From pricy hotels to fancy meals, AZ school district officials pampered themselves on the taxpayers’ dime.
A $42,000 hotel bill for a taxpayer-funded vacation at a four-star resort. A staggering $22,000 in catering costs for 30 people…over just two days.
Those are some of the ways the Tolleson Union High School District in Avondale, Ariz., blew through $76,969 in taxpayer money on what amounted to luxury vacations for school board members and administrators, public records obtained by the Goldwater Institute reveal. And while Arizona’s Open Meetings Law requires public access to school board meetings, members of the public were practically shut out from these so-called “Board and Administrator Retreats.”
The costs for these four-star resort retreats, held in 2023 at the JW Marriott Starr Pass in Tucson and in 2024 at the Hilton Sedona Resort at Bell Rock, came out of general operating funds—the same funds that pay for teacher salaries and education programs.
The Goldwater Institute filed public records requests seeking specific cost information in July but did not receive the records until mid-November—after Tolleson Union voters approved a new bond and a budget override, and also re-elected one of the governing board members for another four-year term.
A few particulars of note:
- At the two-day 2023 Board/Administrator Retreat at the JW Marriott Starr Pass in Tucson, Tolleson Union paid the hotel $33,969, which included a staggering $22,061 in catering costs.
- At the 2024 Board/Administrator Retreat at the Hilton Sedona Resort at Bell Rock, 36 district attendees stayed a total of 66 room nights. The hotel bill for the three-day Board/Administrator Retreat, which included the room costs plus dinners and catering, was $42,154.
This does not include transportation costs for all 30-plus attendees to get to and from the four-star resorts. Also not included: Most of these individuals were “on the clock,” meaning they were being paid for their stay.
Moreover, although both the retreats were intended to serve as meetings of the Governing Board (with administrative support), several of the board members did not even attend some or all of the meetings. In fact, according to the meeting minutes for the 2024 Sedona retreat, two of the board members stayed only for a couple of hours on one of the two meeting days—even though, according to the hotel records, both stayed at the hotel for three nights each.
That’s not all. As a result of the noted board member absences, many of the meetings held during the $42,000 retreat in 2024 lacked even a board quorum (a majority of the five-member board), meaning that under the law, these were not lawful meetings of the board at all.
Lawful board meetings or not, the public was practically shut out of these discussions. According to the minutes of the 2024 Sedona retreat, for instance, board members and administrators discussed strategies for improving student participation and graduation rates, student attendance rates and test scores, and budget priorities and goals for the coming academic year—all topics of great public import.
Surely, all of these topics were listed on the agenda? No. The only agenda item listed for the entire retreat was “Governing Board/Administrator Retreat.” That runs contrary to guidance from the Arizona Attorney General:
The agenda for a public meeting must contain a listing of the “specific matters to be discussed, considered or decided at the meeting.” A.R.S. § 38-431.02(H). This requirement does not permit the use of generic agenda items such as “personnel,” “new business,” “old business,” “reports,” or “other matters” unless the specific matters or items to be discussed are separately identified in conjunction with the general terms.
Additionally, none of these discussions were captured on video or audio recordings for the public to view or listen to—which is definitely not the norm for school districts of Tolleson Union’s size. (In fact, holding an off-site retreat is highly unusual in and of itself. Most public school districts hold their retreats/strategic planning sessions in their district buildings, where the public can easily attend.) The written minutes, intended to capture the proceedings, are almost laughable: for a three-day retreat with 16 hours of structured “content” and discussion, the minutes constitute two pages—each of them half-filled.
Public education is supposed to be one of those governmental functions closest to the people—and therefore among the most accountable. If public officials aren’t going to take their mission to serve the public seriously, they should be held accountable so that government of the people, by the people, and for the people can flourish.
