Youngstown City Schools employee accused of stealing school funds

A Youngstown City School District (YCSD) employee has been indicted for allegedly stealing school funds. 

According to an indictment filed May 8, Traci Cain-Tiggs, a science teacher at East High School has been indicted on one fifth degree felony count of theft.

The indictment states that Cain-Tiggs's alleged conduct occurred between July of 2017 and March of 2025 and involved the alleged theft of school funds.

In September of 2023, 21 News broke a story about the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BCI) investigating funds that went missing from the district that nearly caused East High School's senior trip to Florida to get canceled before it was quickly rescheduled.

A spokesperson for the district declined to elaborate further as to why the trip was originally canceled or how it was rescheduled so quickly .

At that time, 21 News had obtained a school documents stating Cain-Tiggs was placed on leave pending the outcome in an investigation into her collecting funds for the 2023 senior class.

That letter also informed Cain-Tiggs that "all records and funds that are outstanding should be submitted immediately to the principal."

Days after being placed on leave, Cain-Tiggs was ordered by YCSD Superintendent Jeremy Batchelor to attend a conference to "discuss [her] conduct as it relates to handling of senior activities and senior advisor monetary collection, fiscal procedures and receipts."

In June, following the investigation it was determined that Cain-Tiggs was allowed to return to her position, but not allowed to handle student funds.

It is not clear from the indictment whether Cain-Tiggs's charge is related to these funds or not, as the dates on the indictment stretch back to 2017 through the end of March 2025. The amounts indicated in the indictment are also unclear, only that it was more than $1,000 and less than $7,500. 

Prosecutor Lynn Maro told 21 News she cannot comment on the case, but did confirm that the money in question came from East High. 

When 21 News has reached out to YCSD for comment, a representative for the district told us they could not comment because this is an ongoing investigation, but the district will continue to monitor the situation and make decisions based on the legal process.

In the meantime, you can read much more about the investigation in our related coverage below.

RELATED COVERAGE:

Ohio BCI looking into alleged missing East High senior class funds