But we have to raise taxes to pay schoolteachers (part xviii)?
What do you think? Are professional conferences 20% work, and 80% excuse to take a vacation? Or is it more 90-10?
Federal education officials spend more than $1.5 million every year on a gathering of college financial aid administrators held at high-end vacation destinations.
Last year’s four-day conference, which opened in late November, was hosted by the U.S. Department of Education at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The year before that, the event was at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort in Orlando.
Here’s a breakdown of the last several years:
Last year’s conference, at the MGM Grand Hotel, cost “about $1.6 million…including $790,000 paid to an outside consultant to help plan and present the conference.” That’s half the total cost.
Hey, Education Department! I’ll do it for twenty-five percent!
And don’t miss this nifty little bit of irony:
The keynote speaker was the department’s secretary, Arne Duncan. His topic: controlling college costs.
Okay, so it’s only peripherally related. Still. That’s a lot of college grants, right there. A lot of teachers for those college prep courses. Y’know, so the students don’t have to waste time taking English 101 and Remedial Mathematics when they get there.
Previously:
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