Pittsburgh School District Has 'Runaway Travel Costs': PA Study

PITTSBURGH, PA - Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said Wednesday that board members of the Pittsburgh Public Schools have failed to control runaway travel costs for Superintendent Anthony Hamlet and other district administrators. DePasquale said that reining in some of the travel might offset some of the need for the 2.3-percent property tax hike directors are poised to approve.

DePasquale said he will refer the results of his review to the Pennsylvania Ethics Commission.

A five-month review of district records revealed Pittsburgh’s 2019 travel budget of $453,231 is more than double the School District of Philadelphia’s $217,906 travel budget, although Philadelphia has roughly 10 times more students. Pittsburgh’s travel spending amounts to approximately $19.43 per student, compared with about $1.07 per pupil in Philadelphia.

“Fiscal oversight by Pittsburgh’s school board appears to be practically nonexistent when it comes to the superintendent’s penchant for travel,” DePasquale said in a statement. “There’s been a 179 percent increase in the district’s travel budget in only three years – which I find to be
outrageous, especially for a district with a nearly $30 million operating deficit,."

DePasquale noted that a previous audit showed the district had the highest fund balance in the state just five years ago. Hamlet has been superintendent since July 2016.

Hamlet responded in his own statement that in 2018, Philadelphia's travel expenses totaled $924,000 compared to Pittsburgh's $362,705 cost for what he termed "travel-related professional development."

"I recognize that any new spending is cause for concern in a district that is funded by taxpayer dollars," Hamlet said. "I also know that an investment in our staff development will pay dividends for years to come in improving the quality of public-school education in Pittsburgh. "

DePasquale noted that several Pittsburgh Public Schools administrators, including Hamlet and and former Deputy Superintendent Anthony Anderson, travel well beyond their allotted days per year for professional development. He said thousands of dollars was spent on trips to places such as Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Nashville without clearly demonstrating any benefit for students.

Much of Anderson’s travel was to take part in a continuing education program designed to train individuals to become superintendents. However, his employment contract did not specify that the district would pay for Anderson’s attendance at these monthly training sessions or for
his membership in the program.

Anderson received at least $7,500 in travel reimbursements in the 2018-19 school year.

DePasquale launched the review following media reports that several district officials, including Hamlet, reportedly visited Cuba in April as an offshoot of a trip to Florida for professional
development purposes. It appears that the two-day trip to Cuba was arranged and paid for by a former district contractor, The Flying Classroom, and was not approved in advance by the school board.

“The district could provide no documentation related to the Cuba side trip, and the official contract with The Flying Classroom – which ended months before the trip happened – did not specifically detail any expeditions for administrators as part of the deal,” DePasquale said.
“Regardless of how the trip was funded, the school board must enforce its own policies regarding advance approval of such travel.”