Shorewood Revamps Reimbursement Procedure For Teacher Conferences

By: Stephan Thomas.

To amend the misuses of funds in the past, Shorewood has begun to overhaul its business office; specifically with the way teachers are reimbursed for conference registration and travel. Since July 2005, Shorewood has spent almost $60,000 dollars to send their teachers to a total of 50 in-state and-out-of-state teacher conferences.

Of the $12.50 per thousand dollar tax levy in Shorewood, the Shorewood school district makes up 50% of the tax bill according to the super. An increase of private and government grants has eased the burden on the Shorewood taxpayers.

From the total $59,698 dollars, only $18,930, plus the $15,000 for conf. registration, was from local district taxes, 17% was obtained through grants and foundations, with the final 30% being culled from state money. Despite the increase in government and private grants for travel to the district Shorewood School Superintendent Blane McCann  (see full interview here) emphasizes the need to keep travel costs low, saying, “The budget limits the number of trips; the trips are then determined by how much can be afforded and whether they are needed.”

An investigation into Shorewood school district’s spending on employee travel was spurred through a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article on a tax payers group’s examination of Greendale School District’s outrageous spending which included a $10,000 trip for five, expensive dinners at lavish restraints, and expensive hotels booked for overnight stays.

When asked to provide printouts of travel expenses dating back to August 2004 to the present, Shorewood was only able to provide expenses since July 2005. In an effort to understand the costs for travel to these conferences, reporters examined the school district’s credit card receipts and billings to the travel account.

With expenses totaling $59,770 (I got $59,698; will update Thursday) and registration costs at about 1/3 of that amount, the Shorewood school district has created a more manageable way to reimburse their employees for travel. In previous years all reimbursement requests were filled regardless of policy and then filed away, unorganized, in boxes stored in a section of the Shorewood High School’s basement called the “Chicken Coop”.

Through the efforts of Summer Carlisle, the accounts payable bookkeeper, and Woody Wiedenhoeft, the Interim Director of Business Services, a system has been developed to ensure that this budget is not misused. Wiedenhoeft, an outside consultant from Public Business Consulting Group, was hired to help renovate the business office, “All kinds of changes have been made over the last year to rectify some record keeping problems…We’re not real proud of the history lesson we’ve inherited, but we do have pride that we’ve made some changes,” said Wiedenhoeft. (see full interview here)

Since these changes have been put into place there have been numerous documented examples in the school’s receipts of attempts to be more fiscally responsible when teachers are traveling to conferences.

· Inexpensive hotels were booked through the district; the only two expensive hotels were ever booked for conferences were The Wilderness Hotel and Golf Resort and the Kalahari Resort and Convention Center of Wisconsin Dells. The district paid for one night at the Kalahari Resort at a cost of $82.75 and two days at the Wilderness Hotel and Golf Course at a cost of $260.

· The band director asked to reimburse the district for money spent on two beers in Madison.

· Teacher Carol Kuxhause stayed with relatives in Oshkosh instead of a hotel while attending a conference in Appleton.

· Only six out-of-state trips for conferences in Colorado, Kentucky, Michigan, California, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania were charged to the district.

It was a lack of organization that plagued the district in the past. Teachers would

book hotels and register for conferences and then ask for reimbursement; itemized receipts for food and hotel billings were rarely requested.

“Some people turned in their receipts and some people didn't.” said Carlisle, “Some people got approval from the business manager in advance and some people sent in confirming purchase orders saying, 'Oh by the way, we've already ordered this, can you sign off on it?'

The district’s business office now has a more organized system dealing with employee travel. All approvals for conferences must now go through the principal, itemized receipts are requested for reimbursement, and hotels are now booked through the business office.

By standardizing the process teachers for registering and reimbursing teachers who attend these conferences, the district hopes to operate more successfully within the confines of their budget. “Budgets are very tight now. At one time, budgets weren't as tight …There wasn't quite as much concern in this district, as well as a lot of other districts, of having a standardized system,” Wiedenhoeft said, “Plan ahead and that sort of thing, because there truly is not enough money to do what you want to do.”

While most seem to agree that the amount being spent is not outrageous some question the need for these conferences at all. Moisey Freedman believes that teachers can still learn new techniques without attending these conferences “Why spend the money if you can have experience in Milwaukee without leaving the state.”

Most residents of Shorewood seem to agree that the district is being more responsible with its spending. Shorewood resident Elizabeth Botten claimed that she was surprised at the total spent on these trips, ““I don’t think $50,000 is that much when you factor hotels and food… Greendale probably didn’t check the receipts. But as long as the Shorewood teachers are learning something and not just having fun.” (See full interviews with taxpayers here)