SOUTHFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOLS - 2024-25 OUT-OF-STATE-TRAVEL

[Shadowninja]

Dearest reader,

Step 5 of our Southfield Public Schools review takes us out of Michigan.

Quite literally.

According to the district's 2024-25 Out-of-State Travel Report, Southfield reported $111,507.18 in district-paid out-of-state travel for the year.

And the funding split was almost perfectly even:

General Fund — $55,424.32
Grant Funds — $56,082.86

Now let's open the ledger a little further.

Some of the larger categories reported were:

Grant-funded Staff/Personnel Services — $27,609.32
Board of Education — $21,200.35
Head Start Community Activities — $13,086.93
Superintendent / Executive Administration — $7,706.42
Thompson International Baccalaureate — $5,691.74
Levey MS Building Administration — $4,285.27
Levey Instructional Staff Development — $3,942.62
Steve Instructional Staff Development — $3,780.74
Special Education Districtwide Supervisor — $3,234.32

One more breadcrumb caught my eye.

Within that $27,609.32 in grant-funded Staff/Personnel Services travel is a Title II-funded line of $15,603.23.
And a little context matters here.

Grant-funded does not mean the money came from Southfield's General Fund. That's why I've separated the funding sources instead of tossing everything into one bucket.

But it is still district-reported, district-paid out-of-state travel, and the district's own report puts the combined total at more than $111,000 for a single school year.

The Board of Education alone accounted for $21,200.35.

I'm not going to tell you that travel is inherently wasteful. Conferences, training and professional development can absolutely have legitimate purposes.

The receipt gives us the amount.

The next question is whether the taxpayers and students received value for it.

That's a different ledger entirely. 🪶

With receipts and respect.

#LadyBudgetdown #SouthfieldPublicSchools #SouthfieldSchools #OutOfStateTravel #SchoolSpending #TaxpayerDollars #SchoolBoard #SchoolTransparency #MichiganSchools #FollowTheReceipts #WithReceiptsAndRespect