Document from TEA shows super, board are ‘key officials’

By Pete Kendall/reporter@trcle.com

An e-mail from Texas Education Agency chief auditor Rita Chase to Cleburne ISD appears to confirm that Cleburne school board members are eligible for $72 daily in meals and $170 daily in rooms when traveling on school business.

That contradicts the claim of community watchdog Alden Nellis Monday night that the trustees only qualify for $36 daily in meals and $85 daily in rooms.

Chase wrote, “Regarding travel reimbursement for the superintendent and the board of trustees, the superintendent and the board of trustees would fall under the chief administrator of the state per the comptroller’s travel guide.

“Chief administrator of a state agency means an elected state official, including a member of a board whose membership is elected by a vote of the people.”

School trustees are members of a board and are elected by a vote of the people.

But Chase offered CISD chief financial officer David Johnson some advice in the correspondence, provided to the Times-Review by the district after the Times-Review filed an open records request Thursday.

“The district needs to adopt a travel policy that is clear and understandable,” she wrote. “If the district intends to allow local funds to cover excess over the state and federal policy, it needs to state that. If the district wants to pay actual cost for the superintendent and the board of trustees, it needs to state that.

“Districts have a lot of local control on their travel as long as they are following their adopted travel policy.”

On Friday CISD superintendent Ronny Beard said, “She is alluding to a different subject that allows schools employees to exceed the state cap for allowable reasons. It is not in our current policy, but it is in the policy I have recommended to the board based on her advice.”

The Thursday open records request also turned up a letter Wednesday from Harold Gentry of the watchdog group Access Cleburne.

“We have all had some lively discussion about who is called what and who has the final determination of what is reasonable and necessary,” Gentry wrote. “The one thing that has been established without a doubt is that CISD does not have a ‘written travel policy.’

“State and federal funds are strictly regulated as to how they can be spent, and I would think that CISD would have learned that lesson beyond doubt. The message they need to hear loud and clear now before they adopt any travel policy is, ‘Just because you’ve maxed out the state and federal credit card, don’t get the idea that we don’t care how our local tax dollars are being used.’”

In his response to Gentry Beard wrote, “I am sorry for the misunderstanding about the Cleburne ISD board travel policy you question. Cleburne ISD does in fact have a local travel policy (BBG local) for the board, which can be found at the link provided below. This policy (which was adopted by the board in 2003) clearly ties CISD Board travel to the state employee travel guidelines.

“Because of this, we have researched the state guidelines thoroughly to insure that our travel practice complies with both board policy and the State of Texas Travel Allowance Guide. We have also attached an opinion by Rita Chase, TEA Chief Auditor testifying to the fact that school superintendent and trustees are considered ‘key officials’ (or ‘chief administrators of the state’) just to be certain that we were translating the guideline accurately.”

The provided link to the local travel policy Web site is: www.tasb.org/policy/pol/private/126903/pol.cfm?DisplayPage=BBG(LOCAL).pdf

It states in part: “A board member shall be reimbursed for reasonable, allowable expenses incurred in carrying out board business only at the board’s request and for reasonable, allowable expenses incurred while attending meetings and conventions as an official representative of the board.

“Accounting records shall accurately reflect that no state or federal funds were used to reimburse travel expenses beyond those authorized for state employees.

“For any authorized expense incurred, the board member shall submit a statement, with receipts to the extent feasible, documenting actual expenses and in accordance with procedures applicable to employee expense reimbursement.”