Fresno Unified School District school board members earn about $20,000 a year, but part of their job involves attending meetings in tourist destinations like Napa, New Orleans and Miami.
Not all meetings are the same, nor are the costs that boards charge taxpayers the same.
For example, Edison High School District Trustee Keshia Thomas has claimed $55,308 in travel expenses over the past three years, nearly 33 percent of the board’s total travel expenses during that period, according to district records requested by GV Wire.
Board member Beba Islas, who represents McLean High School, said there are many reasons board members attend the meeting.
“Generally, it should be about learning something that can be applied to better the district and serve the students,” Islas said.
Only Islas and Sunnyside High School district trustee Elizabeth Jonason Rosas responded to requests for comment on the matter.
Over the three years, trustees racked up $168,003 in travel and conference expenses.
The trips included $5,400 for two days in Sacramento: a $3,995 trip to discuss water policy for a trustee (Jonasson Rosas) employed by the Westlands Water District;
In addition, five board members attended a conference at Harvard Business School, costing taxpayers more than $30,000.
A pie chart shows a breakdown of total travel expenses for Fresno Unified School District trustees over the past three years. (GV Wire Composite/Paul Marshall)
Thomas' travel expenses for 2021-22 are 43% of the board's total.
In 2021-22, Thomas' travel expenses of $17,689 across 10 trips accounted for nearly 43% of the board's total travel expenses.
Board members Claudia Cazares, Jonathon Rosas and Terry Slatik each expensed travel to one conference, all of which was to the California School Boards Association's annual conference in San Diego. Slatik also went to Sacramento to meet with then-State Assemblyman Kevin Kiley.
Trustee Valerie Davis attended six events and Isla attended three events (one of which was virtual). These five trustees spent a combined $23,553 of taxpayer money.
Thomas attended nine meetings and made one trip to Sacramento to speak about the bill, at his own expense.
Thomas attended weeklong conferences in New Orleans and Philadelphia, as well as two trips to Washington, D.C., Palm Springs and San Diego, each lasting several days, as well as two trips to Sacramento.
Related article: How many teachers could lose their jobs in FUSD's massive budget cuts?
Thomas' trips are getting more expensive
Thomas also incurred costly expenses during trips he shared with other board members, such as when Thomas and Davis attended the Council on Great City Schools in Washington, D.C., in March 2022. Taxpayers paid $2,172 for Davis' trip, while Thomas' expenses were $3,305.
The two also went to the California Association of Black School Educators in San Diego. Davis billed the district for $915, nearly half of Thomas' $1,791.
Related stories: Slatik accused of defrauding school superintendent; state under investigation
Nearly every board member attended the California School Boards Association's annual meeting in December 2021. Thomas' expenses for that trip totaled $2,882. Slatick's trip was the most expensive, at $3,045. Islas' trip was the least, at $2,209.
The following year, the cost of the same event increased by more than $1,000 for Thomas. Her $3,994 travel expenses to San Diego were five times the $790 per person that Islas and Jonathon Rosas charged. Davis submitted receipts for expenses of $1,042, about a quarter of Thomas's. In his final year on the board, Slatick also attended the meeting and billed the district $770.
That year, Fresno High School District Trustee Andy Levine and Bullard High School District Trustee Susan Wittrup joined the board. Levine claimed $3,246 in travel expenses and Wittrup reported $4,290 in expenses.
From left: Elizabeth Jonathon Rosas, Veva Islas, Valerie Davis, Susan Wittrup, Keshia Thomas, Andy Levin and Claudia Casares, Fresno Unified School District.
Thomas' travel expenses exceed those of all directors each year.
In 2022-2023, Thomas' trips to Napa, San Diego, Miami, Orlando, Florida, Sacramento and San Luis Obispo cost the district $15,069.
Her travel expenses made up one-third of the board's total expenses, compared with $32,108 for other board members. Davis was the board member with the next highest expenses, but her five trips cost the district only $5,926.
Thomas' travel budget for 2023-24 was the most expensive of any of the three years reviewed by GV Wire.
She spent $22,550 on seven events, with destinations including Napa, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and three trips to Sacramento.
What other trips do board members take?
Cumulative travel expenses for trustees in the 2023-24 school year nearly matched the totals for the previous two years, despite Gov. Gavin Newsom sounding the alarm about the state's budget deficit and funding cuts to public schools.
The travel cost for this academic year, $79,585, is significantly higher than the $47,177 in 2022-23 and $41,241 in 2021-22.
In March, Thomas attended the California School Boards Association's equity training, costing taxpayers $5,402 for two days. Earlier this month, Thomas attended another session of the two-day training conference, paying $856.
Five of the seven board members attended a three-day conference at Harvard Business School in July 2023. The total cost to taxpayers? $30,884.
Harvard University’s Public Education Leadership Project focuses on cultivating “leadership skills and growth, relationships among board members and between administration and the community, managing conflict, building capacity to focus on district improvement, and addressing inequities.”
Jonathan Rosas and Casares were not in attendance.
Jonathon Rosas, who works for the Westlands Water District, attended three water policy conferences in California in 2023, which cost taxpayers a total of $3,995. The same conferences in 2022, this time for a single session, cost $752.
She told GV Wire that she was invited to attend the conference by the organization that organized it, Water Education for Latino Leaders.
Jonathon Rosas’ 2022 $1,922 Washington, D.C. trip analyzed the Battle of Gettysburg to teach leadership skills.
Over the three-year period surveyed by GV Wire, Casares and Jonathon Rosas had the lowest expenses, at 5.48% and 6.93% of total travel costs, respectively.
FUSD struggles to teach students to read and write
Black and Latino students in the Fresno Unified School District struggle, especially on grade-level tests in reading and writing. Only 20 percent of Black students pass grade-level tests in reading and writing, and only 10 percent pass grade-level tests in math. The vast majority of Latino students in the Fresno Unified School District also do not perform well on reading and math tests.
Many of the meetings the board members attended focused on equity training, especially for students of color. Others taught other needed skills.
Thomas attended the California Association of Black School Educators, which offered strategies to overcome learning disparities, and Islas participated in a virtual conference hosted by the California School Boards Association that focused on school finance.
Fresno Unified School District officials did not respond to questions about the implementation of the policy that arose as a result of the meeting the board members attended.
