The Education Ministry has ordered forensic audits of two schools this year - and one of them led to three women being charged.
Suspected problems with school finances prompted the audits of accounts at Te Kura o Waikaremoana and Al-Madinah, an integrated Muslim school in Auckland.
The ministry intervened at both schools, placing Al-Madinah under a limited statutory manager in 2016, and appointing a commissioner at Te Kura o Waikaremoana in September this year.
It would not comment on either case because the Al-Madinah audit is still under way, and it does not want to prejudice legal proceedings related to the Waikaremoana case.
The police said they had charged three women with misappropriation of finances between 2015 and 2017 at a school in Tuai, near Lake Waikaremoana.
The women have pleaded not guilty to numerous charges.
