In his first 18 months on the job, Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero spent more than $16,000 on travel-related expenses – more than his four predecessors combined, based on five years of records reviewed by The Denver Gazette.

But that number likely understated his total travel expenses. 

A review of Marrero’s expenses shows he has traveled to multiple out-of-state locations to attend speaking engagements and national conferences that included trips to California, Florida, Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico.

The Denver Gazette examined receipts, expense logs and reports, employee reimbursement and per diem forms for Marrero’s spending – documents obtained under the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA).

At least two of his trips during this period were for conferences hosted by the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents. Marrero now serves as the group’s president-elect.

Marrero also frequently attends conferences as an invited guest.

When he travels as an invited speaker or attends as a member of an organization’s board of directors, the district pays for the travel, which is later reimbursed by those organizations, said Scott Pribble, a district spokesperson.

In addition to Marrero’s travel, The Denver Gazette also reviewed the expenses for former superintendents Tom Boasberg, Ronald Cabrera, Susana Cordova and Dwight Jones.

Cabrera and Jones both served as interim superintendents. Cordova served during the COVID-19 pandemic, when travel was restricted in many parts of the country.

Marrero was hired by the Board of Education in July 2021. His travel expenses in his first 18 months as superintendent tallied $16,524, according to an expense log created by the district shows.

To put that number into perspective, over a 19-month period from January 2022 through August of this year, the seven-member board of education spent more than $56,000 on travel combined, according to district data obtained in a separate CORA request.

During that time, board members spent, on average, about $427 a month.

Marrero spent, on average, spent $918 a month over 18 months.

Only former Board Vice President Auon’tai M. Anderson – who did not seek reelection to the board and instead decided to run for state House District 8 – has spent more on travel than Marrero: roughly $20,800.

None of the superintendents who preceded Marrero spent on travel near as much as he has.

Cordova, now a Colorado Commissioner of Education, spent the second most on travel – with $4,492 in expenses over her roughly two years with the district as superintendent.

Cordova’s expenses appeared to be for in-state travel.

Boasberg, Cabrera and Jones each spent less than $500 on travel, according to a spreadsheet of expenses the district provided in response to The Denver Gazette’s CORA request.

After this story published, Carrie Olson, the new board president, defended Marrero’s travel expenses, saying he is an “active educational leader in our community both locally and at the state level.” Olson also suggested that Marrero needed to travel out of state to learn from peers because Denver Public Schools, given its size as a large urban district, is “without a peer in Colorado.” 

“Thus, it is important for the superintendent to also collaborate with, and learn from, other similar districts nationwide for the benefit of our students,” Olson said. “As such, travel is an expected and endorsed part of the superintendent’s role and is enshrined in his contract.”

Under Marrero, the Denver Public Schools Board of Education has been the subject of intense criticism over a school closure list, the firing of a beloved principal and the failure to failure to protect students and administrators from gun violence.

Notably, hours after a student shot two administrators on March 22, Marrero requested the board to meet behind closed doors to discuss the district’s 2020 ban armed officers from campuses. In the subsequent closed-door meeting, Marrero and the board members drafted a policy to reverse that policy. 

Deciphering the district leaders’ taxpayer-funded travels proved tricky.

That’s because travel receipts did not always correspond with what district officials said was reimbursed.

Take Boasberg’s travel expenses.

District data shows Boasberg spent nearly $300 on travel, but his receipts show something different.

A single submitted receipt shows Boasberg may have spent more.

For example, in May of 2021, Boasberg submitted an invoice for a convention with The Colorado Association of School Executives in the amount of $405. This expense, and other receipts, were not reflected in the district’s travel expenses tally for Boasberg.

Bill Good, the district spokesperson, doubted the tally – provided by the district in a CORA request – for Boasberg is accurate because he spent nearly a decade as superintendent from 2009 through 2019.

“It’s highly unlikely that he spent less than $16,000,” Good said.

At first glance, a review of Marrero’s receipts appears to show that he spent, at taxpayers’ expense, more than $400 on dining over three days in Puerto Rico, according to a receipt he submitted from the La Concha resort in San Juan.

That’s well above the district’s per diem rate of $79 a day for meals and incidentals.

Marrero also submitted a per diem request for his meals in Puerto Rico for $256.50.

Pribble said Marrero was only paid a per diem for his meals in Puerto Rico and that the La Concha receipt for dining may have been required to prove he attended the conference.

It’s unclear, though, why Marrero would be required to submit meal receipts for this trip and not others.

Marrero declined repeated requests for an interview.

Also missing in Marrero’s submitted expenses for his Puerto Rico trip last year was a receipt for airfare, but this could be because the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents paid for his flight, Pribble said.

Despite attempts over several months to reconcile some of these inconsistencies, some questions still remain.

For instance, the district’s responsive records for The Denver Gazette’s original CORA request show Marrero spent more than $16,500 on travel, while a second CORA request for his predecessors’ expenses, that also captured Marrero’s spending, shows $2,000 less in travel expenditures.

Taxpayers likely spent more on travel for the superintendent because some of the expenses Marrero submitted to the district alluded to travel with no corresponding receipts.

For example, Marrero appears to have traveled to Nashville, Tennessee in February of 2021 for a conference, according to a per diem request he submitted. But the expenses provided in The Denver Gazette’s CORA request lacked any receipts for other expenses typically incurred with out-of-state travel, such as lodging, airfare or conference registration.

Pribble explained that Marrero “does not always submit all of his travel expenses for reimbursement.”

Because Marrero does not have a district-issued credit card, some of the travel expenses he has incurred could have been handled by staffers, Pribble added.

In all, Denver taxpayers spent $21,753.43 in travel expenses for superintendents Boasberg, Cabrera, Cordova, Jones and Marrero, expense logs from September 30, 2018 through February 2023 show.

The Denver Gazette had asked for all the travel expenses dating back to Irving Moskowiz, who served as superintendent from 1994 until 1999. Stacy Wheeler, the district’s records custodian, said that she “does not have any records” for Moskowiz.

Ultimately, The Denver Gazette received records dating back to September 30, 2018 – five years’ worth of documents.

The district’s retention policy is seven years.

Editor’s Note: The Denver Gazette began asking about superintendent travel earlier this year and attempted for months to get greater clarity from district officials about the reimbursement process following multiple requests for public information on how tax dollars are being spent. The statement from Board President Carrie Olson and comments from Bill Good, a district spokesperson, was provided after publication.