A bombshell report from the Chicago Board of Education’s Office of Inspector General reveals widespread corruption and abuse within Chicago Public Schools, including sexual misconduct by staff, falsified federal grant applications, and fraudulent income reporting by hundreds of employees.
The OIG’s Sexual Allegations Unit closed 335 cases in its latest review, substantiating 55 instances of misconduct—nearly half involving teachers or substitute teachers. In fiscal year 2025 alone, 26 cases were verified. The most egregious cases involved adult-on-student abuse across two high schools operating on a single campus.
One convicted employee groomed a 15-year-old student and engaged in repeated abuse starting the summer before her junior year. That individual is now serving a 22-year prison sentence. Other staff members on the same campus were also found to have targeted students and recent graduates for inappropriate conduct. Most of these incidents took place in the 2010s but came to light only after victims and witnesses spoke out years later.
Mayor Brandon Johnson called the revelations “disturbing” and said schools must be safe spaces. However, the report’s breadth suggests systemic failures in oversight and accountability.
In addition to the abuse cases, the OIG discovered a CPS program manager had repeatedly falsified student enrollment numbers on federal grant applications—even after being flagged in a previous 2021 investigation. That fraud led CPS to receive nearly $1.2 million in unverified federal funding. The U.S. Department of Education investigated and CPS has agreed to repay the funds by October 2026.
Another major finding exposed more than 600 CPS employees who falsely claimed to be low-income on official forms for the 2023–24 school year. Over 100 of these employees earned more than $100,000 annually. The fraudulent filings allowed their children to receive fee waivers and increased their schools’ public funding. In response, CPS has stopped using the Family Income Information Forms that enabled the scheme.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Ted Dabrowski held a press conference Monday, calling the report proof of “legal corruption.” He accused the Chicago Teachers Union of pressuring lawmakers to keep broken systems alive. Since Governor J.B. Pritzker took office in 2019, CPS enrollment has dropped by 45,000 students, yet staff numbers have increased by 8,000—mainly in administration and support roles.
The OIG report exposes a pattern of abuse, fraud, and mismanagement that continues to erode public trust in Chicago’s education system.
