School board travel tab rising

Travel costs for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board are rising,  in part because members want to have a stronger voice in national policy.

The board allots $5,150 a year for the chairman to travel and $3,100 for each of the other eight members,  a total of $29,950 a year.  For the last couple of years they spent far less -- $17,529 in 2011-12 and $12,500 the year before.

Ellis-Stewart

For 2012-13,  the board spent $24,024.  At-large member Ericka Ellis-Stewart,  who was board chair for the first half of the budget year,  spent just over $7,200,  the largest amount  (read the summary for all members here).  Obviously that's more than her normal allotment,  even figuring half a year at the higher rate.  Current Chairman Mary McCray says the board agreed to cover her travel costs for Council of Urban Boards of Education sessions when the board endorsed her appointment to the CUBE steering committee.  The steering committee meets five times a year at locations around the country,  and members are required to attend four of those meetings,  McCray said. The board added $5,000 to Ellis-Stewart's travel budget for that purpose.

This month,  Ellis-Stewart went to a CUBE summer issues seminar in Seattle at a cost of about $1,870.  She was one of three members,  along with McCray and Joyce Waddell,  who went to the National School Boards Association annual conference in San Diego,  at a cost of more than $2,000 each.  She also spent almost $1,200 on an NSBA Federal Relations Network conference in Washington, D.C., and about the same on a trip to Indianapolis for the Council of the Great City Schools fall conference.

Ellis-Stewart's role is part of the board's strategy for making their views known to local,  state and national lawmakers,  all of whom shape education policy and spending in CMS.  McCray,  a Democrat,  and Vice Chair Tim Morgan,  a Republican,  have spent a lot of energy lobbying the Republican-dominated state legislature and the Democratic-majority county commission.  Ellis-Stewart,  also a Democrat, was tapped to be the expert in national issues.

McCray was the second-largest spender,  with a 2012-13 tab just over $4,500.  Other than the San Diego conference,  that travel was in-state.  Morgan spent about $1,200,  all of it for in-state travel.

Waddell spent just over $4,000 on the San Diego trip and four in-state conferences,  including some of Richard McElrath's unspent allotment.

Eric Davis took the most expensive single trip,  spending almost $3,100 to join the Chamber of Commerce inter-city trip to New York City in October 2012.

Rhonda Lennon and Richard McElrath spent nothing on travel last year,  according to the CMS tally.