Audit probes school travel spending

With Missouri facing a budget crisis, school districts must do a better job of accounting for staff and administrative travel expenses, State Auditor Claire McCaskill said Wednesday.

In releasing findings of an audit of travel by school board members, school district administrators and employees, McCaskill said districts spent about $30 million on administrative and staff development-related travel during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2002.

The audit sought to investigate expenditures related to conferences, seminars and other events. Those expenses include mileage reimbursement, lodging, meals and registration fees.

Of 19 Southeast Missouri school districts examined for the audit, Jackson reported the most spending on travel, at $168,091.

Dr. Ron Anderson, the Jackson superintendent, said the district's figure is a little high since expenses for student travel were inadvertently included.

Anderson said the district strives to keep employee and board member travel costs down, but many of those expenses are to send employees to required professional development training.

The report does not look at travel involving students such as busing to school, field trips, and sports and extracurricular events.

"We really analyze what we're doing and put thought into how we're going to benefit," Anderson said.

Altenburg reported spending a mere $1,695, by far the lowest among area schools.

To compare districts of different size, the audit also examined travel spending in relation to a school system's student population. In those terms, Malden had the highest area per pupil expenditure for the region at $70.59. Altenburg again was the lowest at $10.94 per pupil.

But the report left many questions unanswered, McCaskill said, citing lack of uniformity in reporting and some districts' unwillingness to make the findings available. As a result, she said, the public doesn't have a clue about how districts are spending travel money.

"That's the frustrating thing," McCaskill said. "Nobody can say with certainty what they are spending on travel and what the travel is for."

Although the report says the Sikeston district didn't report any of the requested information, superintendent Stephen Borgsmiller disputed that.

"We spent hours and hours putting that information together and took great expense to comply," Borgsmiller said.

According to identical information provided to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Sikeston spent $141,054 on travel.

Sunshine Law

McCaskill's office used a Sunshine Law request to review travel expenses at 207 of Missouri's 524 school districts. She said only about half of the districts selected for review were able to outline expenditures in detail.

Some districts indicated that their accounting systems did not have detailed information; others said it would take time and cost money to come up with the information.

Unclear from the report was whether Missouri districts are utilizing special training centers set up by the state, McCaskill said, or whether they're sending administrators and staff on sometimes needless out-of-state trips.

The report breaks down travel expenses per pupil, with the average district spending $32.48 per pupil. Based on its own numbers, Hume District in Bates County spent $209 per pupil. Wyaconda in Clark County spent $267 per pupil.

The largest per-pupil expenditure cited was the St. Louis County Special School District, which serves special needs students. The district, according to the report, spent $514 per pupil on travel.

A district spokeswoman said the audit was wrong. Nancy Ide said the report claimed the district serves 1,373 students. In fact, she said, it serves 29,394. Based on that number, the district's per-student spending was below the state average, she said.

"We have a lot of kids who attend other school districts but who receive special education from us," Ide said.

-- Staff writer Marc Powers contributed to this report