GLENDALE, Calif. – In March 2017, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Glendale school district was potentially facing a $10.6 million deficit for the 2017-18 school year.

To address that budget shortfall, the district’s business and finance manager proposed a series of spending cuts, including reducing the amount of money spent on food for catered events by about 20 percent, the newspaper reported.

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That cut would have saved about $20,000 per year.

That seems like a very logical idea, since the Glendale district spent about $21,500 at Porto’s Bakery & Café, which is known for its “flaky cheese rolls and meaty fried mashed potato balls,” according to the Times.

But we hope the school district’s travel budget was also strongly considered for the budget cutting list.

In fiscal 2016-17, the Glendale district spent $107,268.07 on 103 travel-related transactions, mostly on costly airline and hotel tabs.

The district had 35 hotel transactions for a total of $59,334.82. It also had 57 airline transactions for a total of $37,556.80.

Many of the hotel bills were very large, suggesting that many school employees went on the same trip and stayed at the same hotel. Twenty hotel transactions were for at least $1,000.

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Some expensive examples include $6,013.35 spent at “Embassy Suites – Austin” on Nov. 1, 2016; $5,649,18 at “Park Central Hotel – San Francisco” on Dec. 7, 2016; $4,370 spent at “Hotel San Carlos” (no city listed) on February 27, 2017; and $5,613.74 spent at “Courtyard Sacramento Midtown” on April 3, 2017.

Ten of the airline transactions were for at least $1,000. Some of the more expensive tabs were $3,146.48 with United Airlines on Jan. 3, 2017; $4,091.68 with Southwest Airlines on May 16, 2017; and $3,612.30 worth Southwest Airlines on September 6, 2016.

If the Glendale district is really that desperate for money, is this sort of travel expense necessary?