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NEWTON —
Editor’s note: This story is part of the Kansan’s coverage for Sunshine Week, which is an event that encourages open government.
School budget cuts during the last three years with even more on the horizon for the next fiscal year have many areas of school funding being called into question.
Professional development, especially out-of-district travel, has been among the spending areas that has fired debate. It also is on the chopping block for the next fiscal year.
The district is seeking to cut more than $1.4 million from its budget to make up for anticipated state budget cuts for the next school year.
The Newton Kansan recently requested information about spending on out-of-district travel from the Newton school district.
The district produced reports on five out-of-state trips taken by Newton certified staff that were paid for out of a district-wide account. However, Gary Jantz, assistant superintendent for business, noted the district has about 17 different funds from which professional development expenses are paid, and there are subaccounts within those funds.
Janet Neufeld, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instructional services, said out-of-state conferences accounted for only a few of the professional development opportunities offered to district certified staff.
For 2010-11, the district budgeted $173,720 for professional development. This amount includes training for all staff — not just teachers.
The 2010-11 budget is a decrease from $307,523 from the previous year. Only about half of the money budgeted for professional development — $87,506 — comes from local and the state funds. The rest comes from federal funds.
According to the documents provided to the Kansan, the district has spent $30,545 on the five out-of-state conferences school staff have attended this school year.
Some of that money was reimbursed to the district through grants and professional organizations.
Jill Lachenmayr, director of elementary education and virtual perspective learning, and Neufeld attended a Learning Forward conference in December in Atlanta. More than $2,500 of their expenses were reimbursed to the district because Lachenmayr and Neufeld hold officer positions with the organization.
The total cost of that trip was $11,151 once the district was reimbursed. The district spent about $5,000 on registering 10 people for that five-day conference, more than $5,500 for hotel expenses and about $2,350 for airfare.
The conference covered a variety of subjects including teaching strategies, race relations and use of technology.
For this trip, only one person’s trip was paid for by local or state money. That amounted to about $654 plus food expenses. The rest of the money came from federal funds.
Neufeld said the district is required to use at least 10 percent of its federal money on professional development. If it does not use that money, it loses it. Neufeld noted the district must go through extensive periodic auditing of all its spending of federal funds.
Of federal Title 1 money, a certain amount is taken off the top for professional development for teachers at Eby Learning Center at Youthville in Newton. Three members of the Eby staff attended the Atlanta conference.
District staff attended a conference for Colorado Council International Reading Association in Denver at a cost of $11,108. This included pay for substitutes. The majority of the money for this trip also came from federal money. About $2,232 was paid for through professional development funds managed by individual district buildings.
Fourteen staff members attended this conference. The staff drove to this event at a cost of about $1,000 for the use of two vans and $288 for fuel.
Three staff members attended a conference on cognitive coaching in Denver at a cost of $1,958. This trip was paid for solely out of federal funds. The majority of the cost ($1,200) went to registration. These attendants also drove to Denver.
Two district staff members attended a Reading Recovery National Conference in Ohio at a cost of $2,190. Almost none of the cost of the conference was born by the district. Marsha Schmidt, who attended the conference, is a state trainer in Reading Recovery. Fees for her to train in other districts offsets her conference fees. Laura Pyle, who attended the conference, got a $600 grant from the Emporia State University to attend the conference, Neufeld said.
Kevin Neuenswander, principal of Slate Creek Elementary School, attended a National Title 1 conference in Florida at a cost of $1,607. All of this trip was funded with federal money. Neufeld said Neuenswander was chosen to attend this conference because of the diversity at his school and the number of low-income students.
The cost of lodging varied between trips and ranged from $55.37 for a one night of a layover during the Reading Recovery Trip to $1,273 for one attendant at the five-day conference in Atlanta.
When asked about how the district chooses accommodations, Lachenmayr said the district often chooses to house conference participants in the hotels in which the conferences are taking place. Many hotels offer discounts to conference attendees, she said. In addition, transportation can be costly when conference attendees have to take cabs or other transport to and from a conference site, she said.
The district tries to get people to room two to three to a room when possible, Lachenmayr said. It sometimes depends on if hotels have roll-away beds available.
Food expenses on these trips also varied significantly from a trip during which an estimated $7.66 per person per day was spent to more than $24 per person per day was spent.
The district has a policy limiting food expenses to $6 per meal not to exceed $20 per day, Jantz said. However, that amount can be overridden by an administrator.
“Sometimes if you are in a big city and downtown, you can’t get a meal for that $6,” he said.
The district urges all conference-goers to take advantage of early-bird conference registration discounts whenever possible, Lachenmayr said.
“We try to be fiscally responsible,” she said.
