Halifax convention costs board $10,000
Trip by 3 Central Okanagan school trustees who spent over $3,000 each seen as waste of money
The Central Okanagan school district spent $10,000 — which included an airline upgrade for the chairperson — sending three trustees to the Canadian School Boards Association convention in Halifax.
Chairperson Moyra Baxter and fellow trustees Deb Butler and Julia Fraser were among the 200 trustees from across Canada who attended the multi-day conference in July.
“It’s always interesting to learn what goes on across the country,” Baxter said. “We had a chance to speak with trustees from every province and find out what goes on in their government. Nova Scotia has just gotten rid of school boards. They have done it before, but then brought them back.”
Expenses obtained through freedomof-information rules show Baxter spent $3,654 on airfare, hotel, conference fees, meals, taxis, parking and mileage from her home in Peachland to the Kelowna airport.
Butler claimed expenses of $3,352, and Fraser claimed $3,019.
Baxter’s flights were about $500 more than the other two. The three made separate travel arrangements.
When asked for comment Thursday, Baxter said the price difference was “for a number of reasons,” mainly because she required a seat upgrade in order to better accommodate her laptop computer. She also suffers from occasional back pain and needed flexibility due to an aging parent who resides in Kelowna.
“There were some internal issues I was dealing with on behalf of the board and I needed the extra space,” she said. “I can assure you that I worked nonstop all the way from Kelowna to Halifax on the laptop.”
Among those critical of the junket is retired teacher David Perry, a former school trustee and mayor of Penticton.
“Once again, I am stunned at the audacity of some school trustees and to now hear the Kelowna board had three of their trustees attending a convention in Halifax,” he said.
“If the convention is that important — which I would question — then is it not logical, taxpayer-wise, to send the board chair or a single representative to gather relevant information and report back to the board and public at an opening meeting?”
Fraser is scheduled to present a summation of the conference at the Sept. 26 public meeting.
Perry, who during his time as a trustee submitted annual expense accounts of zero, believes this should be an issue in the Oct. 20 municipal election.
“Taxpayers are weary of this constant draining of their public money, particularly in B.C., which has suffered through many years of cutbacks,” he said. “All we want to see are reasonably sized classes, reasonably paid teachers and a transparent school board. It is unlikely a convention in Halifax will assist in any of those areas.”
Baxter said there is money available in the school district’s budget for conferences.
“It’s all in our policies,” she said. “We have a budget for trustees and a certain amount is allocated every year. One year is not enough — you have to save up the money (for national conventions). Maybe along the way you will go somewhere and not another year. Other trustees have gone in other years when I’ve stayed home.”
Ironically, the convention was held in a province that no longer has school trustees.
Following a scathing report, “Raise the Bar: A Coherent and Responsible Education Administration System for Nova Scotia,” prepared by international education adviser Avis Glaze, Nova Scotia’s Liberal government abolished English-language school boards.
Marjorie Brims, who is challenging Baxter in Peachland in the Oct. 20 election, believes networking would be a benefit to new trustees. While she supports professional development, Brims believes the optics in this case are poor.
“On principle, allowing trustees to choose to go to a taxpayer-funded conference in July of an election year is not demonstrating good financial stewardship simply because they may not be re-elected in October,” Brims said. “That the conference expenses were $10,000 and it was in Halifax merely highlights the need for more authentic communication and accountability to the public from this board.”
The Vernon school district and Okanagan Similkameen board did not send any representatives to Halifax.
Okanagan Skaha trustee Ginny Manning of Kaleden attended the convention as a representative of the Thompson-Okanagan branch of the B.C. School Trustees Association. Manning said her board was not billed for attending.
All we want to see are reasonably sized classes, reasonably paid teachers and a transparent school board.It is unlikely a convention in Halifax will assist in any of those areas.
David Perry