TOPEKA ? State Board of Education member Connie Morris today said she has reimbursed the state $2,890 for expenses she had previously billed taxpayers for a conference she attended in Florida.

But Morris, who had charged the state for six nights in a $339-per-night hotel in Miami to attend the conference in April on magnet schools, was unapologetic.

She said in a prepared statement: “No amount of media bullying can take from the good people I serve the vision and knowledge I gained at the conference.

“God says to avoid the appearance of wrongdoing. My dad says that if you want to know the character of a man look in his billfold. I prefer to take the higher ground.”

News reports of the expenditures by Morris, a Republican from St. Francis, had caused an uproar. The trip also included airfare, a registration fee, cab rides and meals.