USD 500 P-Card Spending: What We Found

Wyandotte County Chapter — Kansas Property Tax Freedom Coalition

USD 500 (Kansas City Kansas Public Schools) employees are issued procurement cards ("P-Cards") — credit cards charged directly to the district, and ultimately to taxpayers — for day-to-day purchases. After questions were raised about how these cards are being used, we requested and reviewed the district's own 2024 P-Card transaction records (obtained through an open records request) and followed up with the district directly on specific concerns. Here's what the numbers show, and what the district told us.

Figures below cover January through November 2024 (the most recent 11 months of records available at the time of this review) and are calculated directly from the district's own transaction data — the total matches the district's own internal summary exactly. The source documents are linked at the bottom of this page so you can check our work.

The Numbers

Total P-Card spending (Jan–Nov 2024)	$3,523,891.06
Number of transactions	12,619
Number of cardholders	197
Spent at Amazon alone	$727,491.64 (4,158 transactions — over 1 in 5 dollars spent)
Travel & lodging spending (hotels, airlines, rental cars)	~$263,986.93 across 490 transactions
Software & subscription spending	~$144,049.67 across 270 transactions
Charges the district confirmed were fraudulent	$301.82 across 11 transactions

Travel/lodging and software totals are estimated by matching merchant names and purchase notes for likely keywords — the district's own data doesn't tag transactions by category, so treat these two figures as close estimates, not exact official totals.

Top 15 Vendors by Total Spend

Vendor	Total	Transactions
Amazon (all listings combined)	$727,491.64	4,158
Sam's Club (SAMSCLUB.COM)	$145,053.67	358
Walmart (all locations combined)	$92,372.15	764
Omni Dallas Convention Center (hotel)	$83,820.67	114
KCKCC (Kansas City Kansas Community College)	$50,770.77	26
Hudl (sports video/analysis software)	$47,000.00	5
Hilton Hotels	$43,444.56	73
Loving Guidance LLC (training/consulting)	$41,948.98	12
Apple (Apple.com/US)	$36,857.75	24
Accutrain Corporation (training/consulting)	$34,733.00	13
Hy-Vee (all locations combined)	$30,637.74	184
B&H Photo	$30,528.65	28
Home Depot (HomeDepot.com)	$30,040.17	116
Marriott New York Marquis (hotel)	$25,983.11	28
KC Zoo	$25,897.00	33

Several of the highest out-of-state lodging charges stand out on their own: Omni Dallas, Sheraton Marina, Aloft Dallas Downtown, and the Marriott in New York City together account for well over $100,000 in hotel spending in less than a year. Amazon alone is such a large share of spending that we've broken it out separately — both as a transaction list and as the actual itemized receipts showing what was bought — in the Source Documents section below.

Top Cardholders by Total Spend

Cardholder	Total	Transactions
DeSmet, Bridgette	$441,161.26	1,074
Correll, Wayne	$230,040.85	582
Chauvin, Tracie	$180,275.83	487
Cook, Megan	$165,665.34	343
Wright, Angela	$142,097.33	238
"Pro Services" (shared/department card)	$132,648.59	315
Jackson, Dana	$100,652.17	296
Foss, Elizabeth	$100,632.38	283

These are the highest-volume cards, not necessarily anything improper on their own — some names above may be purchasing staff or department cards used on behalf of many people. We're publishing the totals because how public P-Card money is spent is a matter of public record, not to accuse any individual cardholder of wrongdoing. The district's own list of which job positions are authorized to hold a P-Card at all is linked in Source Documents below.

Disclosed Fraudulent Charges

The district's own notes flag 11 transactions, totaling $301.82, as fraudulent: ten recurring $12.00 "Google GSuite" charges on one employee's card in February 2024, and one $181.82 Sam's Club charge on a department card in October 2024. These weren't misuse by the cardholders — in both cases, the card number itself was stolen and used by an outside party. The district told us the fraud was caught by the credit card company, and that the merchant responsible is no longer able to charge that card.

Questions We Asked — and the District's Answers

Q: What is the per diem policy for travel, and when did it start?

A: Traveling staff now receive per diem at the state rate, covering food and other incidentals. This was implemented around the beginning of 2025 — 2–3 months before this answer was given.

Q: What's the policy on using a P-Card versus a Purchase Order?

A: P-Cards are used when a merchant won't accept a Purchase Order, or the purchase is urgent. Whether certain merchants (like Amazon Prime memberships) are pre-approved was not clearly answered.

Q: Is there a limit on hotel room cost?

A: The district did not have an answer to this.

Q: Can employees bring family on trips paid by the district?

A: Single mothers are allowed to bring their children.

Q: Are there policies against charging room service to the district?

A: With per diem now in place, the district says this should no longer happen.

Q: Are purchases approved before or after the card is charged?

A: Before — the district says charges are approved before the bill comes in.

Q: What are the travel agent fees for, and why use a travel agent at all?

A: The district did not give a clear answer on why a travel agent is used.

Q: Why were there fraudulent charges, and was the card number changed immediately?

A: The district says the card number was stolen and used by an outside party — not the cardholder — and that the fraud was caught by the credit card company, which has since blocked the responsible merchant from charging that card again.

Q: Why use P-Cards instead of Purchase Orders for large purchases?

A: The district says larger items are supposed to go out for bid, and said it would look into this further — no full answer given.

Q: How did a district leader end up using a P-Card instead of a personal card while traveling?

A: The district says this was immediately corrected with a personal check.

Q: Who approves charges before the card is used?

A: The district did not have an answer to this.

Q: Why are software licenses paid for on a P-Card instead of handled through IT?

A: The district says licenses are renewed monthly, so a departing employee's license simply doesn't renew rather than needing to be reassigned.

Q: The graduation rate was reported as 85% at a Town Hall, then under 80% at the next meeting — what's the real number, and what is it without Sumner Academy (one of the district's top-performing schools) included?

A: The district says graduation rate is hard to measure accurately, since students who leave the district can't be tracked as either dropping out or transferring elsewhere.

Q: Is it true that roughly $20 million in Medicaid money is unaccounted for?

A: The district says this is false — they are reimbursed for Medicaid and receive only $3–4 million per year, audited annually by the state. We've asked for the last three years of that audit.

Changes We're Asking For

Limit the number of P-Cards issued, and require charges to be approved before they're made, not after.
No software purchases on P-Cards — route these through IT instead.
No meals charged while traveling — per diem only.
Limit the number of trips taken per year; for conferences, consider purchasing recorded sessions for staff who don't attend in person instead of sending more people.
Reduce overall P-Card use — fewer cards in circulation means less exposure to fraud.
A real investigation into the Medicaid funding question, on the record, before it becomes a federal matter.
No children or other family members on district-paid trips. If childcare isn't available, that employee doesn't travel.