RIVER ROUGE: PACK YOUR BAGS, DEAR READERS.
Lady Budgetdown went looking through River Rouge Public Schools' transparency records and found a rather interesting little document tucked into the ledger:
The district's 2024–25 Out of State Travel report.
And unlike some rabbit holes, this one requires very little digging. River Rouge kindly provided the itinerary, and the bill.
Six trips.
✈️ New Orleans
✈️ Alexandria, Virginia
✈️ Harlem, New York
✈️ New York City
✈️ Atlanta
✈️ Atlanta... again.
Total cost paid by the district:
💰 $63,568.51
Now let us open the travel diary, shall we?
AASA National Conference - New Orleans
$2,841.97
Attendee: Superintendent
CUBE Conference/NSBA - Alexandria, Virginia
$13,474.76
Attendees: Superintendent, Deputy Superintendent, five Board members, Curriculum Director and Board Executive Assistant
Messenger Training - Harlem, New York
$2,209.41
Attendees: Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent
META Conference - New York City
$568.96
Attendee: Superintendent
NABSE Conference - Atlanta
$27,736.57
Attendees: Superintendent, Deputy Superintendent, four Board members, Curriculum Director, Community Services Director, six principals/assistant principals and the Board Executive Assistant
NSBA National Conference - Atlanta
$16,736.84
Attendees: Superintendent, Deputy Superintendent and six Board members
All told:
💰 $63,568.51 in district-reported out-of-state travel during the 2024–25 school year.
And one name appears on the attendee list for every single trip:
Superintendent Derrick Coleman.
Every. Single. One.
The district identifies the funding source for these trips as General, with the exception of the Messenger Training row, where the funding-source field appears blank.
Now, Lady Budgetdown is not here to declare that conferences are unnecessary. Professional development has a purpose. Board members attend conferences. Administrators attend conferences.
But six out-of-state trips in one school year?
More than $63,000?
A $27,736 conference trip involving a sizable delegation?
Those numbers deserve something considerably more useful than outrage.
They deserve questions.
What did River Rouge receive in return for these expenditures?
What was learned?
What was brought back to the district?
What changed for students or classrooms because these dollars were spent?
And perhaps most importantly:
At what point does professional development become a spending priority worth examining?
The ledger does not book the flight.
It simply keeps the itinerary. 🪶
With receipts and respect,
Lady Budgetdown
Source: School District of the City of River Rouge, Out of State Travel 24–25 SY.
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