Chicago public schools blow millions on travel while students can't read at grade level

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A scathing report from the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) revealed that the school system spent a staggering $14.5 million in "excessive" travel expenses in FY 2023 and FY 2024 combined. The report comes as data shows that just 30.5% of students in grades 3–8 were proficient in reading, and just 18.3% of students were proficient in math in the spring of 2024.

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"In our neighborhood, there's a 6% reading proficiency," Brooks added. "And now you're talking about the overall for Chicago being 30%, that is something that needs to be spoken by everyone who is in power."

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The CPS OIG report showed that the school system spent $7.7 million in FY 2024 alone, a 2,467% increase in travel expenses from FY 2021’s $300,000 spending.

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CPS OIG's report also reveals school system officials took lavish trips to Las Vegas, Egypt, Finland and South Africa.

In addition to the proficiency levels for grades 3–8, data also shows that in spring 2024, just 22.4% of CPS 11th graders were proficient in reading based on SAT scores, a test which is required by the state of Illinois. Similarly, 11th graders showed just 18.6% proficiency in math.

"The Chicago Public School system is a complete dumpster fire," Educational Freedom Institute Executive Director Corey DeAngelis told Fox News Digital. "These government-run institutions are sentencing children to a future without opportunities."

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In addition to the poor proficiency levels, school attendance has also been a major issue in the Windy City.
If a student misses 10% or more of school days during the year, CPS labels the student a chronic absentee. In 2024, 40.8% of students in CPS suffered from chronic absenteeism.

More Than 40 Percent Of Chicago Public School Teachers Absent At Least 10 Days In Past School Year:

"These young children aren't even going to school now, and you never hear [about] it," Brooks explained. "No one ever talks about it."

"You have third, fourth, fifth, sixth graders who can’t read, and they're going to eventually become frustrated to the point of what we're seeing, just saying, I quit, I'm not going to go," he added. "You add to that the lack of parenting. Where parents are allowing these children to just do what they want to do… they're just disinterested, and they're falling by the wayside every single day."

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