There has been a fair amount of discussion about the travel policies of the Fairfield County School Board recently; the Herald Independent believes there needs to be more.

The spotlight was shone on the question of travel expenses charged to the district by school board members when the issue of a trip by school board chairman Annie McDaniel to New Orleans to a Delta Sigma Theta conference was brought to light.

It seems Ms. McDaniel’s fellow school board members were not aware that she made the trip, until after she thanked them for the opportunity to take it.

At least some of the expenses for that trip were picked up by the Fairfield County School District. Ms. McDaniel’s fellow school board members were not aware of that fact, either.

We will keep our own counsel on the question whether a trip to a sorority symposium is of direct benefit to the school district. If there are any direct benefits from that trip that can be shown, we and the public would like to have that demonstrated.

Just because a nebulous policy on travel by school board members allows such trips to be charged (even partially) on the taxpayer dollar, that doesn’t mean the school board members should take advantage of this policy. Especially not in these lean financial times, when every taxpayer is watching their own money, while they watch government entities at all levels squander the public funds.

If, under the current financial practices of the Fairfield County School District, these trips are allowed, then those financial practices need to be altered, or at the very least, explained to the satisfaction of the public.

Any question that comes up as to whether their tax dollars are being spent wisely, and when there are expenses that are hard to justify, leads the public to suspect that There’s Something Funny Going On Here, even if there isn’t.

What we think needs to happen is the school board needs to be a better steward of the public’s money, and be able to account for the money they spend, be it on trips, voting to give themselves laptops and Black Berrys, or whenever they dip into the public coffers.

As we have said earlier, just because you are granted a privilege or a perk by virtue of your office or position, that doesn’t mean you have to take advantage of it, or of the taxpayers.

The Numbers Game

We feel the taxpayers deserve to know what’s going on, as the old song says, so starting with this issue, we introduce a feature called The Numbers Game. This feature will highlight some...interesting numbers in the budgets of local governments, including the school board that, well we frankly just don’t understand. We’d like to see if the readers and the citizens agree or disagree with these numbers that we point out, and, when the cost is legitimate, we encourage those government officials to explain it to us and the public.

Readers, you’ll be able to send your thoughts on The Numbers Game facts and figures we present to us at bgarner@heartlandpublications.com, or log onto our website at www.heraldindependent.com and leave a comment.