Bureaucrat's Junket Cost Taxpayers - Rhino Times Thurs March 31, 2005

[Staff]

Bureaucrat's Junket Cost Taxpayers ,000

By BRIAN GOTT - STAFF WRITER

If a high-paid bureaucrat is going to line up at the public trough for a cross-country junket to pristine Big Sky country out West, it might as well be a doozy. Some just end up being doozier than others.

Take the case of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent for Middle Schools Cheryl Atkinson, who took the most expensive trip on the taxpayers’ dime for a school district, top brass employee last year.

Atkinson, who earns $105,000 annually, rang up a tab of nearly $2,000 to attend the 2004 Summer Leadership Seminar: Education As a Human Right, from July 9 through July 18 in scenic Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

However, the actual conference only lasted from July 11 through July 14. So what did Atkinson fill her expense report with? Nearly $1,500 in mileage for the 4,000-mile trip – that’s right she drove there – and over $400 for meals the two days before the conference, the three days after the conference, and for three nights’ lodging before and after the conference, her expense report revealed. CMS spokeswoman LaTarja Henry said it was Atkinson’s choice to drive rather than fly, although she didn’t know why Atkinson made that decision.


Excerpt...
Dunlap and Leake have spent more of taxpayers’ money on travel in the past six months than all other board members combined. Dunlap has spent $5,493 compared to Leake’s $6,383. The board as a whole spent $16,448.

Leake’s October trip to Las Vegas for the Council of the Great City Schools Fall Conference cost taxpayers $1,860 while Dunlap’s November trip to Dallas for the National Alliance of Black School Educators cost $1,799.


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http://charlotte.rhinotimes.com/story.html?id=617#continued

[Staff]

Posted on Sun, Apr. 10, 2005 http://www.charlotte.com/images/common/spacer.gif
CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG NOTEBOOK
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More clarification on trip expenses

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Sometimes Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools just can't win.

More than two weeks ago, the Rhinoceros Times started thumping the district for spending almost $2,000 to send regional superintendent Cheryl Atkinson to Jackson Hole, Wyo., for a conference last summer. After the second article in the weekly paper, which dubbed the trip "a cross-country junket to pristine Big Sky country," Superintendent James Pughsley sent the school board a memo "to clarify this trip and the details surrounding the expenses."

In the April 1 memo, which was also released to the Observer, Pughsley said he'd been scheduled to speak at the conference -- sponsored by the for-profit Syfr Corp. -- but had to ask Atkinson to take his place. The company waived the $1,255 fee for registration and hotel expenses, he noted.


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http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/breaking_news/11357919.htm

[Staff]

School Board’s Traveling Tips - Archive May 1, 2003
By William Hammer
Do you want to see the country? Maybe take in the sites and scenery of Houston, Washington D.C., New York, Ft. Lauderdale, Denver, Seattle, Colorado Springs. If you really like to travel, then run for the school board. The travel expenses for members of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Board of Education look like the vacation itinerary for the rich and famous. Except that it is the taxpayers of Mecklenburg County who are picking up the tab for board member jaunts.

It is budget time and once again the school board is asking for more money from the county than ever, $15 million more than last year. And once again board members are saying they’ve cut all they can cut. Last year we heard the same thing. The budget was described as being “cut to the bone.” We can’t cut anymore without adversely affecting education in the classroom, school board members said at the time.


Well, it’s hard to figure how board members not getting their fun in the sun at Ft. Lauderdale adversely effects the classroom, but last year’s cut-to-the-bone budget included travel money for three school board members to spend time in Ft. Lauderdale. See below for a list of school board member’s expenses for attending conferences from July 1 though Dec 31 2002. Interestingly, we requested the complete travel information on school board members over one year ago and only just this week received a snippet of what we requested.

However, just six months worth of expenses is enough to show how careless the school board is with tax money. Former Board of Education Chairman Arthur Griffin is the prizewinner for travel spending. He tops the list with $4,981 in taxpayer money for travel and cell phone bills. Board member Vilma Leake isn’t far behind with a tab of $3,169 in travel.

The question for boardmembers is exactly why are these travel expenditures so critical to the education of the youth of Mecklenberg County. What benefits have the children of Mecklenburg County experienced because of those trips taken by school board members to Ft. Lauderdale?

Griffin, the top dog when it comes to board travel, is an unabashed supporter of the taxpayer-supported vacations. Except that Griffin calls it “professional development” and he says there are tangible benefits that the school system gets from his participation in these events.

Excerpt...
Some readers are going to look at the numbers and think, well $5,000 in travel by a board member doesn’t matter much. If you had that thought, then congratulations: you are well qualified to sit on the Charlotte Mecklenburg Board of Education. The fact of the matter is that there are so many ways to waste money in a $800 million dollar budget that the school board can spends lots of money on things that have nothing to do with educating children. The travel expenditures are only the most glaring example of the board’s lack of discipline for controlling spending. If board members are wasting money on flying one another across the country how can anyone believe that there aren’t other fiscal abuses hidden in the two-hundred page budget?

Conversely, there are so many ways in a $800 million dollar budget to save money, it is ludicrous for board members to say there is no place left they can cut. They can cut board member travel for starters and then they should do something about the meals they feed themselves before every meeting. But then again, when it comes to Mecklenburg elective officials – membership has its privileges.

CMS Board of Education Travel Expenses July 1 to Dec. 31, 2002

Arthur Griffin - $4,981
Vilma Leake - $3,169
Wilhelmenia Rembert - $1,326
Lee Kindberg - $1,109
John Lassiter - $360
Louise Woods - $330
Larry Gauvreau - $223

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http://charlotte.rhinotimes.com/arc...03/story01.html (http://charlotte.rhinotimes.com/archives/050103/story01.html)