By Peyton Wolcott
Monday, July 14, 2008

www.peytonwolcott.com/TexasSupeExpenses.html

What are some positive ways local parents, taxpayers and board members can use this information?

As we enter the third week in July, school districts across the nation are firming up their budgets for the next school year.  As part of this process, they are scouring every possible area for ways to save extra pennies.   

Why is this necessary?  As Eanes ISD's Nola Wellman told a TV reporter a few years ago, "We're broke."  In fairness to Nola, it's a comment we hear often from administrators and board members, from even the nation's wealthier districts.  (According to the Texas Education Agency, Eanes' total receipts/all funds amount for the 2006-07 school year was $27,238 per student.)

Despite our administrators' heartfelt examination of all possible areas, one always seems to escape the budget axe, and that's the amount of money our superintendents can charge our districts for their personal meals and travel.

No rule of thumb
As you can see from the database here www.peytonwolcott.com/TexasSupeExpenses.html  there doesn't appear to be a  yardstick for determining how many  meals and trips superintendents can charge to their taxpayers.

Let's look at one of Texas' larger districts, Ysleta ISD in far West  Texas, in the El Paso area.  During  Hector Montenegro's superintendency, YISD spent $45,579 in 2006-07 on Hector's food and travel, making the district the state's second-highest spender (out of 1,032 districts) in this category.  With 45,109 students, that's about a dollar per student.  

Is Ysleta a rich district, like, say, Eanes?  Hardly.  Three-quarters of its income are from state and federal sources.  To complicate the picture,  Hector has recently accepted a new position as head of Arlington ISD, where his speaking and travel schedule including honorariums have recently come under scrutiny by his new board.

What about smaller districts?
Let's try a not-so-large district on the database.  With 7,217 students,  Weatherford ISD's Deborah Cron spent $10,681 during 2006-07 for meals and travel to events such as the 2007 Texas Association of Suburban/Mid-Urban
Schools Spring Conference last year at a Hill Country resort.   By comparison, New Braunfels ISD's supe, with only seven fewer students, spent about half ($5,917) what Deborah spent, despite Deborah's recent statement that, "We're not a rich
district."   

While a quick response might logically be, "Rich enough apparently to pay for their superintendent to play golf on school days at resorts," and this might appear to be a confusing grey area, what we really have is a terrific opportunity for the start of a new chapter in community dialogue regarding the budget process. 

Some questions to get the ball rolling

o  Where do we really want to spend those pennies?

o  Is it really appropriate for a school district depending so much on outside assistance to have such high expenses in what is, at the end of the day, a discretionary area?

o  When interviewing superintendent applicants, board members can ask if -- as the community is undergoing a period of
belt-tightening -- would the prospective superintendent be willing to pay for their own travel and meals out of the generous salary the district will be paying them, as a gesture of good will to their new community.

Here's hoping this database will start a new dialogue in your community in this important area -- with the goal of putting as many of our dollars as possible in the classroom with our students and teachers.

Copyright 2008 Peyton Wolcott