SACRAMENTO A chain of family operated charter schools overcharged the state more than $57 million over three years and paid its two top executives a total of $644,000 in one year to run schools for at-risk students, a state audit released Wednesday found. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell immediately referred the audit of the for-profit Opportunities for Learning and the nonprofit Options for Youth schools to Attorney General Bill Lockyer, but the schools' operators challenged the findings. Spokeswoman Kerry Mazzoni, a former secretary of education, said the eight schools and more than 40 independent study satellite centers serve...
