Your Tax dollars Flushed in 2005-2006

From the Tacoma News Tribune
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/449463.html

In reviewing costs for the 2005-2006 school year, auditors also found:

• Vancouver School Board members and administrators spent about $18,600 to attend a conference in Chicago, but didn’t go to all the sessions. Their expenses included $52-a-person dinners of Chilean sea bass, lobster, crab cakes and other dishes.

• The Office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction paid some $50,000 for hotel rooms that went un-slept in because too many reservations were booked for a conference in Spokane.

• Some school districts don’t require board members to follow the same travel policies they require of employees.

The auditors’ bottom line: “When district travel can be accomplished at a lower cost, resources are no longer available for educating students. Luxurious accommodations or the appearance of luxurious accommodations can cause the public to question whether their tax dollars are being wasted.”

---------
In 2007 ... we have the OSPI Dana Center expenditure of $600,000 more than the low bidder StandardsWorks for the Math Standards contract.