Chicago Public Schools revealed that all laptops and other devices distributed to students during the lockdowns were “lost or stolen” at three dozen schools.

Officials spent more than $308 million in order to purchase some 311,000 laptops and tablets for students amid the lockdowns starting in the spring of 2020. Yet a performance analysis released in the annual report for the 2023 fiscal year found that 77,505 devices were either lost or stolen during asset inventories, marking a $23 million overall loss for the system.

“At three dozen schools, 100% of tech devices assigned specifically to students were marked lost or stolen,” the analysis said. “Missing items ranged from Chromebooks, iPads, and hotspots to printers, interactive whiteboards, and document cameras.”

While a slight majority of schools reported less than 10% of technology as lost or stolen, roughly one-fifth of schools said at least 20% of devices were lost or stolen. Chicago Public Schools reported that 27% of devices assigned to students, 11% of devices based in schools, and 6% of devices assigned to teachers were either lost or stolen across the entire system.

The analysis noted that students are rarely “held accountable” if they damage or fail to return a device, outside vendors are paid even if they fail to complete an inventory audit, and administrators “face no consequences” even if 100% of devices are lost or stolen at their schools, or if the school does not complete an audit. Twenty-five schools in the system were “unable to designate any items as lost or stolen because they did not complete their audits.”

Approximately three-quarters of students who attend Chicago Public Schools come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Less than 11% of black students in eleventh grade meet or exceed reading standards in the school system, while less than 8% meet or exceed math standards, according to an analysis from Illinois Policy.