Chicago Flips Red calls for audit after public schools report

By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – A grassroots Chicago group is calling for a forensic audit of the city’s entire public school system after a scathing report by the Chicago Board of Education Office of the Inspector General.

The OIG’s recently-released annual report details falsified federal grant applications, false reports on employee income statements, sexual abuse cases and other alleged misconduct at Chicago Public Schools.

The falsified grant applications led to several investigations, culminating at the federal level.

The U.S. Department of Education found that CPS received nearly $1.2 million in federal funding based on data the district was unable to verify. CPS has since agreed to pay the money back by October 2026.

Chicago Flips Red founder Zoe Leigh called for a forensic audit of Chicago Public Schools, the Chicago Teachers Union and the Chicago Board of Education.

“We need to know about anything that you want property tax-wise going to the schools when we have a failing school system. The whole school system has failed, from the sports to the executives. CPS is embarrassing at this point,” Leigh told The Center Square.

Leigh said even the charter schools need to be audited.

“That’s the only way we’re going to be able to clean up some of this swamp, because it’s a lot,” Leigh added.

Leigh said she wanted to thank Inspector General Philip Wagenknecht for providing the report and said there are a lot of criminals and “scammers” in CPS, CTU and the CBOE.

The OIG report also found that more than 600 CPS employees listed incomes on forms for the 2023-24 school year that “appeared to falsely identify them as ‘low-income’ — including more than 100 who were making at least $100,000 a year at CPS.”

The low-income identifications qualified the employees’ children for student fee waivers and entitled their schools to extra funding.

At the OIG’s recommendation, CPS this school year stopped using Family Income Information Forms, filled out annually by parents, to determine school funding.

According to the report, the OIG’s Sexual Allegations Unit closed 335 cases with 55 substantiated findings of misconduct. The office said it substantiated 26 cases in fiscal year 2025.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was asked about the report during a press briefing at City Hall.

“Well obviously this is absolutely disturbing to hear. Our communities, particularly our school communities have to be a safe space,” Johnson said.

Leigh said the mayor and Chicago Teachers Union leaders don’t speak about misconduct in Chicago Public Schools.

“They talk about police brutality. They’ll talk about fighting law enforcement. They’ll talk about trying to do the racial divide,” Leigh said.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Ted Dabrowski detailed what he called “legal corruption” in CPS when he held a press conference in downtown Chicago Monday.

Dabrowski said the Chicago Teachers Union pressures the Illinois General Assembly to keep failing schools open.

“And the legislature buckles,” Dabrowski said.

Since Gov. J.B. Pritzker took office in 2019, CPS enrollment has fallen by 45,000 students but employment is up by 8,000.

“Most of that is coming from administration and support staff,” Dabrowski said.

The Chicago Board of Education’s OIG full report can be viewed online.