A coalition of state financial officers says it uncovered roughly $225 million in alleged fraud in American schools over the past six years, identifying nearly 90 cases involving embezzlement, fake invoices, inflated enrollment, bid-rigging, and kickbacks. As reflected in the new report from the State Financial Officers Foundation and Open the Books, investigators reviewed every Education Department Office of Inspector General semiannual report to Congress issued between Oct. 1, 2019, and March 31, 2026, which helped them identify alleged fraud cases in at least 24 states and Puerto Rico. “All fraud is harmful, but defrauding education dollars meant to help kids learn and succeed is especially hideous,” OJ Oleka, CEO of the State Financial Officers Foundation, said. Oleka, who co-authored the report, said that the “findings in this report should alarm every family, teacher, and civic leader, especially since they only scratch the surface of the problem.” “The state financial officers courageously tracking every school dollar abused historically have had a bloated federal education bureaucracy only make their job harder,” he added. Oleka said the findings highlight the importance of state-level oversight. “With that in mind, stronger oversight of federal education dollars is more than some bureaucratic exercise—it is an economic and moral imperative,” the report said. “Families deserve assurance that the public institutions meant to serve their children are not being looted by the very officials entrusted to lead them.” John Hart, CEO of Open the Books, a watchdog organization that tracks government spending, added that “these schemes within public schools arguably hit us where it hurts most: America’s future leaders.” “Every dollar wasted on fraud never makes it to the classroom where it’s urgently needed,” Hart continued. “Student outcomes will continue to suffer until we clean up both fraud and administrative overhead. In one instance, the per-student fraud rate was enough to fund a semester at a charter school.” Nicole Neily, president of Defending Education, added, “Every dollar siphoned out of the education system by self-interested grifters is a dollar that’s not furthering a child’s education at a time when student achievement and proficiency are at a frighteningly low point. We don’t need more money in education—we need more accountability so that finite funds get into classrooms.” Tip of the Iceberg At the top of the total amount allegedly stolen, the report noted that two now-closed Indiana online charter schools received $44 million in excess funding by inflating enrollment. In Puerto Rico, a tutoring company allegedly collected $24 million by billing for services that were never provided. In Florida, a former Broward County Public Schools information technology official allegedly steered $17 million in contracts to a friend’s company while bypassing competitive bidding requirements and personally profiting from the arrangement. The report also highlighted a Texas scheme involving former Houston Independent School District Chief Operating Officer Brian Busby and contractor Anthony Hutchison. Federal prosecutors alleged the pair orchestrated a fraud scheme exceeding $6 million involving construction and maintenance contracts in exchange for cash bribes and home renovations. A federal jury convicted Busby and Hutchison of conspiracy, bribery, filing false tax returns, and witness tampering. Hutchison was also convicted on multiple counts of wire fraud. The report argues that students often bear the direct cost of fraud, particularly in smaller school districts. California accounted for two of the most costly examples. At the now-closed Community Preparatory Academy charter school, students lost roughly $9,090 per pupil after the school’s leader allegedly used $3 million in taxpayer funds for personal expenses, including travel, restaurants, online shopping, and private-school tuition for her children. In Magnolia School District, students lost about $3,553 per pupil after a former fiscal services director allegedly embezzled nearly $16.7 million to purchase a luxury home, luxury vehicles, and designer goods. The report also cited Boone County Schools in West Virginia, where a former maintenance director allegedly stole $3.4 million through fraudulent invoices for janitorial and custodial supplies that were never delivered. Chicago Public Schools was also identified in the report. The district agreed to return about $1 million in federal grant funding after an inspector general review found it could not adequately verify student eligibility for an American Indian education grant program. Alleigh Marré, executive director of the American Parents Coalition, said the findings underscore concerns many parents already have about government accountability. “This is why parents need to have a seat at the table to ensure their children are receiving the best education possible and schools are not wasting taxpayer dollars on noneducation-based materials,” Marré said. The report concluded that education decisions and funding should increasingly be returned to state and local authorities, arguing local officials are better positioned to understand community needs, identify efficiencies, and improve student outcomes. Trump Admin Welcomes the Report The report comes as President Donald Trump’s administration has intensified efforts to combat government waste and fraud, including Vice President JD Vance’s “War on Fraud” initiative. The administration welcomed the report, telling Fox News Digital that targeting waste, fraud, and abuse remains a priority for the administration. “Secretary [Linda] McMahon is proud to serve on the vice president’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud and remains committed to delivering lasting results for American students and taxpayers—including nearly $2 billion in taxpayer savings to date,” Education Department spokesperson Ellen Keast said. “Misuse of taxpayer funds became widespread under the previous administration, which is why addressing it is a top priority.”

Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., died of a “brief and sudden illness” on Saturday, his Senate office announced early Sunday morning. Graham was 71. “On the evening of Saturday, July 11, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness,” his office said in a brief statement. “Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period.” Statement from the Office of U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina). pic.twitter.com/CQ5yVvqTH1— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) July 12, 2026 President Donald Trump praised Graham as “one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known” in a Truth Social post. “He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!!” the president added. Graham had represented the Palmetto State in the upper chamber for 23 years, since 2003. He was running for reelection, having won the Republican primary with 56.8% of the vote in June. Dr. Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, is the Democrat senate candidate in the race. Senate Majority Leader John Thune wrote that Graham “was a trusted adviser and colleague to me and many others, and numerous presidents and heads of state have relied on his counsel.” “His influence on the federal judiciary, our national defense, and his beloved South Carolina will be felt for generations,” Thune, R-S.D., added. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., posted on X that “South Carolina lost a statesman and I’ve lost a friend.” “From his humble beginnings to the Senate floor, Lindsey always led with faith, family, and South Carolina first,” Scott added. “Lindsey remained committed to public service and doing what he loved. He always introduced levity and brought wit to the most challenging moments.” Born in South Carolina, Graham graduated from the University of South Carolina with degrees in psychology and law in 1977 and 1981, respectively. He served as a member of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps in the U.S. Air Force, and in the U.S. Air Force Reserve in Congress. He received the Bronze Star MEdal for meritorious service in 2014 and held the rank of colonel. He served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1993 to 1995, and the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003. Graham was one of the few members of the U.S. Senate never to marry. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, who will likely appoint an interim senator to replace Graham, released a statement early Sunday. “Peggy and I—and our children—are devastated,” the governor, a Republican, wrote. “Lindsey Graham is irreplaceable.” “The fiercest of fighters for South Carolina and America—and a loyal and steadfast friend,” McMaster added. “We grieve with Darline, his family and his devoted staff. May God hold him gently in the palm of his hand. We shall not see his likes again.” My statement on the passing of Senator Lindsey Graham: pic.twitter.com/hbrjnMXIQd— Gov. Henry McMaster (@henrymcmaster) July 12, 2026 Meghan McCain, host of the “Citizen McCain” podcast, described the friendship between her father, the late Sen. John McCain, and Graham in her tribute. “At his best he was filled with light and was always the last person to leave any table for work or fun,” she posted on X. “In fact, I used to joke with my Dad that I couldn’t go out to dinner with him and my Dad as an adult unless I didn’t have work the next day because they would always stay so long at the table and shut down the restaurant. Lindsey and my dad were also both Hams and would take every selfie, talk to every waiter and person in the place. Life around them was a big and alive in every possible way humans can be.” “I hope that he is at peace and I hope he is in heaven drinking a white russian and fishing with my Dad” and the late Sen. Joe Lieberman, she added. Fox News host Sean Hannity called Graham “a dear friend” in a X post where he wrote, “Contrary to a public narrative that he was a war hawk, it was the opposite that is true. He wanted an end to the war with Russia and Ukraine and end all conflicts in the Middle East.” “There is no elected official that traveled to these regions more than Senator Graham. His dream for the Middle East was that of a lasting peace in the region between every nation and his hope was this could all be accomplished by the early fall. This is something he loved to discuss with President Trump and others day and night,” Hannity added. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X that Graham “was a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer.” Graham’s passing leaves Republicans with 52 seats in the U.S. Senate. It comes as Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has been absent facing a reported illness. McConnell is 84.

