Illinois Investigating Grant to Charter School Chain

Received $98 million and is accused of giving contracts to companies with ties to school officials

Gov. Pat Quinn's executive inspector general has opened an investigation into the politically influential United Neighborhood Organization's use of a $98 million state grant for new charter schools, after a report in the Chicago Sun-Times that UNO gave millions of dollars in contracts for the schools to companies with ties to the organization's top officials.

Executive Inspector General Ricardo Meza's office asked the state Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity in a letter Feb. 14 to turn over all records regarding the grant, state officials disclosed Friday.

Meza's office has opened "an official investigation" into the UNO grant, according to a copy of the one-page letter that the Quinn administration released Friday.