Dist. 211 revises school board reimbursement rules
Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 school board members who want to attend education conferences should make sure the topics covered are worthwhile to the district, under a policy revision aimed at clarifying the way travel money is spent.
The district also wants to make sure board members clearly understand the proper way to get reimbursed for expenses during such trips.
"We want to make sure that when the district expends money that the expenditures are appropriate and valid, and they run through the standard procurement process," board President Robert LeFevre said. The district unveiled policy revisions for board reimbursements last week.
Most of the policies, including a $50-per-day "mid-fare" food allowance, remain unchanged. But the revisions discussed focused on ensuring board members attend worthwhile conferences and are mindful of budget constraints. Topics deemed of interest to the district include improvements to No Child Left Behind, school funding and opposing federal vouchers for private schools.
Superintendent Nancy Robb laid out some basic questions she wanted answered, like "What is this going to add to the organization?" and "What is the value to that conference?"
Board member Bill Lloyd also asked for standardization of how expenses are submitted. Current policy requires the board president to review expenses before the conference or trip. The board's vice president and secretary have to approve the president's expenditures in a similar fashion.
LeFevre said the standards Lloyd spoke of already exist. Robb added that the district will continue to work on the procedures.
The board discussion last week also included a somewhat heated exchange between LeFevre and board member Anna Klimkowicz. She had inquired about attending a February conference in Washington, D.C., but said she wasn't going to attend because she didn't receive the proper approvals.
LeFevre said he didn't approve the trip because he didn't have enough information about the conference, which is hosted by the National School Boards Association.
Yet Klimkowicz said she properly followed procedures. "I gave you what you asked for," she repeatedly told LeFevre.
For conferences district officials don't regularly attend - like the one in Washington, D.C., LeFevre said the board should have more information, including details about airfare.
Most of the district's traveling expenses are used to attend a three-day annual joint conference of the state's associations of school boards, school administrators and school business officials, LeFevre said. That conference is regularly attended by District 211 officials since it's held in Chicago.