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Governance committee backs travel-policy changes and forwards revised rules to June 9 board meeting
Summary
St. Louis Public Schools governance committee voted to add a revised travel policy (DCLA) to the June 9 full-board agenda after staff presented proposed changes including raising meal, hotel and airfare thresholds and restoring limited tipping allowances.
St. Louis Public Schools Chief Kelly Dobel told the governance committee that the district is proposing a rework of travel policy DCLA to move detailed dollar thresholds into a separate procedure and make the policy easier to update.
Dobel said the draft procedure would let staff adapt reimbursement thresholds to market conditions rather than change the board policy each time costs shift. "It was $50 a day before. We're wanting to move it to 60," Dobel said, describing a proposed daily meal allowance allocation of $15 for breakfast, $15 for lunch and $30 for dinner. She added that the district wants to "add back in the allowability for tips" with limits, because group trips with students often trigger mandatory gratuities.
The presentation listed additional numeric changes proposed in the procedure: raising the nightly conference-host hotel cap from $350 to $450; increasing the round-trip airfare cap from $500 to $800; and changing the baggage-fee cap from $35 to $60 with reimbursement processed on the employee's expense report after travel. The draft also adds guidance on allowable ground-transportation fares and tips when staff travel with students.
General counsel Kim Dutch said the work is intended to conform the travel policy to the board's new policy-setting format and to reduce frequent policy edits by shifting variable figures into an operational procedure.
A committee member moved and a second was recorded to amend the agenda and include review of the travel policy; the motion passed. Later the committee voted to forward the travel-policy changes (as presented) to the full board for a first reading at the June 9 meeting. The committee discussion recorded appreciation for the clearer procedure and for added examples designed to help staff complete expense paperwork.
The committee did not record a complete roll-call vote tally for the agenda-amendment motion in the transcript; the committee did record the vote to forward the policies to the board as "motion approved". Ms. Vaughn confirmed she will place the amended travel policy on the June 9 board agenda.
Next steps: the district will provide the committee-recommended revisions to board staff and the draft will appear on the June 9 full-board meeting for first reading; the policy will require further board action to become effective.
