The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) watchdog has raised a significant alarm, revealing that expenditures on overnight travel have soared—doubling in the wake of the pandemic—when the district found itself buoyed by federal COVID relief funds. The Inspector General’s recent investigative report underscores that many of these trips were “questionable, excessive, and even exorbitant.”
Notably, Las Vegas emerged as the top destination for staff excursions, raising eyebrows given that many of the seminars attended were also available locally or could have been accessed virtually. The report also highlighted remote trips to places like Finland and Estonia.
Inspector General Philip Wagenknecht pointed to a lack of robust policies as a key factor that allowed these travel choices to go unchecked. “Clearly, this system lacked significant oversight. There was no rigorous review of school and department expenditures to ensure that these trips were necessary, justified, and economical,” he stated. “Had more due diligence been applied, substantial funds could have been conserved.”
In response to these findings, CPS has put a freeze on nearly all overnight travel, effective October 29. Additionally, the district is forming a travel review committee to evaluate the Inspector General’s recommendations. These include establishing a two-tier approval process for student travel, enforcing existing cost-saving measures, and limiting the number of attendees from any single school for the same conference. A “Travel Desk,” analogous to those in other school districts, will be created to oversee and sanction travel plans.
“We take the findings and recommendations from the Office of the Inspector General very seriously,” stated CPS in a public statement. “We will work diligently to ensure our district policies and procedures adhere to the highest ethical standards and that our employees act in the best interest of our students, the district, and our city.”
The investigation scrutinized six years of travel expenses, revealing that CPS’s travel bill for 2024 is projected to hit $7.7 million—more than double the $3.6 million recorded in 2019, the last complete school year prior to the pandemic. This financial surge occurred during a period in which the district received $2.8 billion in federal COVID relief, allowing for expanded school budgets aimed at initiatives such as after-school programs and professional development. Wagenknecht noted that this influx of cash provided schools and central offices with “additional budget flexibility,” facilitating these extravagant trips.
Current CPS policy mandates that staff obtain pre-approval for any out-of-town travel by detailing itineraries, estimated costs, and the number of travelers. However, the employee travel manual is described as “riddled with holes,” leading to misinterpretations or outright disregard by employees. Some staff members embarked on trips without the necessary approvals, opting for luxury hotels and expensive flights. In other instances, trips that had been denied went ahead without any apparent consequences.
Record-keeping practices also fell short, with requests for approval, purchase orders, and reimbursements scattered across as many as seven different departments. This fragmentation has made it challenging to accurately track travel costs, obscuring the distinctions between overnight travel outside Chicago and routine local trips, such as field trips or athletic events.
This lax oversight led to various abuses, including one teacher’s extravagant $4,700 week-long stay at a luxurious Hawaiian resort for a four-day professional seminar and multi-day retreats at spas or hotels funded by CPS, despite being ineligible for such expenses. Additional funds were spent on international trips that included numerous optional tourist activities.
The investigation further documented instances of questionable purchases and even “outright fraud.” One clerk altered an invoice from a travel agency to redact a reference to an expensive hotel suite before submitting it for approval. In another case, a principal booked a lavish hotel on the Las Vegas Strip away from their conference venue and stayed an extra day on district funds to celebrate an anniversary with a spouse who is not affiliated with CPS.
CPS is currently deliberating possible disciplinary actions against these two employees, in line with the Inspector General’s recommendations.
The investigation also revealed that oversight of international trips was lacking. Eight CPS schools organized 15 overseas trips to destinations such as Estonia, Finland, and South Africa, all arranged through a single travel agency. Although this agency is recognized as an approved CPS vendor, it lacked a formal contract with the district and included hidden fees that could reach as high as 20%.
One elementary school paid the travel agency $20,000 for a staff development trip to Egypt, which arguably fell short of meeting the criteria for allowable travel. This itinerary involved visits to museums and tours that were more aligned with tourism than standard professional development activities. After CPS was alerted to these concerns, that trip was subsequently canceled.