WATCH: Chicago Public Schools Blew $23.6 Million on Luxury Trips

Public school districts exist for one purpose: educating children. They are entrusted with public dollars, charged with preparing the next generation for citizenship and the workforce, and expected to manage resources responsibly. 

But in many major districts, that mission has collapsed under political control, financial irresponsibility, and a refusal to prioritize students. Few places illustrate this breakdown more clearly than Chicago Public Schools.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, a recent report from the CPS Office of Inspector General detailed $23.6 million in improper or wasteful travel spending—dollars that should have gone directly toward recovering from historic learning losses. 

Instead, district employees used public funds for high-end hotel suites, airport limousines, first-class airfare, and “professional development” conferences that resembled vacations more than training. One staff member extended a four-day seminar into a weeklong stay at a Hawaiian resort costing nearly $5,000. 

Another principal booked a luxury suite on the Las Vegas Strip and quietly extended the trip to celebrate an anniversary. In one school alone, 24 employees billed taxpayers $50,000 to attend a single Las Vegas conference.

The abuses extended overseas. CPS employees charged more than $142,000 for travel to South Africa, Egypt, Finland, and Estonia—complete with hot-air balloon rides and game-park safaris. These trips took place while Chicago families were told that there wasn’t enough money to fully address learning gaps or chronic absenteeism.

Most troubling, the waste accelerated when federal pandemic relief funds flooded district budgets. 

Of the $23.6 million identified, $14.5 million was spent in just 2023 and 2024. 

The money had been intended to repair the academic devastation caused by the Chicago Teachers Union’s decision to keep classrooms closed for 78 weeks—one of the longest shutdowns in the nation. 

Instead of investing in tutoring, extended learning time, or literacy interventions, district officials treated the funds as a travel account.

The consequences are measurable. Only about 40% of CPS students can read at grade level, and just 25% meet math standards. In certain neighborhoods, proficiency rates sink into the single digits. 

Nearly half of the district’s students—and an outright majority of high schoolers—are chronically absent. A school system cannot prepare students for college or employment when tens of thousands no longer attend regularly.

The connection between chronic absenteeism and public safety is well-documented. 

Communities struggle when an entire generation is disconnected from education and opportunity. No city with academic outcomes this low can realistically expect improvements in long-term safety or economic mobility.

The issue is not confined to Chicago. Across the country, elected officials have redirected money toward political initiatives instead of classroom instruction. 

In New York, lawmakers used the 2025 “People’s Budget” to expand ideologically driven personnel programs rather than academic recovery. They proposed $8 million to increase teacher-diversity pipelines—even though New York City’s teaching workforce is already 42% black, far above the city’s black population share. 

They spent hundreds of thousands for cultural-inclusivity initiatives and educator conventions while 154,000 New York City students are homeless and nearly half of students statewide fail basic reading exams. 

New York spends more per pupil than any state—over $39,000—yet performance continues to decline.

If funding alone determined outcomes, New York would be the best school system in America. Instead, it reflects a national crisis of priorities.

That is why school choice has become so compelling to families. Charter schools provide 30-50% more instructional time than traditional public schools and consistently show stronger achievement gains. 

A study in North Carolina found that entering a charter high school reduced a student’s likelihood of committing a crime by roughly 30%. Milwaukee’s long-running voucher program produced similar declines in criminal behavior among participating students. 

When families have options, they choose learning environments where expectations are higher, engagement is stronger, and resources reach classrooms instead of bureaucracy.

Chicago’s financial abuse and New York’s budget decisions highlight a simple truth: families—not systems—should control educational decisions.