BOSTON (AP) — While many schools scrambled to shift to online classes last year, the nation's virtual charter schools faced little disruption. For them, online learning was already the norm. Most have few physical classrooms, or none at all.

Yet when Congress sent $190 billion in pandemic aid to schools, virtual charters received just as much as any other school because the same formula applied to all schools, with more money going to those in high-poverty areas, an Associated Press investigation found.

"It's scandalous that they're getting that much money," said Gordon Lafer, an economist at...