By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis – Missouri state Auditor Claire McCaskill says oversight is lacking at the state's charter schools.
The schools receive public money, but are exempt from many of the regulations traditional public schools must follow.McCaskill released an audit Wednesday. Among other things, it found half the schools operating last year did not meet teacher certification requirements.
She also says some of the schools had money in uninsured bank accounts.
"I don't think this audit says that charter schools are a failure," McCaskill said. "It doesn't say that charter schools are a bad idea. It just says we are far enough along in this experiment that we probably need to take a look again at the oversight."
McCaskill says the General Assembly should give state education officials more authority over charter schools.
There are 26 charter schools in Missouri. That includes eight in St. Louis.