JACKSON (AP) — Public records show the Jackson school district has spent at least $20,000 for out-of-state trips by Superintendent Lonnie Edwards since he started the job in 2008.

The Clarion-Ledger reported Sunday that Edwards’ trips cost more than twice as much as the combined expenses of similar trips for the other six Jackson-area superintendents, the DeSoto County schools superintendent and state Superintendent of Education Tom Burnham.

The newspaper obtained documents through a public records request. The documents show Edwards has taken about a dozen out-of-state trips since 2008. He usually flies from Jackson to Atlanta, where his wife still lives, before continuing to the final destination.

Edwards defended traveling out of state while school districts have received funding cuts. He said training is essential for Jackson Public Schools’ leadership and staff.

JPS’s 2010-11budget is about 12 percent less than the previous year’s budget, and 125 teaching positions were cut through attrition. The district lost about $9 million in state money the previous school year.

Edwards acknowledged his wife sometimes travels with him.

“My wife accompanies me on trips when her schedule permits; however, the district does not make or pay for any travel arrangement for her,” Edwards wrote. “In many instances, the conferences that I attended have activities for spouses that are included with registration.”

However, on one trip to San Francisco the district paid $80 for two tickets to tour the city.

Edwards, hired in August 2008, had few direct flights, according to the documents. Shortly after he was named superintendent, the district paid $1,576 for him to fly from Atlanta to Jackson round trip for a nearly eight-hour stay. Almost all of the flights after that one included stops in Atlanta.

When asked whether board members were concerned about Edwards’ travels, President Kisiah Nolan said she could not comment because of Edwards’ appeal to keep his job. The board told Edwards in January his contract will not be renewed when it ends in June. An appeal hearing, which began last month, is scheduled to continue Monday.

Former Jackson school board member Jonathan Larkin said one requirement of the district’s membership in the Council of Great City Schools is that the superintendent and school board president attend two conferences a year.

Under Edwards’ contract, the school board is supposed to give prior approval for out-of-state travel. Few of the documents for the travel expenses included a board president’s signature. On some, Edwards was the only person to sign. On others, a staff member signed as the requestor and Edwards signed as the supervisor.

Edwards also is supposed to give a report to the school board after he attends a conference or training, according to his contract. Edwards said he told board members about his trips during his monthly reports. Larkin said he could not remember that happening “very many times, if at all.”

Leaders of large, urban districts need to attend conferences to get a sense of how similar innovations may work in their schools, said Bruce Hunter, associate executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, an organization that regularly holds conferences.

“You have to find somebody roughly your size, usually, and your complexity, to see an idea and get a sense of what you would have to do to make the changes,” Hunter said.

It can be necessary to go out of state “because innovations seldom take place in your own back yard,” he said.

Without training, educators would be out of touch because education is constantly changing, said DeSoto County Superintendent Milton Kuykendall, who leads the state’s largest school district. Jackson has the second-largest district.

Kuykendall said he hires experts to work in the district, and he often sends his deputy superintendents, administrators and teachers away for training. Federal dollars are used to bring experts to the district to train employees, he said. Kuykendall attended four conferences over three years at a total of about $2,500.

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Information from: The Clarion-Ledger, http://www.clarionledger.com