Last Thursday’s meeting of the Denver school board laid bare more abuses of taxpayer dollars in Colorado’s largest school district — shrouded in a rhetorical sleight-of-hand designed to play down egregious behavior.

For over a decade, each board member has been allotted a $5,000 personal expense budget, totaling $35,000. That doesn’t include compensation for eligible board members or a general board budget of some $150,000 last year and — somehow — $254,000 this year.

In his treasurer’s report, board member Scott Esserman claimed the board underspent its 2022-2023 school year budget by 13%, particularly in the general board funds. That may be so — but it’s extraordinarily misleading.

“This is new to me,” said a perplexed Scott Baldermann, who’s been on the board since 2019. “I don’t even know what ‘board of education general’ is. When was this approved? Cause I would think that, if we act as a body, we should be, as a group, working on this and then approving it.”

Noting he was unaware of “any actual written policy,” Baldermann called for a clear policy and procedures on board spending.

Echoing Baldermann’s transparency concerns, President Sochi Gaytán said she’d asked staff to post the line-item expenses online, following media inquiries and open records requests. This now-public data clarifies the frustrating reality — and raises more questions.

After all these years, why doesn’t DPS have a board policy on expenses? What good are a treasurer’s report and budget-to-actual comparisons without an approved budget?

In the 2021-2022 school year, outgoing board member Tay Anderson, Dr. Carrie Olson and Michelle Quattlebaum collectively exceeded their expense budgets by $5,850.05. Baldermann requested no expenses, while Gaytán had just one $541 conference hotel charge.

Fast-forward to 2022-2023. Baldermann and Gaytán abstained from charging any personal expenses, and Charmaine Lindsay was under budget — yet the board’s expenses shortfall still doubled to $10,230.

Let’s be clear on how: Tay Anderson alone piled up a whopping $18,382 in expenses — surpassing his share by more than $13,000. Meanwhile, Esserman and Quattlebaum went over buget by $4,359 and $3,022, respectively.

DPS board member expenses are abundant and often stunning. For instance, Anderson and Quattlebaum split $825 between their budgets to host a private screening of Disney’s live action “The Little Mermaid” at Harkins Theatre in Northfield — where Anderson also shelled out nearly $1,200 for a private screening of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

If the idea of politicians spending over $2,000 in taxpayer funds to personally host private screenings of Hollywood movies strikes you as unethical, you’re not alone.

Anderson racked up over $14,000 in air fare, hotel stays, per diem and other expenses while attending at least seven different conferences in six cities — enjoying swanky spots like Miami, New York City, Orlando, New Orleans and Washington, DC. (He and Esserman were apparently at another conference as of Thursday, presumably on the taxpayer’s dole.) Some of these conferences, occasionally joined by colleagues, strain credulity. The National Association of Latino Elected & Appointed Officials, Our Collective Power Conference, and the Equity Symposium & Advocacy Institute Conference — none seem pertinent for a school board member.

The board spent considerable time extolling the “learnings” from their trips, yet it’s hard to see how they can justify such extravagant spending to anyone outside their DPS board bubble. Frankly, such trips appear overrated and questionable — if not outright corrupt at times. Other school districts don’t play this game. Douglas County Schools, for example, groups board conference expenses together, essentially covering board members’ attendance only to the annual Colorado Association of School Boards meeting.

In 2021, the previous DPS board authorized compensation for new members starting January 2022, but payments didn’t kick in until this year. Esserman outlined a purported $48,372 budget for overall board member compensation during the 2022-2023 school year — assuming all four eligible board members accepted $12,015 in annual compensation, public pension benefits and cost of living adjustments.

Yet, the actual compensation totaled $52,526 — over budget by $4,154. Esserman attributed this discrepancy to a “timing variance…from months prior to July 2023,” meaning backpay.

Here’s the thing: Only three eligible board members (Esserman, Gaytán and Quattlebaum) claimed compensation. So, the true overage isn’t just $4,154 — it’s $16,481 above a legitimate budget of $36,045, confirmed by the board’s spreadsheet. When Olson, the sole eligible board member who declined a paycheck, asked what happens to her unclaimed compensation, Esserman stumbled. “It just becomes a number,” he said, adding it won’t return anywhere “because they’re not dollars we’re actually spending.” Come again?

At one point, Baldermann probed Esserman’s fuzzy math regarding his own compensation and expenses — to which Esserman pledged to investigate and get back with him. Are you serious?

Let’s be real: Whether it’s an $18,000 splurge by one board member or fudged compensation numbers, this deceptive, spendthrift behavior epitomizes precisely why the DPS board drowns in perpetual unpopularity.

A Keating Research survey found only 30% of respondents approve of the current school board, while a full 50% expressed disapproval. Fresh polling from the bipartisan Colorado Polling Institute likewise showed an overwhelming 55% disapproval — and only 22% approval. Just before Tay Anderson decided against reelection, CPI showed he had a measly 9% support.

Make no mistake: While DPS school board members fiddled on vacations disguised as conferences, the district burned — from a plummeting reputation and unyielding dysfunction to stagnant student outcomes and deteriorated school safety and discipline.

It’s no wonder the public persistently believes Denver’s school board is woefully out of touch and driven by self-interest — not the well-being of Colorado’s kids.

Jimmy Sengenberger is an investigative journalist, public speaker, and host of “The Jimmy Sengenberger Show” Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. on News/Talk 710 KNUS. Reach Jimmy online at Jimmysengenberger.com or on Twitter (X) @SengCenter.