Schools: Going that extra mile
Travel stipends could have some school administrators pocketing extra annual cash
No matter what type of wheels they drive, school superintendents get paid for being on the road by choosing one of three paths.
• They get a monthly stipend, which is built into their contract.
• They get paid per mile.
• They deduct it on their taxes.
Others aren't reimbursed in any way for gas and vehicle wear.
There are 29 school superintendents in Will and Grundy counties who received money for automobile and travel expenses. Ten get annual stipends ranging from $2,400 to $7,200. Nineteen are paid per mile.
Plainfield Superintendent John Harper covers a lot of ground -- 64 square miles -- as he attends board meetings and staff coffees at each of his district's 29 schools. He gets $4,560 a year to compensate him for his long trips from Plainfield South High School in Joliet to Freedom Elementary School in north Plainfield.
However, Valley View School Superintendent Phil Schoffstall gets even more -- $7,200 -- through his district in Romeoville and Bolingbrook spans just 40 square miles.
Superintendent Phyllis Wilson gets the same amount, $7,200, from the 26.4-square-mile Joliet Grade School District.
But district area may not tell the whole story, says Troy Superintendent Don White.
"My travel and the travel of other administrators is not necessarily limited to travel within the district. I often represent the district in meetings in many surrounding communities and/or downstate," White wrote in an e-mail.
White said he chose to be reimbursed at the IRS rate rather than get a stipend.
"There are personal tax implications if an employee receives a travel stipend. That amount must be claimed on the individual's taxes and records must be kept of the mileage," he wrote. "From my experiences, this is dependent on personal preference and the comfort of the board."
Plainfield School District spends $65,538.72 annually on travel stipends for 22 district office administrators, including Harper. The annual travel stipends range from $4,559 to $2,289.
"Everyone else, including principals, have to submit mileage reports for reimbursement," wrote district spokesman Tom Hernandez in an e-mail.
"It's my understanding that the board made this change about three years ago in recognition that administrators routinely and significantly use their personal vehicles for business purposes -- driving to schools, board meetings, extracurricular activities, evening work-related meetings and functions, etc. -- both in and outside of the district.
"This change saved the district money by reducing the number of reimbursements, and the work needed to process them," he said.
In Morris Grade School District, principals receive $500 annually to cover all travel.
In Troy School District, Joanne Schochat is the only administrator who gets a travel stipend. She is the assistant superintendent for human resources and general counsel and receives $3,600 each year for travel.
In Joliet Township High School District, the superintendent and two assistant superintendents get monthly stipends. Superintendent Paul Swanstrom gets $4,500 annually. The assistant superintendents get $3,600.
Channahon Superintendent Karin Evans is on the road a lot, traveling between schools, attending various meetings, school sporting events and academic activities. She receives a $2,400 annual stipend.
"For example, I attend at least two special education board meetings per month. These meetings are held in Peotone, Manteno, Wilmington and Braidwood," Evans wrote in an e-mail.
She also serves on two committees for Southern Will County Cooperative for Special Education, traveling to those meetings up to four times per month.
"I attend workshops and administrator academies that are sometimes as far away as Bloomington or Springfield or the northern suburbs," she wrote.
She also goes to county-wide meetings for administrators and special education staffings in alternative schools outside of Channahon.
"I move around our district every day back and forth between buildings," she wrote.
"In-district travel is a moot point in that while we have two buildings, they are on the same campus and the district office is located within the junior high school," Superintendent Mike Early wrote in an e-mail. "All staff that travel for staff development or other school business are reimbursed at the IRS business rate."
But that's not the case for Fairmont School District, even though it also has its only school and district office on one campus. Superintendent Doris Langon receives $3,600 annually for travel
"Even though they get a stipend, mileage reports still need to be submitted to substantiate the stipends, otherwise the reimbursement is considered taxable," district spokesman Larry Randa wrote in an e-mail.
"Principals and assistant principals are required to travel as part of their jobs. They drive to trainings at the Professional Development Alliance, in-state conferences and to areas within the district including the Administration Center where they must come four or five times a month for various meetings. They also drive to away school sporting events, music contests, etc," Randa wrote.
All administrators who get stipends must file a mileage report, using the IRS rate of 55 cents per mile, for income tax purposes.
If someone does not turn in a mileage report, the full stipend is considered taxable income.
If someone has $2,750 in mileage one year, but only gets a $1,000 stipend, he or she will not receive a larger stipend.
But if someone receives a $1,000 stipend, but only tallies up $275 in miles, the person is still paid the $1,000 stipend. But $725 would be considered taxable income and added to the W-2.
"So in essence, a mileage report is merely a vehicle for tracking potential income that must be reported to the IRS. It is not a vehicle for the district to keep watch on driving activity by our administrators to make sure they are earning their stipend," Randa wrote. "Frankly, we know the district is getting its money's worth from our administrators because they are driving a whole lot more than they're getting paid for."
The vehicles are available to all district employees and are used for a variety of jobs, Superintendent David Requa wrote in an e-mail.
"Some are used to transport special education students who are going to a distant site where we have only one student. Sometimes they are used for coaches to take a few student athletes to a game for the golf team, for instance," Requa wrote.
On a recent trip to Springfield, Requa drove his own car because the district vehicles may have been needed while he was gone.
"I don't think it is right with our financial condition to charge those things to the district even for district business," he wrote.
