Imagine a school district spending millions on exotic getaways while its students struggle to read a simple sentence. That’s the grim reality in Chicago, where a damning report has exposed a staggering misuse of taxpayer funds by Chicago Public Schools (CPS) officials. It’s a slap in the face to every parent and student fighting for a decent education.
A recent report from the CPS Office of Inspector General (OIG) unveiled that the district shelled out $14.5 million on excessive travel expenses over fiscal years 2023 and 2024, even as academic performance and attendance rates hit rock bottom.
Let’s rewind a bit—back in fiscal year 2019, before the world turned upside down, CPS spent a comparatively modest $3.6 million on travel. Fast forward to FY 2024, and that number ballooned to $7.7 million, a jaw-dropping 2,467% increase from FY 2021’s mere $300,000. Who approved this spending spree while classrooms crumbled?
While kids in Chicago wrestled with basic math, CPS brass jetted off to glamorous spots like Las Vegas, Egypt, Finland, and South Africa. These aren’t exactly budget-friendly field trips for professional development—they’re the kind of destinations that raise eyebrows and tempers. How does a trip to South Africa help a third grader learn to read?
The academic stats paint a heartbreaking picture: only 30.5% of CPS students in grades 3 through 8 were proficient in reading in spring 2024, and a dismal 18.3% in math. For 11th graders, based on state-required SAT scores, just 22.4% hit the mark in reading and 18.6% in math. At roughly $30,000 per student, shouldn’t taxpayers expect better results?
Attendance is another festering wound, with 40.8% of CPS students classified as chronically absent in 2024, missing 10% or more of school days. If kids aren’t even showing up, how can they learn—and how can lavish travel by administrators be justified over boots-on-the-ground solutions?
Chicago pastor Corey Brooks didn’t mince words when he spoke to Fox News Digital about this scandal. “It is a sad commentary on just how far our city has fallen and how bad the leadership is,” he said. His frustration is palpable, and who can blame him when only 6% of students in his neighborhood read at grade level?
Brooks also pointed out a deeper systemic failure. “You have third, fourth, fifth, sixth graders who can’t read, and they're going to eventually become frustrated to the point of just saying, I quit, I'm not going to go,” he told Fox News Digital. It’s a tragic cycle of neglect that no fancy trip to Finland can fix.
Educational Freedom Institute Executive Director Corey DeAngelis echoed this outrage with a searing critique. “The government school system is a bottomless pit, lighting taxpayer money on fire, while constantly asking for more,” he told Fox News Digital. When spending per student is sky-high, and results are in the gutter, his words hit like a hammer.
Under fire, CPS finally reacted by forming a committee to scrutinize travel expenses, effective late October 2024, alongside a letter to staff acknowledging the mess. They’ve also promised to restrict nearly all employee travel moving forward. Better late than never, but why did it take a public shaming to act?
To their credit, CPS is rolling out a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) financial system aimed at tightening travel controls and boosting transparency. Automation for reconciling travel requests and spending, plus restrictions on trip types and amounts, sounds promising—if it’s not just more bureaucratic smoke and mirrors.
A CPS spokesperson tried to reassure the public, stating to Fox News Digital, “We take the findings and recommendations from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and will continue to ensure our District policies and procedures support the highest ethical standards.” That’s a nice sentiment, but actions speak louder than press releases when trust is this eroded.
The numbers don’t lie, and neither does the frustration of Chicago’s community leaders. When nearly half the students are chronically absent, and most can’t read or do math at grade level, every dollar should be laser-focused on the classroom, not on plane tickets to exotic locales.
This isn’t about denying educators a chance to grow professionally—it’s about priorities in a system that’s failing its core mission. CPS must rebuild trust by showing taxpayers their money isn’t funding a vacation club for bureaucrats but a future for the city’s children.
Chicago’s kids deserve leaders who put them first, not administrators who treat public funds like a personal slush fund for global sightseeing. If CPS can’t get its house in order, the outrage will only grow—and deservedly so. Let’s hope this wake-up call isn’t just another ignored alarm.
