Some school districts need to better track how teachers on paid association leave spend their time, according to a legislative audit released Wednesday.

In Utah and other states, school districts sometimes give teachers leave from their jobs when they're elected to serve as local union leaders. And some Utah districts, such as Granite, Davis and Salt Lake pay part of those leaders' salaries, even when they're on leave from teaching, saying their work still benefits the district. Granite and Davis pay half of their association presidents' salaries and Salt Lake pays one-third, with the association paying the rest.

But auditors found that none of the six districts they examined had guidelines defining which activities benefit the district versus the union. And only Davis asked its association president to log her time. Since the audit was done, the Granite district has asked its association president to submit activity calendars, said Mike Fraser, Granite's human resources director.

"Without accountability and guidelines, districts are not fulfilling their statutory responsibilities to ensure that association leave has a direct benefit to the school district," the audit said. According to state law, districts are supposed to document paid leave and seek reimbursement for costs related to activities that do not directly benefit education in the district.

The audit recommends the State Office of Education work with districts to develop guidelines defining which activities benefit districts and which don't and that association presidents log their time and activities, among other things. State Superintendent Larry Shumway said his office will encourage districts to better track association leave time and to create written criteria to evaluate leave activities.

Mike Kelley, a spokesman for the Utah Education Association (UEA), said he's not sure if adopting the recommendations would change much. According to the audit "district administrators report they are generally aware of what the association presidents are doing."

"They already know what's going on and what's happening," Kelley said. "It's just a matter of tracking and recording."

But Judi Clark, executive director of Parents for Choice in Education, said the audit validates her group's position that taxpayer money should not be used to fund association leaves. Last legislative session, the group worked with Rep. Christopher Herrod, R-Provo, on a bill that would have eliminated paid association leaves. The bill failed.

"Especially in budget lean years, we need to ensure every dollar collected for the strict purpose of educating children goes to that purpose, not to the subsidizing of a union with a clear political agenda," Clark said.

Virginia Ellison, association president for the Salt Lake district, however, said she's confident the district is getting its money's worth out of her.

"Even though I'm only on the payroll for the district for one-third of the time, I spend clearly more than half of my time on things that are pretty directly related to the district," she said.

She said many of her activities --- such as helping resolve conflicts, answering teachers' questions and acting as a voice for teachers on district committees - --- benefit both the district and the union.