The Defense You Always Hear
Every time I talk about property tax reform, someone inevitably types this in the comments:
“What about the schools?!”
It’s the ultimate conversation ender. The nuclear option. How dare you question property taxes when children need education? Think of the children! The teachers! The textbooks!
Here’s the thing: I am thinking about the children. That’s exactly why I’m writing this.
Because your property taxes aren’t going to the kids. They’re going to Ferraris. Louis Vuitton bags. Vacation homes. Luxury tequila.
I’m not speaking metaphorically. I’m speaking literally.
Let me show you where your money actually goes.
The Ferrari Fund: Orange County’s $16 Million Lesson
In April 2024, Jorge Armando Contreras pleaded guilty to embezzling $15.9 million from Magnolia School District in Orange County, California.
Contreras was the Senior Director of Fiscal Services—the person literally in charge of the money. For years, he wrote checks in small amounts to “M S D” with the letters spaced out. After getting the proper signatures, he’d add fictitious names, increase the amounts, and deposit them into his personal bank account via ATMs.
What did he buy with your property taxes?
- A home in Yorba Linda
- A 2021 BMW
- 57 luxury designer bags (mostly Louis Vuitton)
- Designer clothes and shoes
- Various pieces of jewelry
- Eight bottles of Clase Azul Ultra luxury tequila
Federal authorities seized approximately $7.7 million in personal and real property traced to the scheme. But the school district? They lost nearly $16 million meant for students.
That’s not ancient history. That was this year.
The Pension Scam: How Thieves Get Paid Forever
Here’s my favorite part of the “what about the schools” argument: even when school officials get caught stealing millions, they still get paid.
Frank Tassone ran the Roslyn School District in Long Island, New York. Charismatic. Well-educated. Doctorate from Columbia. Ate lunch with students. Led a book club. Everyone loved him.
He stole $11.2 million from the school district—the largest public school embezzlement in U.S. history. His associate, Pamela Gluckin, stole another $4.3 million. Six people total were convicted.
Tassone went to prison. Served his time. Got out.
And now he receives an annual state pension of $173,495.04 per year.
Read that again: $173,495.04. Every. Single. Year.
Paid by the taxpayers he stole from.
The shocking number is a reflection of the control that unions have over districts. Not only do bad teachers stay employed—employees who steal millions from a district are still guaranteed lucrative pensions.
In fact, all of the employees caught up in the embezzlement scheme receive pensions, including Pamela Gluckin who receives $54,998 annually. Gluckin gives half of her pension to the Roslyn School District in an effort to pay back what she stole.
So when someone asks “what about the schools,” here’s your answer: The schools are paying a convicted embezzler $173,000 every year. Forever.
HBO made a movie about this case called “Bad Education” starring Hugh Jackman. It’s worth watching. Not because it’s entertaining—though it is—but because it shows you exactly how the system works.
The Fake Executive: Patterson’s $1.5 Million Tech Scam
In February 2024, Jeffery Menge and Eric Drabert pleaded guilty to embezzling between $1 million and $1.5 million from Patterson Joint Unified School District in California.
Menge was the Assistant Superintendent and Chief Business Officer from 2018 to 2022. Around 2020, he hired Drabert as IT Director.
Here’s how they did it:
Menge created a Nevada company called CenCal Tech LLC. But he was limited in his ability to conduct interested party transactions with the school district, so he created a fictitious person named “Frank Barnes” to serve as an executive for CenCal Tech.
Using this fake company and fake executive, they conducted more than $1.2 million in fraudulent transactions with the school district—double billing, overbilling, and billing for items never delivered.
What did they buy with student funds?
- Menge: A Ferrari sports car, home remodeling, and other personal uses
- Drabert: Vacation cabin remodeling
The district superintendent who discovered the fraud was “heartbroken.” Parents wanted to know if something like this could happen again.
Here’s the answer: Yes. It happens every year. Multiple times. Across the country.
