Proposal would slash Dothan School Board travel

A plan to trim $3.5 million from the Dothan City Schools budget includes a proposal to cut school board travel.

According to documents obtained by the Dothan Eagle under Alabama’s Open Records law, the city schools spent more than $50,000 on travel, training and memberships in education-related associations for school board members from 2003-2009.

This amounts to a little more than $8,300 per year, a drop in the bucket of the city schools $65 million budget. However, in a time when every penny must be squeezed, travel and training looks like a good place to do some pinching, said Mike Manuel, the school system’s chief finance officer.

The city schools are being forced to make cuts because of proration, which is across-the-board cuts in state funding to local school systems.

The board recently gave a thumbs down to a proposal to limit travel and training for board members, voting 6-1 against a proposal that would have made cuts.

Board member Brenda Guilford spoke strongly against the proposal, saying each board member needed to attend training conferences to become more effective.

Guilford is one of the more well-traveled and trained board members. According to records, the city schools have spent about $10,000 on travel for Guilford to go to and from training events and on fees associated with the events. Guilford’s travels include a $1,137 trip in 2007 to San Francisco for a National School Board Association conference and a $1,675 trip in 2006 to a National School Board Association conference in Chicago.

The National School Board Association is an organization that sponsors training for school board members and also lobbies for local school boards.

Attempts to contact Guilford at her business Tuesday were unsuccessful.

Ben Armstrong was the only board member to vote for cutting back on travel and training for board members.

Under the new proposal to trim the city schools budget, cutting travel for board members and city schools personnel would result in an approximate savings of $25,000 per year.