LADY BUDGETDOWN: PORTAGE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
THE OUT-OF-STATE TRAVEL LEDGER ✈️
Dear readers, while wandering through Portage Public Schools' transparency records, Lady Budgetdown found another little ledger.
District-paid out-of-state travel expenses for administrators.
And Portage gives us two years of receipts.
📜 2023–24
The district reported 13 out-of-state travel entries totaling:
$35,542.25
Destinations included Dallas, Toronto, Charlotte, Pensacola, Washington D.C., New Orleans, San Diego, Greenville and Atlanta.
The travel covered conferences and events including the AASA National Conference, Carnegie Summit on Education, ASCD Conference, Govern For Impact and others.
📜 2024–25
The district reported 7 travel entries totaling:
$20,009.63
Destinations included Seattle, Nashville, Phoenix, Arlington, Chattanooga, Westminster, Colorado, and Orlando.
Those trips included the ASBO Annual Conference, National Association of School Resource Officers, What's Right in Education, Jostens Renaissance Global Conference and others.
Lady Budgetdown's magic number machine therefore gives us:
💰 TWO-YEAR TOTAL: $55,551.88
One entry particularly stands out simply because of its size.
In October 2024, five Portage administrators: Mark Bielang, Michael Pascoe, Kelly Jensenius, Mackenzie Sheahan and Tracy Speaker-Gersheimer, attended What's Right in Education 2024 in Westminster, Colorado.
The district reported registration, hotel, food, flights and transportation totaling:
$8,535.06.
A small but important note for the ledger:
When multiple administrators are listed on one trip, Portage reports one combined cost for that entry. Lady Budgetdown is not dividing those amounts among individual travelers because the district's report doesn't do so.
And that's really all there is to this one.
Were the conferences worthwhile?
Did the district receive value from the travel?
Those aren't questions an expense report can answer.
What it can tell us is where administrators traveled, why they went, who attended and what the district reported paying.
So the receipts go on the table. Readers can decide what they think they're worth.
With receipts & respect. 👑
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