“Warning: The exhibits in this museum were prepared by people who don’t want you to love your country.” That’s a disclaimer every entrance to the National Museum of American History ought to display, according to a new report by the White House excoriating the Smithsonian Institution and its flagship museum. But it doesn’t take a 160-page report to show what’s wrong with the Smithsonian—just walk into any of its museums. With a bit of time on my hands in the Chinatown area of Washington, D.C., last year, I decided to take a stroll through the National Portrait Gallery. The art is as magnificent as ever, but it seemed every historical portrait had to be accompanied by two sets of explanatory text: one talking about the portrait itself, the other describing its subject’s connection to slavery, however distant. For the Smithsonian’s leadership, it often seems less like slavery is a part of American history—an important and awful part, to be sure—than American history is part of the story of slavery. That casual impression from the National Portrait Gallery is confirmed by the White House Domestic Policy Council’s report “Saving America’s Story: How Ideological Capture at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History Erases Our Heritage.” The National Museum of American History was pitched to Congress in the 1950s as “intended to instill in each citizen a deepened faith in our country’s destiny as champion of individual dignity and enterprise,” as well as to impress foreign visitors with a show of “our ever-expanding social technological horizons.” Yet Anthea Hartig, director of the museum today, has other priorities, including using history as a “prime tool of social justice.” Hartig is white, but rather than punishing herself for her “privilege,” she’s trying to lay a guilt trip on the whole country, using taxpayer dollars to “problematize” the history she’s supposed to preserve. The Smithsonian’s museums do have to tackle shameful subjects like slavery—but can the public trust that responsibility to someone like Hartig, who claims to have been “propped up … by the cushions of whiteness and the pillows of the bourgeoisie”? Her language is telling: Not only is it embarrassingly florid, its idiom is Marxist. This is not someone who should be teaching a class of kindergartners, much less leading one of the premier institutions of our national memory. Personnel is policy, and the results of having leaders like Hartig are thoroughly documented in the White House report. It notes the lack of exhibits on such fundamental figures of American history as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Christopher Columbus is characterized as a “thief,” and the European settlement of the New World gets presented as the “profound unsettling of the continent.” “Museum materials repeatedly suggest that Christianity functioned principally as an instrument of conquest, exclusion, or cultural erasure,” the report finds, while other materials promote gender confusion to children. Visitors are asked to speculate whether Benjamin Franklin’s experiments with electricity and “electric shocks” ever involved “an indentured servant or an enslaved person,” though no actual evidence suggests they did. Smithsonian officials respond to criticisms by claiming the institution is “independent.” Yet it isn’t independent of taxpayers’ dollars—Smithsonian museums receive more than 60% of their funding from the public. The Smithsonian’s independence is only independence from accountability to the public and its values: The institution is independent of patriotism. That would be fair enough if socialists and gender activists wanted to build their own museums using their own money to promote their revisionist view of America. Instead they feel entitled to use your taxes to teach you and your children to feel ashamed of your country. The problem isn’t limited to the National Museum of American History or the rest of the Smithsonian’s museums, unfortunately. Historical sites around the country have been colonized by ideologues looking to turn American history into a history of victim groups and oppression, with the heroes of the traditional telling—our Founders and greatest statesmen—recast as villains, even in their own homes. James Madison’s estate of Montpelier, for example, has been thoroughly co-opted by progressives, as documented by my Heritage Foundation colleague Brenda Hafera. Hafera, assistant director of the B. Kenneth Simon Center, has spearheaded a “Heritage Guide to Historic Sites” to evaluate hundreds of historic sites and museums—including the Smithsonian’s—for their relative historical accuracy or leftist bias. The undertaking is vast, given the scale of the problem, but the new White House report demonstrates just how urgent the need is. Americans are proud of what they’ve achieved in the name of liberty over 250 years—but if we leave the teaching of our history to progressives, our achievements will forever take second place to our failures. COPYRIGHT 2026 CREATORS.COM We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of the Daily Signal.

