Topeka ? Despite criticism of one member over her expenses during a Florida convention, a State Board of Education subcommittee decided Monday against proposing changes in board travel policies.

Board member Connie Morris, of St. Francis, was criticized last month because her trip in April to Miami for a six-day conference on magnet schools cost Kansas taxpayers nearly $3,600. Other board members, already at odds with Morris and other conservatives who control the 10-member board over evolution, pushed for a policy review.

But the subcommittee – whose three members include Morris – decided against recommending revisions to the full board, which was scheduled to take up the issue Tuesday.

“There has to be some latitude for different expenses in different parts of the country,” said subcommittee Chairman Ken Willard, of Hutchinson, a conservative.

Currently, the board approves members’ trips in advance but doesn’t scrutinize the expense vouchers. Board members are limited to $91 a day in expenses when they travel inside the state, but there is no limit for out-of-state travel.

“Bring us your receipts, and we pay them,” said Rod Bieker, an education department attorney.

Morris’ expenses included $339 a night for a room at the hotel where the convention was held. She said no cheaper rooms at the hotel were available when she registered for the conference.

She said she also wanted to avoid walking from another hotel to conference events.

She said little during Monday’s meeting, but in the past has suggested criticism of her is political and part of the board’s ongoing dispute over how evolution is taught.

Morris upset moderate board members last month with a newsletter to constituents describing evolution as “an age-old fairy tale” and criticizing other board members by name.

The subcommittee also was directed to review policies saying that board members are supposed to treat each other with courtesy and not let debates lapse into personal attacks. The subcommittee decided those policies already were clear.

Bieker said: “It seems to me you’ve got it covered.”