Philly School District spent at least $309,000 sending staff to local union conference despite travel policy

The School District of Philadelphia spent at least $309,000 for several hundred of its employees to attend a union conference in March, according to documents obtained via a Right to Know Law request. Many of the expenses conflict with the district’s own travel policies.

About $294,000 went to registration fees at $440–$500 per person, and roughly $14,500 covered about 40 hotel rooms, bringing the total to about $309,000 — even though the conference was located in Philadelphia. 

If the district has a rationale for the expenses, or if it disputes the totals, it did not respond to a lengthy request for comment from Broad + Liberty. Nothing in the current CASA union contract would seem to require the district to directly pay for or support union-led conferences, and the district did not point to any contract provision requiring it to pay for such conferences.

The expenses were for CASA One, a conference run by Teamsters Local 502 (Commonwealth Association of School Administrators), March 28–30 at the Hilton on City Avenue. 

Other documents provided by the district show the conference mainly offered garden-variety professional development seminars or “breakout sessions,” which is hardly objectionable or controversial in its own right. Nevertheless, it’s questionable why the district would need to pay a $440 registration fee when it possibly might have organized such a meeting on its own for hundreds of dollars less per person.

While the CASA contract requires the district to contribute $600 per CASA member annually to a professional-development partnership, records show the CASAOne payments were made directly from district accounts, not from that partnership fund.  Although CASA is not the point of scrutiny of this article, an email to the address at the CASA website bounced back as undeliverable.

At a minimum, the hotel expenses would seem to conflict with part of the district’s travel policies, one of which urges employees to attend conferences by virtual means, seemingly with expenses in mind. 

“Employees who seek reimbursement for conference attendance shall choose virtual conference attendance, if that is available, or choose the most local location for in-person attendance if virtual attendance is not an option,” the policy says. 

Yet another policy addresses the point more specifically, saying, “An overnight stay is not permitted within the greater Philadelphia region unless the Superintendent or their designee grants an exception[.]”

If “exception” forms were created, they were not turned over in response to the Right to Know request.

The documents the district turned over also suggest 710 of the 788 total attendees — over 90 percent — were district employees, which again raises the issue of whether the district could have conducted the conference or a similar event on its own at a significant cost savings. 

“If multiple employees need to attend an in-person only conference or other learning opportunity, managers should pursue alternatives of having the session held at a District facility or identify local conferences before out of town on-site travel is authorized,” the policy says.

Although the expenditure represents a tiny fraction of the district’s $3.5 billion annual budget, it still raises questions about spending priorities and oversight in one of the largest school systems not only in the commonwealth, but in the nation. The district serves 120,000 students across hundreds of schools, making individual expenditures like this difficult for taxpayers to track or challenge.

State Representative Martina White, a Republican whose district serves Philadelphia, said the expenses require a tough review.

“Revelations about this conference spending certainly warrant more scrutiny. Taxpayers must have accountability for every dollar,” White told Broad + Liberty.

White has made SDP oversight a key issue of her district work, holding hearings earlier this year on wasteful spending in the district and setting up a hotline for district employees or others to submit tips.

The conference also featured a breakout session presented by a teacher controversial for his politics — one who also has broad influence on core curriculum.

The CASA One conference featured a session called, “Fugitive Leadership: Sustaining  Radical Hope in the Face of Opposition,” presented by Ismael Jimenez. Some online posts from the district as recent as 2024 identify Jimenez as the director of the district’s social studies curriculum.

“In an era of increasing hostility toward equity-driven education, school leaders must embrace the spirit of ‘fugitive leadership’ — a bold, visionary approach rooted in resistance, resilience, and radical hope. Drawing inspiration from fugitive pedagogy, this session will empower school leaders to navigate politically charged environments while remaining steadfast in their commitment to cultivating transformative educational spaces for students and staff alike,” the session description for the March meeting said.

“Participants will explore the historical and theoretical underpinnings of fugitive pedagogy, which has long guided Black educators in resisting oppressive systems and creating liberatory learning environments. Building on this legacy, the session will examine the role of school leaders as agents of both resistance and transformation, challenging them to reimagine their leadership as an act of defiance against systemic inequities and anti-equity legislation.”

This summer, Jimenez became a flashpoint when Jewish leaders with the Philadelphia chapter of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) sent an open letter to the district urging it to take some kind of action against the teacher for what they said was a pattern of anti-Israel statements.

“Mr. Jimenez has made a pattern of denying the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel, refusing to speak about peace or coexistence, and downplaying the lived experiences of Jewish people in the face of violence. These actions raise serious concerns about whether he can serve all students with integrity and respect. 

“This is not about silencing dissent. It is about drawing a moral line,” the leaders concluded.

Jimenez did not respond to a request for comment.

Todd Shepherd is Broad + Liberty’s chief investigative reporter. Send him tips at tshepherd@broadandliberty.com, or use his encrypted email at shepherdreports@protonmail.com. @shepherdreports