When Päivi Räsänen, a Christian member of Finland’s Parliament who was convicted of “hate speech” for a pamphlet citing the Bible, booked flights with a layover in London, the United Kingdom rejected her visa application. Räsänen told the Daily Signal in an interview Thursday that the U.K. initially approved her application, but days before her flight, the government notified her it had been canceled. The rules for Electronic Travel Authorization state that entry clearance or permission “must be refused” when an applicant “has committed a criminal offence, or offences, which caused serious harm.” Räsänen told the Daily Signal that the crime of which she had been convicted “is in a section of war crimes and crimes against humanity.” She had booked tickets from the U.S. back to Helsinki, Finland’s capital city, with a layover in London. The Finnish member of Parliament says she is a member of the Finnish Parliament’s “friendship group” with the UK Parliament. In August, she plans to speak in Northern Ireland at a conference about freedom of speech. ‘Hate Speech’ Charges for a Bible Verse Tweet Räsänen’s case dates back to 2019, when she criticized the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland for supporting an LGBTQ+ Pride event. “How does the doctrine of the church, the Bible, fit together with the fact that shame and sin are raised as a matter of ‘pride’?” she tweeted. #kirkko on ilmoittanut olevansa #seta n #Pride2019 virallinen partneri. Miten kirkon oppiperusta, #raamattu sopii yhteen sen kanssa, että häpeä ja synti nostetaan ylpeyden aiheeksi? pic.twitter.com/cnjAQCrOc2— Päivi Räsänen (@PaiviRasanen) June 17, 2019 Her tweet included a photo of the 2004 pamphlet titled “As Man and Woman He Created Them,” explaining the Bible’s position on sexuality and marriage. The photo cites Romans 1:24-27, which reads, “women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones” and “men committed shameful acts with other men.” Prosecutors charged her with “hate speech.” The Helsinki District Court acquitted her in March 2022, and the appeals court similarly acquitted her in November 2023, but prosecutors kept appealing. The prosecution claimed that the court failed to “fully perceive and understand” the “degrading and dehumanizing” message against “homosexuals.” “In order to protect the dignity and equality of homosexuals, it is necessary to exclude Räsänen’s statements from freedom of expression by interpreting them as punishable hate speech directed at them [homosexuals],” the prosecution wrote. Convicted of ‘Hate Speech’ In March, Finland’s Supreme Court upheld the acquittal for the Bible verse tweet, but a 3-2 majority convicted her, along with Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola, of hate speech for expressing their beliefs on Christianity and sexuality in the 2004 church pamphlet. The two Finns are appealing the decision at the European Court of Human Rights, represented by Alliance Defending Freedom International. “It is about, I’d say, a very classical Christian view of marriage and gender,” Räsänen told the Daily Signal. The pamphlet said that “homosexuality is a deviation from the original, God-created sexuality.” “The Supreme Court said that it is illegal to say that,” Räsänen recalled. “You should say that it is a normal variation, not a deviation.” “I understand that they may argue against my views,” the Christian legislator said. “Now, many people in Finland are afraid because they do not know what is legal and what is illegal to say.” She noted that “thousands of pastors” have delivered sermons with such statements, and that similar language appears in the Finnish translation of the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church. “I’m sure that the prosecutor will not attack or target the Roman Catholic Church,” she said. The LGBTQ group SETA celebrated Räsänen’s conviction, and expressed hope that it would lead to more reporting of “hate speech against rainbow people,” that prosecutors would bring more charges, and that they would be taken seriously in court. “There are people who are afraid of what would happen to them,” the Christian legislator told the Daily Signal. She said SETA pledged to “screen different kinds of writings and find similar views.” When asked whether prosecutors have brought similar charges against other Christians, she said, “Not yet.” Räsänen, who has spent 31 years in Parliament, plans to run for reelection next year. It will be her first race as a “convicted criminal.” ‘Hostility’ to Christianity She blamed “hostility” to Christianity and a misunderstanding of sin for the prosecution against her. “They have argued that if you say that homosexual relationships are sinful, then you think that these people are inferior to other people, even though I have said very clearly that all people are equal, we all are created as the image of God,” the Christian legislator said. “I have said it many times in court that I am also a sinner,” Räsänen explained. “We are all sinners, and we are in need of grace in Jesus, in his atonement on the cross.” She argued that the “post-Christian West” has neglected the Christian faith, and forgotten the “core message of the Bible.” While it is no picnic to face criminal charges for her faith, the legislator said the prosecution has given her an opportunity to share the gospel. She recalled a message from a young man last year. When he heard about Räsänen’s case in 2019, he identified as an atheist and homosexual, and was angry with her. When he reached out back then, she engaged with him, and shared the gospel. “He said that after his conversation with me, he has found Christ, and he has found a way to eternal life,” the legislator recalled. “I understood that this is not in vain,” she said. “It is not in vain to defend these freedoms. It is not in vain to share the message of the Bible.”

