'Who Wouldn't Want to Work at CPS?' Report Reveals Chicago Public School Staff Expensing Pricey Trips

For most teachers, they enter the profession not as a job, but as a calling. They love kids and want to be part of educating the next generation. They certainly don't do it for the money. Those who are not teachers but support staff also do what they do because they believe that education will take students wherever they want to go in life. Millions of taxpayer dollars go toward public education. Are those dollars being spent wisely? In one major city, that answer is most likely "no."

"So why did Chicago Public Schools bankroll a teacher’s $4,700 trip to a Hawaiian luxury resort, a suburban spa retreat for elementary school staff and limo (not Uber) services to and from Chicago airports? Many folks can’t even expense a ride-share for a work event."… pic.twitter.com/1CPzntYwjA
— IL Republican Party (@ILGOP) November 13, 2025

On Wednesday, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for Chicago Public Schools (CPS) released an eye-opening report on travel expenses for the school district. The words used to describe the expenses detailed in the report were “questionable, excessive and even exorbitant." But even more eye-opening might be the time period in which many of these expenses took place. Between 2019 and 2024, charges for things like airfare and hotels jumped from $3.6 million before the pandemic to a whopping $7.7 million. The report concludes that the spending spree was partially funded with pandemic relief money.

The questions surrounding the travel habits of CPS employees began when the OIG got a complaint about an elementary school paying a vendor more than $20,000 for staff to travel to Egypt. What could possibly be in Egypt? The trip was not properly approved and was mysteriously canceled the day before the staff was scheduled to leave.

But turns out, it is a ton of fun to work for CPS. Besides the Egypt trip, there were regular trips to Hawaii, to Orlando, Florida, and Disney World, and Las Vegas, as CPS employees ignored rules and attended unapproved conferences, inflated fares, got suite upgrades, and limo rides, all on the taxpayers' dime.

Chicago schools: $7.7M taxpayer jet-set to Finland, 90% over hotel limits, $1B hole at home. Data screams fraud—kids can’t read but admins tan in Cairo. pic.twitter.com/kabj5w2pY6
— PhilGervais (@gervap) November 13, 2025

Just a few of the travel "highlights": Eight schools used up to $140,000 for 15 — yes, 15 — trips to Finland, Estonia, Egypt, and South Africa; only two of the trips were approved. There was a bit of "professional development," but way more over-the-top excursions like game-park safaris, hot-air balloon rides, camel rides, and shopping. At least 600 employees attended a professional development conference in Las Vegas between 2022 and 2024. They blew through roughly $1.5 million in district funds, and 90 percent of those employees stayed in hotel rooms that surpassed district spending limits.

So, while Chicago public school employees are jet-setting around the world professionally developing, how are their students performing? As of the beginning of the current school year, fewer than one in three were proficient in reading at grade level, and one in five were proficient in math at grade level. Add to that a chronic absenteeism rate of 40.8 percent in 2024, meaning they missed 10 percent or more of the school year. The absenteeism numbers for black, Hispanic, and low-income students, the very ones left-leaning school employees claim to want to help, are even worse. In 2024, 46.2 percent of black students, 42.5 percent of Hispanic students, and 44.9 percent of low-income students were chronically absent. But the cherry on the CPS employee spending spree cake may be that the school district is facing a $734 million budget deficit.

ALSO READ: WATCH: Randi Weingarten's Worst Nightmare Is Coming True—and She's in Full Meltdown Mode

Between CPS employees' world travels financed by taxpayers, Mayor Brandon Johnson and his approval rating, which is anywhere from 14 to 25 percent, and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who thinks ICE is the problem, Chicago is a hot mess.

The Chicago Public Schools watchdog found overnight travel spending doubled after the pandemic, with some trips deemed "questionable, excessive and even exorbitant." Las Vegas was the top destination, despite local and virtual alternatives being available. https://t.co/tO7JBXlcHi
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) November 12, 2025

Editor's Note: President Trump is fighting to dismantle the Department of Education and ensure America's kids get the education they deserve.

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