ODESSA, Texas – OK, so teachers need to eat when traveling for professional conferences. Students need to eat when traveling for athletic or academic competition.

But why in the world do school administrators and school board members have to run up huge restaurant tabs on the taxpayers’ dime?

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Between July 2016 and June 2017, the Ector County, Texas district rang up 989 credit card charges for restaurant food, totaling $177,147.73. That averages out to about $179 per transaction.

Almost one-fourth of that total – $40,494.74 – can be traced to a list of school credit card charges that were made “almost exclusively for administrators’ and school board members’ activities,” according to a district public information officer.

The big shots ran up that huge bill in 104 transactions, which averages out to a pretty astonishing $475 per charge.

Included on the list was a tab for $1,006.05 at the Texas Grill Cafe on Aug. 9, 2016; $1,760.96 at Schlotsky’s on Aug. 16, 2016; $1,171 at Zucchi’s on Sept. 21, 2016; $1,484.51 at Schlotsky’s on Nov. 5, 2016; and $780 at Keith’s Hamburgers on June 8, 2017.

They also had back-to-back food tabs at a place called Dickey’s – $649.50 on Jan. 26, 2017 and $532.59 on Jan. 27.

The school district’s restaurant tab was actually pretty small compared to its total hotel bill, which came to $337,154.49 in fiscal 2017.

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That money was spent in 805 transactions, which averages out to about $418 per credit card charge. Sixty-three of those transactions came to least $1,000.

At least school official seems to understand the problem, and recently announced plans to address it.

About a year ago, the Ector County Board of Trustees approved a 2017-18 general fund budget that included $18 million worth of spending cuts.

As a result of the deficit, hundreds of vacant jobs were being left open, including some instructional positions, according to a report from the Odessa American.

To help address the financial pinch, David Harwell, the district’s chief financial officer, told the newspaper that “employee travel will be cut by 50 percent.”

Taxpayers will likely see that as a step in the right direction.