Government commissions come and go. Most deliver their reports to polite applause and prompt obscurity. But the Religious Liberty Commission that recently presented its draft report to President Donald Trump deserves a look that extends well beyond the Oval Office. At stake is something fundamental to the American character: our distinctive religious pluralism and the constitutional architecture that has protected it for more than two centuries. Established last May, the commission was charged with identifying emerging threats to religious liberty, upholding federal laws protecting full civic participation in a pluralistic democracy, and protecting the free exercise of religion. That mandate is broadly American, and the process the commission used to fulfill it was a textbook demonstration of how democratic deliberation is supposed to work. America has never been a secular nation in the European sense. From its earliest days, faith has been woven into the texture of American public life not as part of the establishment, but as a wellspring. The framers were not hostile to religion. They were hostile to state-established religion, a very different thing. What they constructed was a republic that respects the independence of churches and houses of worship from government control while actively safeguarding the freedom of individuals to live and express their beliefs openly. “Separation of church and state,” the infamous phrase found in Thomas Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists, has become, in popular usage, a weapon deployed to push religion out of public life altogether. The commission report’s careful historical grounding helps restore the actual meaning: not a wall excluding faith from the public square, but a guarantee that government will neither coerce belief nor punish its expression. That clarification arrives at a propitious moment. Lawmakers in several states have moved to permit or require the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. Courts are weighing whether teachers may incorporate the Bible into instruction on history, literature, and the foundations of Western law. These are genuinely contested questions that are being debated in a climate badly distorted by a generation of sloppy shorthand. When the historical record is obscured, even well-intentioned jurists and legislators lack the conceptual tools to reason clearly. The commission’s recovery of that record is not merely backward-looking. It is a contribution to an ongoing argument that Americans are only beginning to have honestly. The threats documented in the commission’s draft report are real. Over the course of a year, the Commission held seven public hearings and received testimony from more than 100 witnesses representing diverse ages, religions, professional expertise, and life experiences. The hearings addressed religious liberty threats across a wide range of American life, including the surge in violence against houses of worship and the rise of antisemitism. The commission’s 12 recommendations translate that constitutional vision into practical action. They range from requiring public officials who accuse someone of “improper” religious expression to provide written justification within 30 days, creating religious liberty reporting hotlines at federal agencies, and repealing the Johnson Amendment. The commission also urges the nomination of federal judges committed to safeguarding religious freedom, combating antisemitism through vigorous civil rights enforcement, and restoring pensions and benefits to military service members penalized for conscience-based objections to vaccine mandates. Taken together, the recommendations reflect the conviction that religious liberty requires not only legal protection after violations occur, but a culture that understands why those protections exist in the first place. To better understand the insight of the commission’s recommendations, consider who served as commissioners. The roster included Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, one of America’s most respected Orthodox Jewish thinkers; Pastor Franklin Graham; and Ben Carson, whose Christian faith has been a defining feature of a remarkable life from pioneering neurosurgeon to Cabinet secretary. These are prominent Americans whose religious convictions are not incidental to who they are. Their presence was itself a statement: Faith belongs in the public square, not as a political weapon, but as the moral inheritance that has shaped American civic life from the beginning. That is perhaps nowhere more evident than in the contributions of three Catholic commissioners: Ryan Anderson, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center; Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York; and Bishop Robert Barron.  Catholic teaching holds that a believer should be fully convinced of the truth of his own faith and simultaneously insist that no one should be coerced in matters of conscience. All three men have consistently advanced this teaching and the understanding that the First Amendment either protects everyone or protects no one. The commission was not without its disruptions. During a hearing on antisemitism, one member used the session to pursue a personal agenda. The chair removed her, making clear that no member had the right to hijack a hearing for personal and political purposes. The commission moved on undistracted and undeterred. That, too, is a distinctly American moment. Religious liberty is the first freedom. It is one that makes all the others possible. America’s founders knew it. The witnesses who testified before this commission know it. At a moment when lawmakers, courts, and citizens are actively renegotiating the place of faith in American public life, the report that resulted deserves to be read and taken seriously by us all. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of the Daily Signal. Andrea Picciotti-Bayer is director of the Conscience Project and recipient of the Religious Freedom Institute’s 2025 Religious Freedom Impact Award.