The Do-Nothing Daughter: Burbank’s $93,000 Minutes
Sometimes the fraud is so brazen it’s almost funny. Almost.
In June 2025, Burbank Unified School District Superintendent John Paramo resigned following revelations of a $93,000 conflict-of-interest scheme involving school board member Charlene Tabet and her daughter, BreAnn Weist.
Here’s the scam: The board approved a $90,000 contract with “Specialized Support Services” to provide “clerical support/services as needed.” Weist’s signature was on the contract. District officials later discovered that Tabet—a sitting school board member—was listed as the principal of a limited liability company with the same name.
The district hired Weist to edit meeting minutes. She charged as much as $15,000 in a single month for services.
A review by the district found that in most cases, Weist made little to no substantive edits to backlogged meeting minutes.
Read that again: She charged $15,000 a month to not edit documents.
The district paid $93,000 between December and May before learning of Tabet’s involvement. The Burbank Police Department is now investigating.
By the way, this superintendent who resigned? He was appointed after the previous superintendent left following an $11 million budget accounting error.
You can’t make this up.
The Pattern: It’s Everywhere
These aren’t isolated incidents. This is systemic.
Utica School District, New York:
- Superintendent Bruce Karam embezzled funds to support school board candidates who would determine his salary
- Sentenced to pay $161,549 in restitution and fines (April 2024)
Mississippi School Districts:
- Two superintendents indicted for paying each other tens of thousands in school funds for consultant services never rendered
- Federal charges filed June 2025
Philadelphia:
- 23,000 properties fraudulently claiming homestead exemptions
- School district losing $11.4 million annually
- Investigation published December 2024
Easton School District, Washington:
- Nearly $60,000 in questionable expenditures discovered
- Potential loss of $33,489
- Fraud report released August 2024
I could keep going. These are just from 2024-2025.
The Real Cost to Students
While administrators are buying Ferraris and Louis Vuitton bags, here’s what’s happening in classrooms:
- Teachers spending their own money on school supplies
- Outdated textbooks from the 1990s still in use
- Overcrowded classrooms with 35+ students
- Crumbling infrastructure and leaking roofs
- Programs cut because “there’s no budget”
The Patterson superintendent who discovered the $1.5 million embezzlement told reporters: “Any time that you discover this type of behavior that impacts funding intended for children is really a tragedy.”
He’s right. It is a tragedy.
But here’s the bigger tragedy: We keep pretending this is about “a few bad apples” when it’s actually about a broken system that incentivizes theft and protects thieves.
Why the System Protects Fraud
Let me tell you something that makes people uncomfortable: The system is designed to enable this.
Reason #1: Lack of Oversight
School district finances are complex. Budgets are enormous. Oversight is minimal. The people who should be watching the money are often the ones stealing it.
Reason #2: Union Protection
Even after conviction, many embezzlers keep their pensions. The unions that protect bad teachers also protect thieves. Good teachers suffer. Students suffer. But the system protects itself.
Reason #3: No Real Consequences
Frank Tassone stole $2.4 million personally. He served time. He’s now collecting $173,495 annually for life. That’s not punishment—that’s retirement planning.
Reason #4: “Think of the Children” Defense
Any criticism of school funding is met with accusations that you don’t care about education. It’s the ultimate shield. Meanwhile, the children suffer while administrators buy luxury goods.
Reason #5: Property Tax Structure
Here’s the connection to my broader argument: Property taxes create massive, opaque revenue streams with minimal accountability. The money flows in automatically, year after year, whether homes appreciate or not, whether services improve or not.
When you combine guaranteed revenue with minimal oversight and union protection, you create the perfect environment for fraud.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
According to the Government Accountability Office, federal programs (which include education funding) lost an estimated $233 billion to $521 billion to fraud annually between 2018-2022.
That’s not a typo. That’s hundreds of billions with a “B.”
The federal government reported $236 billion in improper payments in fiscal year 2023 alone. Seventy-four percent were overpayments.
