{"id":887,"date":"2026-07-13T21:41:01","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T21:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/propertytransitionmedia.com\/?p=887"},"modified":"2026-07-13T21:41:01","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T21:41:01","slug":"watchdog-from-fake-students-to-disney-cruises-k-12-fraudsters-stole-225-million-from-taxpayers-over-7-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/propertytransitionmedia.com\/?p=887","title":{"rendered":"Watchdog: From Fake Students To Disney Cruises, K-12 Fraudsters Stole $225 Million From Taxpayers Over 7 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Fraudsters in the public school system stole more than $225 million in taxpayer dollars over a seven-year period, Open the Books revealed in a report released Saturday.<\/p>\n

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The report details fraud occurring in 24 states and Puerto Rico, from the West Coast of California to the rural mountains of West Virginia, showing how public school fraud is a prevalent issue across the whole nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen school administrators with access to funds go unchecked, embezzling and misusing
public money, it\u2019s a loss for the students. If it\u2019s in a smaller district, the waste, fraud and abuse impacts in such a profound way that it may take years to recover,\u201d . Open the Books is a nonprofit, nonpartisan government watchdog organization that \u201coperate[s] the largest private database of public spending in human history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open the Books and the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF), a nonprofit focused on promoting responsible fiscal public policy, found that fraudsters ($67 million) of the total $225 million stolen after the OIG \u201cordered restitution\u201d from some of the criminals. <\/p>\n

Open the Books collaborated with SFOF to sift through the Department of Education Office of Inspector General (OIG) reports to calculate the total amount of recorded education fraud since 2019. The groups looked through more than 90 cases of fraud where \u201cschemers were rigging bids, billing for supplies they never purchased, embezzling and more,\u201d Open the Books said.<\/p>\n

In one instance of mass fraud by a single individual, California school Executive Director Janis Bucknor confessed to stealing more than $3 million during a five-year period. She spent the cash on \u201cpersonal travel, restaurants, internet shopping, and private school tuition for her children,\u201d and most notably, over $220,600 on Disney cruises, Disney theme parks, and other Disney-related products.<\/p>\n

The state with the most fraud was Indiana, where a single scheme resulted in $44 million in taxpayer dollars never making it to schoolchildren. OIG reported that the administration at Indiana Virtual School and Indiana Virtual Pathways Academy inflated their enrollment numbers for three consecutive years. The schools received millions more in funding from the state than they should have and directed those millions \u201cto fraudulent companies controlled by the founder, which were then funneled to his co-conspirators and others,\u201d the report stated. OIG reports also recorded one school employee being fired for trying to blow the whistle on the mass fraud.<\/p>\n

Texas fraud followed close behind Indiana, with fraudsters costing the state nearly $40 million in the past seven years. Florida and Illinois recorded the largest number of fraud cases. Florida fraudsters cost citizens $24.7 million, and Illinois fraudsters $14.5 million.<\/p>\n

The report includes fraud data from only three of the \u201c20 largest school districts in the country with the most federal funding.\u201d The OIG has yet to investigate the other 17 school districts, leading Open the Books to write that its survey is \u201cjust the tip of another very large iceberg.\u201d Open the Books concluded that \u201cmost of the highest-funded school districts are unrepresented here, and among smaller districts the per-student losses to fraud are unacceptably high.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStronger oversight of federal education dollars is more than some bureaucratic exercise \u2014 it is an economic and moral imperative,\u201d Open the Books noted. \u201cFamilies deserve assurance that the public institutions meant to serve their children are not being looted by the very officials entrusted to lead them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Secretary of Education Linda McMahon responded to Open the Books\u2019 report on Fox Business, saying, \u201cWe\u2019re just beginning now to really look into the fraud [in the] K-12 schools. \u2026 I can assure you that we will be following through with our departments to see where this money has been going.\u201d<\/p>\n

This level of continual fraud hurts the taxpayer, but especially the American student. Literacy rates continue to decline, and America continues to slip behind foreign competitors in test scores and critical thinking abilities. Evidently, throwing money at the issue does not work; it only lines bad actors\u2019 pockets. A 2025 review of 12,531 school districts by Open the Books found that \u201cdistricts that spent more on teacher and administrative pay saw their students\u2019 standardized test scores drop.\u201d <\/p>\n

The review argues that a positive correlation exists between increased teachers\u2019 pay and student results, but the inverse is true when administrators receive a bloated \u2014 or fraudulent \u2014 paycheck. Increased administrator pay and \u201cskyrocketing expenses for staff benefits \u2026 [redirect] resources away from students, as school districts spend more and more money paying off pension debts,\u201d Open the Books explained.<\/p>\n

Baltimore, which is one of the worst school districts in America, \u201chas arguably the most administrative bloat in the U.S.\u201d In 2024, the taxpayer-supported employees in Baltimore\u2019s school district collectively made almost $1 billion, yet fewer than half of the employees were teachers or principals, Open the Books found.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn some of these cases, there are educators involved in these schemes. There\u2019s so much talk about getting more dollars into the classroom to improve student outcomes, and here are folks who have taken it to buy sports cars instead of school supplies,\u201d Open the Books spokesman Christopher Neefus told The Federalist regarding the fraud.<\/p>\n

Open the Books wrote in its report that the best way to limit the amount of fraud in the national public school system is to return education to the states:<\/p>\n

\n

Every step must be taken to unwind the enormous bureaucracy and spending housed at the Department of Education, returning education to the state and local level. Not only is that in keeping with the founders\u2019 vision for a limited Executive Branch, but state and local officials are much better equipped to understand the needs of their communities, find efficiencies, innovate for better student outcomes and keep foxes out of the proverbial henhouse.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Though much work remains, the Trump administration has already taken steps to return education to the states and crack down on education-related fraud. Besides signing an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education in 2025, the Trump-McMahon efforts have already resulted in preventing more than $1 billion of fraud in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) program, the department said. Last month, the Department of Education announced that it is now collaborating with the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services to \u201ctransfer more of its responsibilities to other agencies, prepping the Education Department to one day be shut down for good,\u201d The Federalist reported.<\/p>\n

Read more Same-Sex Couple Sues Surrogate After She Refuses To Abort Baby With Cleft Lip<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘When school administrators with access to funds go unchecked, embezzling and misusing public money, it\u2019s a loss for the students.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":886,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[679],"tags":[2810,1030,3,472,2811,2812,300,2813,1407,1047,2390,2814,2815,741,2816,2817,2818,2819,660,2820,2821,1409,2822,2823],"class_list":["post-887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-corruption","tag-administration","tag-department-of-education","tag-donald-trump","tag-education","tag-embezzlement","tag-federal","tag-fraud","tag-fraud-and-abuse","tag-government","tag-k-12","tag-k-12-education","tag-k-12-school","tag-linda-mcmahon","tag-money","tag-office-of-the-inspector-general","tag-oig","tag-open-the-books","tag-public-funding","tag-public-school","tag-secretary-of-education","tag-state-government","tag-taxpayer-dollars","tag-waste-fraud-abuse","tag-watchdog"],"yoast_head":"\nWatchdog: From Fake Students To Disney Cruises, K-12 Fraudsters Stole $225 Million From Taxpayers Over 7 Years - 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