Chief Financial Officer Mike Burke told the school board that if the district only received a 1 percent increase in funding, it would potentially face a $1.3 million budget deficit for each of the next three fiscal years, according to a story published by Sun-Sentinel.com.

This, despite the fact that county voters had just approved a 1 percent sales tax that would provide the school district with about $1.4 billion in new revenue for 10 years.

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“Unfortunately, it does very little to help the operating budget,” Burke was quoted as saying about the tax increase. “The only way it will help is that as we upgrade our facilities and make them more energy efficient, it will reduce our operating costs. Our operating revenue is really dependent on what happens in Tallahassee.”

We have a suggestion for Burke. If the district indeed faces a $1.3 million annual deficit, it should look at its own books to find the money to fill the gap – and it could start with the travel budget.

In the 2016-17 fiscal year – just as Burke was complaining about the potential lack of funding from the state – the Palm Beach County district was spending $885,459.92 on hotels and $309,494.23 on airline travel.

That adds up to almost $1.2 million, which would be nearly enough to completely eliminate the budget shortfall that Burke feared, without receiving any increased funding from the state.

The huge hotel tab was rung up in 2,198 separate transactions, for an average of $402.85 per charge.

But many of the hotel stays were significantly more expensive than that.

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For instance, the school district had a single transaction for $70,875 at the Ritz Carlton Orlando Grande Lakes. A much smaller – but still very pricey – single transaction was made at the Ecco Suites in Lakeland, Florida, where the Palm Beach District spent $8,514 in one shot.

The district had multiple transactions with various hotel chains for huge amounts of money.

There were 205 transactions at various Marriotts for a total of $165,751.55. There were 252 transactions at various Hiltons for $96,852.94. There were 324 transactions at Disney resorts totaling $51,598.20. There were 112 transactions at various Doubletrees for $38,962.27. There were 112 transactions at the Nathan Hale Inn at the University of Connecticut for $11,000.

The district’s airline tab included 425 transactions with Delta for $115,126 and 318 transactions with American totaling $86,414.52.

It’s likely much of the travel was for professional development conferences, conventions and workshops, which is always the case for public schools. At least some of the travel was probably funded with federal or state grant money.

But we also know that grants do not cover all school professional development travel. Beyond that, schools sometimes have the freedom to use some grant money in multiple ways, for professional development travel or other needs as they see fit.

In any case, if the district kept a tighter grip on travel expenditures, local school officials would not need to whine about the lack of state funding.