{"id":2532582,"date":"2026-01-11T14:47:01","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T19:47:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/chicago-flips-red-calls-for-audit-after-public-schools-report\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T14:49:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T19:49:00","slug":"chicago-flips-red-calls-for-audit-after-public-schools-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/chicago-flips-red-calls-for-audit-after-public-schools-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Flips Red calls for audit after public schools report"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fchicago-flips-red-calls-for-audit-after-public-schools-report%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2532582&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A grassroots group, Chicago Flips Red, is demanding a forensic audit of chicago Public Schools (CPS), the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), and the chicago Board of Education after the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a critical annual report. The OIG detailed falsified federal grant applications, <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >inaccurate employee income statements<\/a>, numerous sexual-misconduct investigations, and other alleged misconduct.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Department of Education found CPS received nearly $1.2 million in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/small-business-owners-sue-biden-admin-for-racial-discrimination\/\" title=\"Small Business Owners Sue Biden Admin for Racial Discrimination\">federal funds based<\/a> on unverifiable data; CPS has agreed to repay that amount by October 2026. The OIG also reported that more than 600 CPS employees identified themselves as &#8220;low\u2011income&#8221; on forms-some earning at least $100,000-qualifying students for fee waivers and extra school funding. Following the OIG&#8217;s proposal, CPS has stopped using Family Income Information Forms to allocate school funding this school year.<\/p>\n<p>The OIG&#8217;s Sexual Allegations Unit closed 335 cases with 55 substantiated findings of misconduct (26 substantiated in fiscal year 2025). Local reactions included praise for Inspector General Philip wagenknecht from Chicago flips Red&#8217;s founder Zoe Leigh and expressions of concern from Mayor brandon Johnson, who called the findings disturbing and emphasized school safety. Republican gubernatorial candidate Ted Dabrowski labeled the situation &#8220;legal corruption,&#8221; saying CTU influence keeps failing schools open; he noted CPS enrollment has dropped by about 45,000 students since 2019 while employment has increased by roughly 8,000, largely in administration and support roles.<\/p>\n<p>The full OIG report is publicly available for review.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Chicago Flips Red calls for audit after public schools report<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2468829\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>(The Center Square) &ndash; A grassroots <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/chicago\/\">Chicago<\/a> group is calling for a forensic audit of the city&rsquo;s entire <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/public-schools\/\">public school<\/a> system after a scathing report by the Chicago Board of <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/education\/\">Education<\/a> Office of the Inspector General.<\/p>\n<p>The OIG&rsquo;s recently-released annual report details falsified federal grant applications, false reports on employee income statements, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-education-department-to-curtail-trump-era-effort-to-track-teacher-sex-crimes-teacher-unions-to-continue-passing-the-trash\/\" title=\"Biden ... Department to Curtail Trump-Era Effort to Track Teacher Sex Crimes; Teacher Unions to Continue \u2018Passing the Trash\u2019\">sexual abuse cases<\/a> and other alleged misconduct at Chicago Public Schools.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4414097\/mcnabb-scotus-arguments-important-women-especially-athletes\/\">McNabb: SCOTUS arguments &lsquo;so important for women, especially athletes&rsquo;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/4413989\/rand-paul-trump-strike-iran-protests\/\">Rand Paul warns Trump striking Iran could rally protesters against US<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/4413993\/tim-kaine-senate-vote-greenland-trump\/\">Kaine vows Senate vote to block US military action in Greenland after Trump threat<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>The falsified grant applications led to several investigations, culminating at the federal level.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;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,&rdquo; Leigh told The Center Square.<\/p>\n<p>Leigh said even the charter schools need to be audited.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the only way we&rsquo;re going to be able to clean up some of this swamp, because it&rsquo;s a lot,&rdquo; Leigh added.<\/p>\n<p>Leigh said she wanted to thank Inspector General Philip Wagenknecht for providing the report and said there are a lot of criminals and &ldquo;scammers&rdquo; in CPS, CTU and the CBOE.<\/p>\n<p>The OIG report also found that more than 600 CPS employees listed incomes on forms for the 2023-24 school year that &ldquo;appeared to falsely identify them as &lsquo;low-income&rsquo; &mdash; including more than 100 who were making at least $100,000 a year at CPS.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The low-income identifications qualified the employees&rsquo; children for student fee waivers and entitled their schools to extra funding.<\/p>\n<p>At the OIG&rsquo;s recommendation, CPS this school year stopped using Family Income Information Forms, filled out annually by parents, to determine school funding.<\/p>\n<p>According to the report, the OIG&rsquo;s Sexual Allegations Unit closed 335 cases with 55 substantiated findings of misconduct. The office said it substantiated 26 cases in fiscal year 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was asked about the report during a press briefing at City Hall.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Well obviously this is absolutely disturbing to hear. Our communities, particularly our school communities have to be a safe space,&rdquo; Johnson said.<\/p>\n<p>Leigh said the mayor and Chicago Teachers Union leaders don&rsquo;t speak about misconduct in Chicago Public Schools.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;They talk about police brutality. They&rsquo;ll talk about fighting law enforcement. They&rsquo;ll talk about trying to do the racial divide,&rdquo; Leigh said.<\/p>\n<p>Republican gubernatorial candidate Ted Dabrowski detailed what he called &ldquo;legal corruption&rdquo; in CPS when he held a press conference in downtown Chicago Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Dabrowski said the Chicago Teachers Union pressures the Illinois General Assembly to keep failing schools open.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;And the legislature buckles,&rdquo; Dabrowski said.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/immigration\/4411614\/lightfoot-ice-accountability-project-after-chicago-immigration-operation\/\">LIGHTFOOT ROLLS OUT &lsquo;ICE ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT&rsquo; IN RESPONSE TO CHICAGO IMMIGRATION OPERATION<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Since Gov. J.B. Pritzker took office in 2019, CPS enrollment has fallen by 45,000 students but employment is up by 8,000.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Most of that is coming from administration and support staff,&rdquo; Dabrowski said.<\/p>\n<p>The Chicago Board of Education&rsquo;s OIG full&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/cpsoig.org\/uploads\/3\/5\/5\/6\/35562484\/cpsoig_annual_report_fy2025.pdf\">report<\/a>&nbsp;can be viewed online.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Activists demand CPS forensic audit after OIG report<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2869,"featured_media":2532583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AP25240020318824-2.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[70593,70596,70595,34416,70594],"class_list":["post-2532582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner","tag-chicago-flips-red","tag-chicago-politics","tag-education-accountability","tag-public-schools","tag-school-audit"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AP25240020318824-2.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2532582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2869"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2532582"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2532582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2532586,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2532582\/revisions\/2532586"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2532583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2532582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2532582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2532582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}