A Chicago Public Schools (CPS) principal fraudulently collected at least $23,000 in rental assistance funds by falsely claiming to a state agency that tenants in her building were behind on rent.
That’s according to the Fiscal Year 2025 annual report from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Chicago Board of Education.
That report, issued by Inspector General for the Chicago Board of Education Philip Wagenknecht, summarizes cases drawn from more than 1,200 complaints filed between July 2024 and June 2025 in Chicago Public Schools.
“The principal submitted four applications for funding assistance to the IHDA,” said the report to the CPS Board of Education. “In each application, the principal claimed that she owned a multi-unit residential building and that one of her tenants was delinquent on rent payments. Each landlord assistance application was paired with a tenant rental assistance application, purportedly submitted by one of the principal’s tenants.”
The Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) administered the programs to support landlords and tenants affected economically by the pandemic.
The OIG report confirmed that the principal owned the residential building but falsely claimed overdue rent on at least three of the four landlord rental assistance applications she filed.
Two tenants denied ever being delinquent, and receipts and bank records verified their timely payments.
Investigators also found that one application claimed her spouse as a tenant behind on rent, though the spouse never resided in the building. Investigators were unable to verify details about a fourth supposed tenant but suspected potential fraud, which could have increased fraudulent gains to $28,000.
The OIG determined that tenant rental assistance applications, leases, and receipts were submitted without the tenants’ consent or knowledge. Investigators also noted mismanagement of donations from a nonprofit organization to her school in violation of CPS policies.
The principal retired during the investigation and received a “Do Not Hire” designation for unrelated conduct, and no further action was recommended by the CPS Board of Education.
The report highlighted fraudulent submissions for relief through both the Illinois Emergency Rental Assistance Program and the Illinois Rental Payment Program during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The OIG, led by Chicago Public Schools Inspector General Philip Wagenknecht, serves as an independent oversight body for approximately 635 CPS district-run, contract, and charter schools. Established in 1996 under the Illinois School Code, it investigates waste, fraud, financial mismanagement, employee misconduct, and contractor or vendor misconduct. Additionally, it oversees a Sexual Allegations Unit investigating sexual misconduct by CPS-affiliated adults involving students or minors.
