Educational Travel (EdT)
Educational Travel (EdT) is managed by the Renewal Agreement Travel (RAT) & Educational Travel (EdT) Branch. The branch is responsible for supporting authorized dependent travel to/from school for Outside Contiguous United States (OCONUS) employees' authorized dependents.
RAT/EdT authorizations and flight reservations are facilitated by the Resource Management (RM) RAT/EdT Branch. The RAT/EdT Branch utilizes the Defense Travel System (DTS) to process travel orders and make flight reservations for upcoming RAT/EdT. The RAT/EdT Branch employees serve as liaisons with Civilian Human Resource Agency (CHRA), the Travel Management Companies (TMC), and DoDEA employees to ensure proper execution of EdT in accordance with governmental regulations.
Â
The RAT/EdT Branch supports DoDEA Employees with the following tasks:
- Educate DoDEA employees by providing travel instructions
- Create DTS Authorizations (funded orders)
- Book flight reservations in DTS
- Review, amend, and cancel DTS authorizations for EdT, as applicable
- Enter and process vouchers for travel reimbursement and reconciliation
- Manage EdT Debt Collection
- Process Educational Summer Storage claims
Systems used for Educational Travel
- TOPS – Online portal to request an EdT Authorization (DD Form 1614)Â
- DTS RAT/EDT Authorizations - Resource Management Service Request – Online portal to request travel orders and flight reservations.
- DTS – Department of Defense Travel website for creating travel orders, booking flight reservations in DTS, and settling of travel vouchers.
- Info Sheet - Education Travel
- Info Sheet - RAT and EdT Voucher
Required documents for Educational Travel
- Travel Authorization - (refer to DoDEA employee “How to submit a RAT/EdT request for travel” for guidance)Â
- TOPS – DD1614Â
- DoDEA Form 5050 – Travel Reservation Request
- Travel Voucher – (refer to RAT/EdT Voucher info sheet and “Review and Sign DTS Voucher” info sheet for guidance)
- E-ticket receipt or flight invoice
- Receipt for any expense over $75/USD
- Receipt for accompanied/unaccompanied baggage (any dollar value)
For assistance with TOPS please contact CHRA.
For questions or assistance with your DTS EdT orders and or EdT vouchers please communicate directly with your assigned RM specialist through the service now platform.
Vouchers are submitted via the RM Global Service Desk.
Luggage and UAB allowances are authorized by the DSSRÂ (refer to 285.1)
Yes. Please refer to DSSRÂ 285.1. At the election of the employee, in lieu of the transportation of the child's UAB from the child's school, the costs incurred to store the baggage at or in the vicinity of the school during the child's annual trip between the school and the employee's duty station may be paid or reimbursed to the employee, except that the amount of the payment or reimbursement may not exceed the cost that the Government would incur to transport the unaccompanied personal baggage in connection with the trip.Â
EXAMPLE: For the child’s annual trip, the first leg must occur at the end of the spring semester from school to PDS (travel period covers a duration of time when school is NOT in session) and the second leg returning to school from PDS at the beginning of the fall semester completing the annual trip, therefore justifying the requirement for summer storage.
Open-jaws tickets are NOT authorized. Open-jaws is an airline ticket where the departure and/or arrival cities are different for the outbound and return flights.Â
En route stops are NOT authorized. Travelers are authorized the most direct roundtrip transportation to and from the closest commercial transportation terminal from the PDS OCONUS to the sponsoring employee’s HOR or authorized alternate location, whichever is least expensive.Â
