LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. – Some might assume that most residents of the Laguna Beach school district are largely indifferent to how school officials spend tax dollars.

After all, compared to many other public schools, Laguna Beach is in pretty good financial shape.

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It’s referred to as a “basic aid” district, meaning all of its funding comes from local property taxes, because it’s situated in an economically affluent area. While other districts depend on state aid to get by, Laguna Beach does just fine on its own.

But the abundance of resources doesn’t necessarily mean that taxpayers want the district to be careless with funds. So we wonder how they would feel about the district spending nearly $50,000 – enough to pay the base salary of a young full-time teacher for a year – on restaurant and catered food between July 2016 and June 2017.

The district had 331 credit card transactions for $48,522.11 worth of restaurant or catered food, according to information gathered through a public information request.

Laguna Beach is hardly unique in that regard. Through research in recent months, EAGnews.org has learned that many public schools throughout the nation spend freely on restaurants and caterers on a routine basis.

And like employees and students in other districts, the folks at Laguna Beach seem to have their favorite face-stuffing spots.

The clear favorite was Panera Bread, where the district had 56 transactions for $8,870.74 in 2016-17. That averages out to $158.40 per transaction.

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Other eateries of choice included Corner Bakery (20 transactions for $5,204.69), Jan’s Health Bar (14 transactions for $3,399.40), and Avila’s El Ranchito (19 transactions for $2,407.90).

Several single purchases were also pretty pricey.

The district had one charge for $4,016.11 at Jay’s Catering, and single charges for $1,789.15 and $1,274.59, respectively, at Hotel Laguna (listed as a catering service).

On Oct. 4, 2016, the district had four separate charges, totaling $4,284, with a service called It’s Your Delivery.

In any case, the taxpayers of Laguna Beach fund the school. It’s their money, and it’s up to them to determine how they want the district to spend it.

We just wanted to give them a little glimpse of where some of their dollars are going.