A school choice advocacy group is asking why Orangeburg Consolidated School District 5 Superintendent Melvin Smoak is charging them $5,000 to see receipts of his travel expenses from last year.

Smoak says South Carolinians for Responsible Government President Randy Page wants to see a lot more than just travel receipts. He claims the group, which advocates private school vouchers, requested any and all correspondence relating to his employment contract and travel from the 2007-08 year.

Smoak quoted SCRG a $5,000 fee, including a $2,500 deposit, to gather the information under the Freedom of Information Act. He said that is “an educated guess” on how much it would cost to have his staff locate and compile the information, in addition to attorney fees.

Page said he’s only looking for travel receipts.

“He may just be reading too much into the letter,” said Page, noting other districts provided travel receipts.

Therein is the confusion between the two sides on what SCRG’s FOIA request is actually seeking.

A copy of the FOIA request, dated Sept. 30, sent to Smoak and obtained by The T&D asked for “any and all files, records, reports, written correspondence (including emails), memoranda, contracts, agreements, or other documents” relating to his contract, including amendments, and expense reports for any conference attended by Smoak last year.

A similar request was sent to all of the state’s 85 district superintendents, Page said. He said OCSD 5 charged the most in the state to view the records. Berkeley County School District quoted Page the second highest amount at $3,600. Other districts charged little or no fee for the FOIA request, he said.

Bill Rogers, executive director of the South Carolina Press Association, said the $5,000 price tag to view travel receipts for a single year is outrageous. The amount would be a “little high” even to locate a decade’s worth of correspondence and receipts.

Smoak insists “there’s nothing to hide” and he’s willing to provide the information to anybody.

Page wouldn’t say be believes Smoak is hiding anything. However, he said, “my concern is that as a government entity, school districts or state government have a responsibility to provide public information to the public.”

Both sides do agree Smoak complied with the FOIA request.

He provided the group with a copy of his employment contract and a list of his total expenses for traveling to six conferences last year. The travel expenses totaled $7,743.21.

But no receipts for those trips were provided.

That prompted Page to send an editorial to The T&D criticizing Smoak.

Page suggests Smoak’s praise of the district’s performance, which Page calls abysmal, means he holds minority students to a lower standard.

“Orangeburg 5 public schools are not working to break the community’s cycle of poverty,” Page said.

Smoak disagrees.

“To make comments like that is absurd, it’s unreal,” Smoak said.

Smoak shot back, saying the district has had 27 Palmetto Gold and Silver Award-winning schools, five Red Carpet School Award recipients and two national Blue Ribbon Award schools during his tenure.

In addition, he cited the district’s nationally recognized art program and hundreds of Palmetto Fellow Scholarship recipients as a counterpoint to Page’s argument.

“Our kids can compete based on the successes we realized. Our kids go to colleges all over the nation,” he said. “My belief is that it’s not where you’re coming from, it’s where you’re going.”

Page said the district’s PACT and SAT scores are evidence of “sustained failure” under Smoak.

Page noted the district’s SAT average last year was 889, 130 points below the national average, with only 111 students taking the test. He said OCSD 5 had less than 23 percent of its students score either “proficient” or “advanced” in English and math on the 2007 PACT test. He said the figures come from the 2007 state report card.

OCSD 5 spokesman Greg Carson countered that more students, over 300, took the ACT instead of the SAT last year. As for PACT scores, Carson said SCRG’s figures do not account for the gains made by the district or the number of students scoring “basic” on the test, the threshold for meeting standards.

He noted Whittaker and Sheridan elementary schools exceeded state averages on PACT.

“It’s hard to give credibility to something that’s taken out of context. The numbers have to be viewed as whole to draw some kind of conclusion.” he said.

Page’s editorial also questions Smoak’s willingness to accept pay raises while failing to raise the district’s academic performance. His salary is $129,481 for the 2008-09 year.

Smoak said he has received the same cost-of-living adjustment as teachers for the last decade.

Page also addressed Smoak’s travel and the FOIA request in the editorial.

“Not satisfied with the level of luxury afforded to him as a ‘public servant’ in a poverty-stricken area, Smoak spent an additional $7.743.21 of the taxpayers’ money traveling around to ‘conferences’ in 2007-2008,” the letter continued. It goes on to criticize Smoak for “demanding $5,000 to answer a simple FOIA request” for travel receipts.

Smoak defended his travel expenses, saying he attended the conferences to stay abreast of current trends in education. He said the conferences afforded him the chance to learn about curriculum organization, grants, new ideas and technology.

Smoak noted he was able to get federal funding for renovations after hearing about the opportunity at a conference.

“If I’m not in attendance, I’m really out of the loop ... There is a cost factor. I don’t think we’re overdoing it as Mr. Page is saying,” he said.

Smoak said he works hard to ensure students’ success. “It’s frustrating that folks with an agenda try and beat you up. But it’s part of the job.”

T&D Staff Writer Lee Tant can be reached at ltant@timesanddemocrat.com and 803-534-1060.

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