’s Office to audit an online charter school network, some of whose students graduated Thursday in Vacaville.
State officials will cast an eye on California Virtual Academies and related charter schools because of serious questions raised about a number of their practices, Bill Ainsworth, a spokesman for the CDE, wrote in a press release.
The inquiry comes after an April report in the The Mercury News that questions whether CAVA — part of a growing network of online charter schools operated by a Virginia company traded on Wall Street called K12 Inc. — was receiving millions in state education dollars but failing key tests used to measure educational success.