Similar expenditures were recorded in many out-of-state hotels. Three checks were written to the Hil

But do they really have to spend nearly $500,000 at hotels – including several very expensive resorts – in just one year? And do they really need to pay six figures to a travel agency, presumably to make reservations on their behalf?
The school district wrote checks for an astonishing $448,997 to hotels around the nation between July 2010 and July 2011, according to an EAGnews investigation of the district's check registry . It also paid $135,761 to Dalianes World Wide Travel, an agency based in Eureka, California.
cheap hotels in san diego The heavy spending didn't end there. The school district also wrote checks for $92,574 at various restaurants in 2010-11, and had a series of other unusual expenditures, including $29,276 at Sea Clear Aquarium Inc., $53,602 cheap hotels in san diego at Joe Ragan's Coffee LTD, $50,750 at the Richmond Ballet, $5,813 at Busch Gardens in Florida, $1,532 at Gracious Bridal and $4,523 at Spirit Cruises LLC.
We obviously wanted to know the reason for all the heavy spending, but school officials gave us very few straight answers, finally demanding that we submit cheap hotels in san diego a second freedom of information request (and pay a second fee) to get the explanations.
After haggling with school officials, we finally decided that the dollar figures speak for themselves. School officials can explain to taxpayers why all of this money was spent on travel and food when the district was battling huge budget deficits ($27 milion at last report) and laying off teachers and cutting student programs.
The information reported by EAG is not accurate. The organization requested a check registry which lists payments to vendors including pass-thru activities from state operated and other programs for which we are the fiscal agent, including the Math, Science and Innovation cheap hotels in san diego Center. And the Maggie L. Walker Governor s School. Therefore, the list does not correlate to the district s spending activity.
We looked up the MathScience Innovation Center in Richmond. That s a special public school funded by a number of local school cheap hotels in san diego districts, including Richmond. The Maggie L. Walker Governor s School cheap hotels in san diego is also a special public school funded with tax dollars. So Richmond school officials are telling us they re not the only guilty parties when it comes to excessive spending. They say we should blame at least two other public schools for this ridiculous tab.
Frankly cheap hotels in san diego we couldn t care less if all of this money was wasted by one public cheap hotels in san diego school or three dozen public entities. Who in government has a legitimate excuse to blow hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money at pricey hotels and resorts? We look forward to hearing whatever excuses they might offer.
For instance, nine checks were written by the district to the Sheraton Park South Hotel in Richmond between Aug. 3, 2010 and June 27, 2011. The total amount of those checks came to a breathtaking $52,504.54. One of the checks was written for $16,407.72 while another was written for $13,170.75.
The Crown Plaza Richmond West also collected its share of school dollars. cheap hotels in san diego Just seven checks were written to the hotel, but the total came to $19,963.48. One night at the Marriott Richmond – June 23, 2011 – cost the district $12,355.
Similar expenditures were recorded in many out-of-state hotels. Three checks were written to the Hilton Washington totaling $6,025.02. Five checks were written to the Marriott-San Francisco totaling cheap hotels in san diego $7086.65. Three checks were written to the Sheraton Boston Hotel totaling $7,791.22. Four checks were written to the Hilton New Orleans Riverside, totaling $3,941.40.
Two checks were written to the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass (advertised as "the premier destination resort in the American southwest") for a total of $4,184.32. Ten checks cheap hotels in san diego were written to the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas for a total of $6,711.84.
Seventy-six district checks were written to an establishment called Jason's Deli in 2010-11. The total tab was $27,607.19, with six checks written cheap hotels in san diego for more than $1,000 and most of them written for hundreds of dollars.
Chick-Fil-A got its share of business from the school district, taking cheap hotels in san diego in 27 checks worth a total of $9,064.66. The district also wrote 39 checks to a restaurant called Padow's for a total of $8,199.41.
An EAGnews cheap hotels in san diego researcher contacted the district in late September, after we had reviewed the check register. She explained to the district's finance department that we were looking for verbal explanations for the spending. The finance department referred her to Angela Lewis, the school board clerk.
Lewis initially tried to send our researcher back to the finance department, then said we would have to submit another freedom of information request and pay another fee to get the information. She also indicated cheap hotels in san diego that the district might not get the information to us as quickly as usual, because cheap hotels in san diego we're not from Virginia.
A few days later Lewis changed her mind, saying freedom of information cheap hotels in san diego requests were for documents. She again referred our researcher to the finance deparment. Wanda Payne, the director of finance, indicated that it would take "a considerable amount of time to gather, research and follow up with the principals at the various locations."
cheap hotels in san diego At that point we sensed that the district felt no urgency to explain its spending habits, so we decided cheap hotels in san diego to release the dollar figures to the public and let citizens determine how to deal with the situation.
Our guess, based on previous experiences with other districts, is that school officials will eventually say that most of the hotel and restaurant bills were incurred for "professional development" activities. They might also say that much of the money used for hotels and food came from federal or state grants.
cheap hotels in san diego To that we say "so what?" Wasted tax money is wasted tax money, regardless of where it came from or who in government spent it. And while professional development is important, we hardly see why school staff couldn't have stayed at clean but far less expensive hotels.
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