Editor’s note: This story is part of the Kansan’s coverage for Sunshine Week, which is an event that encourages open government.
School budget cuts during the last three years with even more on the horizon for the next fiscal year have many areas of school funding being called into question.
Professional development, especially out-of-district travel, has been among the spending areas that has fired debate. It also is on the chopping block for the next fiscal year.
The district is seeking to cut more than $1.4 million from its budget to make up for anticipated state budget cuts for the next school year.
The Newton Kansan recently requested information about spending on out-of-district travel from the Newton school district.
The district produced reports on five out-of-state trips taken by Newton certified staff that were paid for out of a district-wide account. However, Gary Jantz, assistant superintendent for business, noted the district has about 17 different funds from which professional development expenses are paid, and there are subaccounts within those funds.
Janet Neufeld, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instructional services, said out-of-state conferences accounted for only a few of the professional development opportunities offered to district certified staff.
For 2010-11, the district budgeted $173,720 for professional development. This amount includes training for all staff — not just teachers.
The 2010-11 budget is a decrease from $307,523 from the previous year. Only about half of the money budgeted for professional development — $87,506 — comes from local and the state funds. The rest comes from federal funds.
According to the documents provided to the Kansan, the district has spent $30,545 on the five out-of-state conferences school staff have attended this school year.
Some of that money was reimbursed to the district through grants and professional organizations.
Jill Lachenmayr, director of elementary education and virtual perspective learning, and Neufeld attended a Learning Forward conference in December in Atlanta. More than $2,500 of their expenses were reimbursed to the district because Lachenmayr and Neufeld hold officer positions with the organization.
The total cost of that trip was $11,151 once the district was reimbursed. The district spent about $5,000 on registering 10 people for that five-day conference, more than $5,500 for hotel expenses and about $2,350 for airfare.
The conference covered a variety of subjects including teaching strategies, race relations and use of technology.
For this trip, only one person’s trip was paid for by local or state money. That amounted to about $654 plus food expenses. The rest of the money came from federal funds.
Neufeld said the district is required to use at least 10 percent of its federal money on professional development. If it does not use that money, it loses it. Neufeld noted the district must go through extensive periodic auditing of all its spending of federal funds.
Of federal Title 1 money, a certain amount is taken off the top for professional development for teachers at Eby Learning Center at Youthville in Newton. Three members of the Eby staff attended the Atlanta conference.
District staff attended a conference for Colorado Council International Reading Association in Denver at a cost of $11,108. This included pay for substitutes. The majority of the money for this trip also came from federal money. About $2,232 was paid for through professional development funds managed by individual district buildings.
Fourteen staff members attended this conference. The staff drove to this event at a cost of about $1,000 for the use of two vans and $288 for fuel.
Three staff members attended a conference on cognitive coaching in Denver at a cost of $1,958. This trip was paid for solely out of federal funds. The majority of the cost ($1,200) went to registration. These attendants also drove to Denver.
Two district staff members attended a Reading Recovery National Conference in Ohio at a cost of $2,190. Almost none of the cost of the conference was born by the district. Marsha Schmidt, who attended the conference, is a state trainer in Reading Recovery. Fees for her to train in other districts offsets her conference fees. Laura Pyle, who attended the conference, got a $600 grant from the Emporia State University to attend the conference, Neufeld said.
Kevin Neuenswander, principal of Slate Creek Elementary School, attended a National Title 1 conference in Florida at a cost of $1,607. All of this trip was funded with federal money. Neufeld said Neuenswander was chosen to attend this conference because of the diversity at his school and the number of low-income students.
The cost of lodging varied between trips and ranged from $55.37 for a one night of a layover during the Reading Recovery Trip to $1,273 for one attendant at the five-day conference in Atlanta.
When asked about how the district chooses accommodations, Lachenmayr said the district often chooses to house conference participants in the hotels in which the conferences are taking place. Many hotels offer discounts to conference attendees, she said. In addition, transportation can be costly when conference attendees have to take cabs or other transport to and from a conference site, she said.
The district tries to get people to room two to three to a room when possible, Lachenmayr said. It sometimes depends on if hotels have roll-away beds available.
Food expenses on these trips also varied significantly from a trip during which an estimated $7.66 per person per day was spent to more than $24 per person per day was spent.
The district has a policy limiting food expenses to $6 per meal not to exceed $20 per day, Jantz said. However, that amount can be overridden by an administrator.
“Sometimes if you are in a big city and downtown, you can’t get a meal for that $6,” he said.
The district urges all conference-goers to take advantage of early-bird conference registration discounts whenever possible, Lachenmayr said.
“We try to be fiscally responsible,” she said.
