Toronto public school trustees spent $108,000 on conferences over a three-year period, travelling to California, Boston and Whistler on the taxpayers’ dime, say two confidential reports obtained by the Star.

The biggest spenders were trustees Gerri Gershon, racking up $13,804.54 in conference costs; Elizabeth Moyer, with at least $13,727.53; and Shelley Laskin with more than $13,533.93, from 2010-11 to 2012-13, the reports show. There were no cost estimates available for three additional conferences attended by Moyer and Laskin.

These figures come as Toronto trustees face a barrage of criticism over their spending habits. As revealed by the Star, a separate internal audit, obtained through a freedom of information request, showed trustees were reimbursed for hand lotion, a floor mat, $11.30 worth of chocolate bars, a $205 aerial tour of the Alberta oilsands, and Gershon’s tour of Israel, which cost nearly $4,000.

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“Taxpayers have been rightfully upset to learn about past trustee expenses at the TDSB,” said board chair Mari Rutka in a letter to the editor sent to the Star on Tuesday. She added that trustees and education director Donna Quan had asked for the internal audit to identify the problems.

“And, since and because of that report, we have made the changes needed to make sure future expenses are fully compliant with a new and much tougher expense policy, which came into effect in May of this year,” Rutka wrote.

“While I believe that some expenses — not all — were submitted with the best of intentions and that reasonable explanations for those expenses may exist, in the end, I also acknowledge the fact that some expenses were not appropriate and should not have been expensed — let alone approved.”

The confidential reports — which consist of two charts — compile, for the first time, figures from different funds that trustees can use to charge for conference travel.

In total, the 22 Toronto District School Board trustees spent a at least $108,000 on conference travel during the three school years in question. That figure includes Gershon’s controversial $3,765 tour of Israel, which she said was meant to promote interfaith relations after concerns were raised about Muslim prayers at one of her schools.

Three trustees filed no conference expenses during the time period — Stephnie Payne, Chris Tonks and Irene Atkinson and Harout Manougian— while others filed claims ranging from a few hundred dollars to several thousand.

Laskin told the Star in an interview that she received permission for all conferences she attended and that, overall, she is one of the lowest spenders when it comes to expenses.

Trustees each have a $27,000 expense budget, but can also claim conference costs from other pots of money.

“Professional development is one of the tenets of being a trustee,” Laskin said, adding that several initiatives have come out of her travels.

This is not the first time Toronto public school board trustees have landed in hot water over food expenses or over-mileage — several reports over the years have cited inappropriate spending.

“I think generally with school boards and all levels of government, the end goal is transparency,” said Toronto Catholic board trustee John Del Grande, who was one of the first trustees in the province to post his expenses online, receipts and all, in 2006. All trustees in the Toronto Catholic board now do so.

“As an outsider and from a school board that was the first to openly post expenses online, I’m disappointed that our coterminous board wouldn’t follow suit with that . . . My advice to the public board is to just openly post, and things have a way of working themselves out,” said Del Grande.

While some professional development is warranted for elected officials, trustees must always be sure “they are being prudent in terms of travel and accommodations,” said Del Grande, who is not running for re-election.

That sentiment was echoed by former Toronto board chair Chris Bolton, who said some trustees did attend conferences without prior approval and even went to the U.S. when there was a ban on international travel. Few ever produced reports on what they learned, he said.

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“There is a role for professional development, but there are two things we need to remember: we shouldn’t be doing those things during times of austerity … and the other thing that we talked about (as trustees) was that when somebody goes to a conference, they should be reporting back,” Bolton said.

Toronto public trustees voted last week to post expenses online, but in general categories only and not with receipts.

“The reality is, if you are not comfortable with your expenses being on the front page of the Sun or the Star, you need to question what you are doing,” said Del Grande. “Expenses aren’t bad, but they need to be reasonable and there needs to be a clear set of rules and guidelines.”

Unused money set aside for trustee expenses can be returned to general coffers. The Toronto Catholic board votes, as a whole, to decide where the leftover money will be spent.

Gershon said she emailed 700 people when she took her 2011 trip to Israel “and told them about its purpose and what I planned to do as a result.” No one complained, she said.

However, the internal audit found it was unclear how such a trip was relevant to her trustee duties. Gerson said she “did not operate outside of our policy” or go beyond her spending limit.

As for her high conference claims, she said, “I have a passion for what I do and I always want to improve.”

Moyer wrote in an email: “All TDSB trustees have access to a discretionary fund and I choose to use it for professional development. It is important to stay current on education issues in my role. All (professional development) is associated with my role as trustee.”