Public schools in Texas claim to be broke but they have a way of spending money lavishly, especially on themselves.
Take Lubbock ISD which, according to an investigation by Michigan-based Education Action Group Foundation, spent almost one-and-a-half million dollars on airfare and hotels in just one year, FY 2016-17.
The key item in the story was this: “EAGnews.org has been reviewing travel spending documents from school districts throughout the nation – big and small – for several years now, and we’ve rarely come across one-year travel totals that large.”
Lubbock ISD’s Nancy Sharp
The story reports that Nancy Sharp, who is Lubbock ISD’s paid spokesman but has in practice been running much of the district for years, attempts to justify the huge expenditure by saying “the trips were very long because Lubbock is located in a remote area of Texas.”
Lubbock is no more “remote” from Austin than is Brownsville or Orange; it is no more remote from Austin than Texarkana or Wichita Falls; Lubbock ISD is far less remote from Austin than is Amarillo or even much more distant Canadian, and; Lubbock is far less remote from most every part of Texas than all of the El Paso-area school districts.
Many school districts are not broke for any reason other than that they cannot stop spending lavishly, often on themselves.
Some of the expenses documented by EAGnews were: “…a single charge for $9,280.30 – for one night – at the Embassy Suites in Austin, Texas on May 31, 2017; …a single charge for $5,990.64 at a Doubletree at an unlisted location on June 1, 2017, and; … a combined $13,146.72 in 10 transactions at the Churchill Hotel and DuPont Hotel in Washington, D.C. on July 20-21, 2016.
Many school districts are not broke for any reason other than that they cannot stop spending lavishly, often on themselves.
Most if not all of the schools in my area are more concerned with sports and other extracurricular activities than anything else. One only needs to drive by and read the bragging boards in front of the campuses to see that. My problem with that is of course we spend too much money on these activities, but we aren’t doing our kids any favors if we don’t give them a solid classroom education and prepare them for the real world that they will soon have to join. Have a nice day!