In the last 15 days or so, I have examined the travel reimbursements of Knox County School Board Members that have more than one year of service. I believe sveral irregularities have been discovered, that need examinations by the board.
1) The documents do not show how trips and travel are approved. It would not be appropriate in my humble opinion for their employer “the Superintendent” to approve trips as he must answer to the board members. In addition, any employee under the Superintendent’s direction would be subject to the Superintendent and with the board being the Superintendent’s employer that would raise questions. Should the Board Chair approve? Probably not in my opinion as it could open up cronyism concerns.
2) the Board makes references to use of a Board Credit Card to pay for lodging and other expenses. This does not reflect the true cost of the trip. it was revealed on Friday that a former Knox County Central Office employee was arrested after a grand jury presentment for felony theft regarding personal use of a school district credit card.
3) the board uses an account at a local travel agent to handle primarily air travel. With this cost not being reflected on the reimbursement form, it also does not reflect the true cost of the trip.
The board should be more transparent will the cost of board member travel.
4) On the travel reimbursement document, it list a per meal per diem. If the board members stay on or under the per diem, I believe no receipts are required. It is also my belief that if you are not charging the per diem, receipts are to be provided for the actual cost expended. In all the travel reimbursements I have reviewed from July 1, 2010 to current that has not occurred.
I sincerely hope that the school board will examine the open ended loops in their travel procedures and tighten them up. This is the tax payers money and deserves to be handled correctly. I am not opposed to school board member travel, I just want it to be a positive ROI Return On Investment.
Apparently many administrators at the central office have personal credit cards funded by tax dollars. It would be interesting to know the same information about these expenditures. For example, I would like to see transparency regarding how much is being spent, purpose and approval procedures.