Six people from Alabama, including two former superintendents, were accused of conspiracy, fraud and identity theft on Tuesday.
Former Athens school superintendent Trey Holladay and former Limstone County superintendent Tom Sisk were among those indicted by a federal grand jury in Montgomery. Holladay's wife was also indicted.
All are accused of being part of a scheme to boost public school funding by offering online classes in private schools in south Alabama. The jury's indictment said public school systems wrongly counted private school students as being enrolled in online classes to boost their attendance.