A newly published research and policy center report by In The Public Interest (ITPI) claims California’s charter schools, that now top the nation in number, have cost taxpayers at least $149 million — and that number is “only the tip of the iceberg.”

The report chronicles multiple examples of these bad actors, including charters that use public money for private gain, self-dealing, mismanagement of public money, and flaws in oversight at multiple levels.

ITPI recommends reforms of the system, including increasing both the number and power of state auditors to ferret out these predatory practices, to make charter school financial accounting more transparent, and to create a system of accountability for violations once that abuse is discovered.

Read the complete report here.