KCK school board member says district paying for staff ‘vacations’, excess spending
As Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools leadership considers raising how much property tax dollars they’ll get in the new budget year, some school board members have concerns about excess spending.
According to one board member, the district has been paying for its employees to go to out-of-district professional development conferences that are essentially vacations.
During recent school board meetings held at the district's central office on Monday and Tuesday, Valdenia Winn, a board member who also represents parts of Wyandotte County in the state legislature, said she’s worried about the amount the school distric is paying to send staff out of town, adding that some people are using valet parking, staying in hotels that cost between $900 and $1,000 per night, and exceeding meals per diem.
She thinks the district needs to take how much money the community makes into consideration when making budgetary decisions, like potentially increasing property taxes. Board members earlier this week approved a letter of intent indicating they’d consider collecting more in residential property taxes in 2027 than in 2026.
But instead of putting that financial burden on residents, the district needs to review pieces of the budget that expenses can be cut from without affecting key programming like special education and dual language, Winn said.
Winn, as she did during a separate meeting earlier this week, also said she’s worried that the school district is spending too much money on non-essential expenses, including $3.6 million for cellphones, devices and accessories for staff among a handful of service providers.
And the district last year spent $724,000 on excess food.
The school district was in the process of consolidating those phone services to a single provider, Superintendent Anna Stubblefield said.
Board members voted during the budget meeting to limit people, including administrators, board members and staff, to two in-state conventions and one national convention each year instead of traveling often throughout the year.
Board members by a 4-3 vote established a subcommittee to get additional information on how much the district is spending on phone services, travel and food costs.
That subcommittee will bring its findings back to the full board by July 20.
