DA asks SBI for a criminal investigation into CMS finances as the board votes tonight on its chair

Mecklenburg County’s district attorney has asked the State Bureau of Investigation to open a formal criminal investigation into alleged financial irregularities at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, upgrading a request for an informal inquiry he made last month, according to The Charlotte Ledger. The request came Friday, September 18, and the school board meets tonight, September 22, with a motion to remove Chair Stephanie Sneed on the agenda.

The escalation follows a 14-page memo from Superintendent Crystal Hill, sent to the board on Wednesday, September 16, and obtained by the Ledger. The memo, with more than 200 pages of exhibits, lays out a 68-point timeline of district contracting and spending from 2024 to this month.

What is publicly known so far.

• Hill’s memo alleges that Sneed pushed for payments to a law firm without following district procedures, according to the Ledger.
• District records show Raleigh law firm Poyner Spruill billed CMS $30,000 a month for six months for consulting work by subcontractor Raki McGregor, described as a Sneed associate, according to the Ledger.
• The district attorney cited a review of potential violations of a state statute governing local government finance, according to the Ledger.
• The board’s separate two-month investigation of Hill, conducted by law firm Brooks Pierce, cost at least $379,000, according to WFAE.

The memo

The memo depicts Sneed as operating behind the superintendent’s back, and perhaps without the knowledge of her board colleagues, to hire law firms and direct district staff who report to Hill, according to the Ledger. Hill writes that there is a great deal she does not understand about how the board came to hire the firms and how McGregor became involved.

Contract and billing records released last week show CMS and Poyner Spruill signed an agreement on February 4, 2026, for legal support related to an affordable housing project for educators, and that one of the first topics discussed was hiring an outside consultant, according to the Ledger. The agreement was signed by the district’s acting general counsel, its chief financial officer and Sneed.

The investigation of Hill

Hill was placed on paid leave in June and reinstated in August, shortly before the school year began. The board has not said publicly what prompted the investigation or what it found, citing personnel law, according to WFAE. Brooks Pierce billed more than 1,200 hours at a special rate of $275 an hour, and the total included more than $60,000 in disbursements to a public relations firm.

The board voted in late August to release a summary report covering the investigation process, lessons learned and recommended improvements. Several outlets have reported that information could come tonight.

Tonight’s vote

The motion to remove Sneed as chair was brought by board members Cynthia Stone, Monty Witherspoon and Lenora Shipp, according to WFAE. The board has nine members and five votes are needed. Sneed would remain a board member if removed as chair.

We covered the mechanics of the vote yesterday. What has changed since is the scale: a chair removal vote is a board matter, and a formal criminal investigation is not.

What we do not know

The allegations in Hill’s memo are hers, and Sneed has not been charged with anything. The district attorney’s request is for an investigation, not a finding. McGregor has not been accused of wrongdoing in the reporting so far. The board’s own investigation of Hill concluded with her reinstatement and no public explanation. Anyone drawing conclusions tonight is ahead of the facts.

Our read: for a district of 140,000 students, the question that matters is not who chairs the board next week. It is whether the board can supervise a superintendent and be supervised itself at the same time, and the SBI request suggests the answer is now in other hands.

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