At the local level, school district fraud happens constantly:
- Philadelphia: $11.4M/year lost to homestead exemption fraud
- Orange County: $15.9M embezzled
- Roslyn: $11.2M embezzled (largest in history)
- Patterson: $1.5M embezzled
- Burbank: $93K fraudulent contract
These are just the cases that got caught. How many didn’t?
What This Means for Property Tax Reform
When someone says “what about the schools,” they’re making an argument from good intentions but bad information.
Yes, schools need funding. Yes, education matters. Yes, we should invest in children.
But that’s not what’s happening with property taxes.
What’s happening is:
- You pay property taxes whether you can afford them or not
- The money goes into opaque budgets with minimal oversight
- Administrators embezzle millions while claiming poverty
- Even when caught, they often keep their pensions
- Students suffer while thieves prosper
- Any criticism is met with “what about the children”
The current system doesn’t protect children. It protects bureaucrats.
Here’s my proposal (and yeah, people will hate this):
Primary residences should be exempt from property taxes. Instead, shift the tax burden to:
- Investment properties (2nd, 3rd, 4th homes)
- Commercial real estate
- Institutional investors
- Luxury properties above a certain value
This would:
- Actually help homeowners and families
- Make housing more affordable
- Reduce foreclosures over unpaid taxes
- Still fund schools (probably better, since investors have deeper pockets)
- Create political pressure for better oversight (investors demand accountability)
But none of that happens if we keep defending a broken system with “what about the schools.”
The Children Are the Ones Suffering
Geraldine Tyler lost her $40,000 condo over $2,300 in unpaid property taxes. The county kept the entire $40,000.
Uri Rafaeli lost his house over $8.41 in unpaid property taxes. The county sold it for $24,000 and kept everything.
Velma Lewis, 74 years old, lost her paid-off house because she chose to fix her dangerous roof instead of paying $6,200 in property taxes. Sheriff’s deputies came with a battering ram.
These are real people losing their homes to the property tax system.
Meanwhile, Frank Tassone collects $173,495 every year from the taxpayers he stole from.
Still want to tell me property taxes are “for the children”?
The Question You Should Be Asking
Next time someone says “what about the schools,” ask them this:
“Which schools? The ones where administrators stole $16 million for Ferraris? The ones paying convicted embezzlers $173k/year pensions? The ones where board members pay their daughters $15k/month to not work? Those schools?”
The system is broken. Property taxes aren’t protecting children—they’re funding fraud while forcing elderly homeowners out of paid-off houses.
That’s not hyperbole. That’s not exaggeration. That’s documented fact with court cases, guilty pleas, and federal indictments.
So yeah, I’m going to keep talking about property tax reform.
And yeah, I’m going to keep losing followers over it.
Because someone needs to tell you where your money actually goes.
Spoiler alert: It’s not the children.
Sources
Orange County: U.S. Department of Justice, Central District of California, April 5, 2024
Roslyn School District: Multiple sources including HBO’s “Bad Education,” New York Times, Town & Country magazine analysis
Patterson School District: U.S. Department of Justice, Eastern District of California, February 1, 2024; CBS Sacramento
Burbank School District: Outlook Newspapers, June 8, 2025
Utica School District: New York State Comptroller, April 2024
Mississippi School Districts: WLBT/Mississippi Today, June 28, 2025
Philadelphia: Philadelphia City Controller, December 4, 2024
Government Accountability Office: Federal improper payments reports, fiscal years 2023-2024
Tyler, Rafaeli, and Lewis cases: Supreme Court records, Michigan court documents, Illinois foreclosure records
Albert is a Senior Loan Officer at 1st Call Mortgage in Virginia with 17 years of experience in the mortgage industry. He writes about housing policy, property taxes, and mortgage industry practices at blog.1stcallmortgage.com. NMLS #152375. Licensed in Virginia only.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not represent the views of 1st Call Mortgage.
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