Lynn Walsh

An investigation for Texas Watchdog:

HISD to review travel policy; Superintendent Terry Grier: ‘Any kind of issues with travel you have, we will look at’
Fri Jun 18 06:51:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh and Steve Miller

The school district says travel rules will be updated in time for the start of school this fall. Texas Watchdog’s recent reporting on district flights shows poor planning and wasted taxpayer dollars.

HOUSTON — Houston Independent School District officials say a new travel policy will be in place by the start of the new school year, following a reorganization of district employees that began in March.

The district statement follows a Texas Watchdog report that documented thousands of taxpayer dollars squandered on pricey travel.

“As a result of the new organizational change and elimination of the regional offices, many policies and administrative regulations are being reviewed,” the district’s Chief Financial Officer Melinda Garrett said in a written response to questions posed by Texas Watchdog, which has been examining district travel records. “The district will have updated travel guidelines ready for schools and departments prior to the start of school.”

A Texas Watchdog story Friday highlighted instances of poor planning, flights taken for short distances and a $30 surcharge on each airline ticket purchased through a travel agency despite the district’s employment of two full-time travel clerks.

Texas Watchdog posed several questions to the district last Tuesday, pertaining to its travel spending and policy.

In a written response the district e-mailed to Texas Watchdog Wednesday, Garrett said:

* The district uses rebates from a credit card used for travel that enable it to employ two people to assist with travel rather than one.

“A second position was critical if the district was going to start purchasing tickets via the Internet,” Garrett said. “At the same time, the district made the decision to have tickets purchased directly through the Internet and to start reducing the services the district uses with Advantage Travel.” That second person has been employed by the district since at least 2008, records show.

* The use of a travel agency is required when booking group flights because online booking is not “user friendly” for such travel. She also said a travel agency has better access to a computer system “that show[s] multiple destinations, various airlines and the best pricing for the most expedient routes.”

In an interview with Texas Watchdog Thursday, Garrett said that the district is not getting rid of its travel services through Advantage Travel.

“There are still situations when using a travel agent is easier for us,” Garrett said. “When large groups are traveling or when students are involved (Advantage Travel) can look at everything that is out there for us. … And international flights, we will always use a travel agent for.”

For the last three years, though, most of the fees paid to Advantage have been for individual fares, records show.

* Schools are allowed to travel in accordance with their own needs, and “the role of the Finance Office is not to second-guess the plans made by schools but to oversee trends and look for potential items that do not seem justified,” Garrett said in her e-mailed response.

Texas Watchdog’s review of the district’s travel records showed that the free rein given to each school has the potential to trigger unnecessary expense. In one e-mail, a staffer said a more expensive fare was an option simply because the money was available.

“Due to the available funds our school Principal Monico Rivas would be traveling to Falls Church, Virginia with an airfare ticket in the amount of $1,314.50,” a staffer at Liberty High School said by e-mail to travel clerk Lynne Lyman in May 2008. Flights at the same price were purchased for two other staffers. It wasn’t apparent from the flight records what event they were attending.

In a continuing review of more than 2,000 pages of flight-related documents, Texas Watchdog also found that on July 6, 2009, the district paid $2,200.33 for a July 9 plane ticket to send Ted Williams, a middle years coordinator at Lamar High School, to Quebec for a conference that had been planned months in advance.

Most of the extravagant costs uncovered by Texas Watchdog’s records review were incurred through last-minute purchases like the ticket for Williams.

Garrett dismissed the notion of better planning, citing the importance of time for traveling employees.

“It is not as easy as you may think. People have different schedules, and when you use connecting flights, you have to factor in time. And sometimes their time could be better spent doing something else instead of paid to do nothing,” she said. “You have to be considerate of people’s time.”

But should employees be allowed to take last-minute flights or have the freedom to select fares that tack hundreds of dollars onto a fare?

Garrett declined to answer the question and said she was “not going to speak to the past.”

Garrett said the new travel policy will be discussed in administrative meetings over the summer. Among the items to be addressed: Paying for the luggage for traveling teachers and administrators. She’s for it.

“I think it is ridiculous for people who are traveling on some of their own time for business to pay those fees,” she said.

Superintendent Terry Grier refused Thursday to grant an interview to Texas Watchdog regarding its findings on HISD travel.

“Our staff tells me that they have answered your stories and answered your questions,” Grier said Thursday after a meeting of the HISD trustees. “And so that’s all I have to say. Any kind of issues with travel you have, we will look at, we will look at it carefully. And that’s all there is to say about it, so thank you.”