HAGERSTOWN, Maryland – In 2017, the Washington County, Maryland school district was in a “very desperate budget situation,” according to its superintendent, Boyd Michael.

“We have a lot of obligations in the school system that are getting more challenging every year, and the resources are minimal at this point,” Michael was quoted as saying by HeraldMedia.com. “… The only place I have left to really look substantially is going to be positions.”

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That sounds like teaching jobs could be jeopardized, and Washington County schools could be left with more crowded classrooms.

That certainly wouldn’t be a good thing, particularly since “two out of every three Washington County Public Schools students failed standardized English and mathematics exams last year,” according to HeraldMailMedia.com.

Perhaps the school district could find some needed revenue by cutting costs a bit, starting with its travel budget.

The district’s total travel tab in 2016-17 was $140,916.48, which would seemingly be enough to hire a few entry-level teachers.

That total included 215 transactions for $93,752.83 with hotels around the nation, and 116 transactions totaling $45,707.54 for airline services.

Some of the trips taken by district staff members were pretty costly, to the point where taxpayers need to question how necessary they were, and if the district made every possible effort to make the excursions as inexpensive as possible.

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One example came on May 15, 2017, when the district had 11 transactions for $535.55 apiece at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville. The total tab came to $5,891.05.

On April 10, 2017, the district had four transactions for $1,190.80 apiece at the Hyatt Grand Convention Center in San Antonio. That totaled $4,763.36.

On May 1, 2017, there were six transactions for $528.84 apiece at the Tradewinds Island Resort in St. Petersburg, Florida. That came to $3,173.04.

On Oct. 5, 2016, the district had a $2,370.72 transaction at the Harbourtowne Golf Resort in St. Michaels, Maryland. On Jan. 13, 2017 the district had two transactions for $1,390.80 at the Hyatt Place in Columbia, South Carolina, totaling $2,781.60.

The air travel was also pretty extravagant. One good example was April 5, 2017, when the school district had four different transactions with Southwest Airlines, for $2,211.92, 647.91, $955.84 and $1,194.80. That totaled $5,010.47.

Where did all the money come from for this kind of travel? Couldn’t it be applied to something a bit more pressing in the cash-strapped Washington County school district?