$4m on 8,000 education department trips with little explanation: What you need to know about the gaps worrying lawmakers

For the third year in a row, the education department has failed to provide lawmakers with full records explaining how nearly $4m was spent on more than 8,000 work-related trips, according to documents obtained by the Associated Press.

The incomplete reporting, covering travel between January and November 2025, has drawn criticism from legislators who say the missing details make it difficult to assess whether public money was spent appropriately during a period of tightening budgets.

Key details missing from travel records
The department submitted more than 200 pages of travel records to the Legislature. Of the 13 data points lawmakers require for each trip, only five were consistently included: the general programme, travel start and end dates and the total cost. Missing information included job titles and position numbers of travellers, the purpose of each trip and whether travel involved meetings or training, as reviewed by the Associated Press.

The records also failed to specify funding sources. Lawmakers could not determine whether trips were paid for with state funds or other sources, including federal money. Individual expenses ranged from $2 for a single day of travel to about $10,000 for an eight-day trip in May, with no explanation of destinations or spending categories.

Assistant Superintendent Brian Hallett said some expenses reflected per diem payments for neighbour island travel, as reported by the Associated Press. He said the department requires administrators to approve trips but lacks a system to compile travel data in the format requested.

Lawmakers raise accountability concerns
Senate education committee chair Donna Kim said the department appeared unable to readily access basic information. “They don’t have the information at their fingertips, they’re not keeping records,” she said, as quoted by the Associated Press.

Senator Samantha DeCorte said during a hearing that spending close to $4m required close scrutiny. “When the work-related travel accumulates to almost $4m, it’s important,” she said, according to the Associated Press.

Hallett said lawmakers had not previously raised concerns about the reporting format, despite similar requests in earlier years. He said the department had less than two weeks to compile the records before budget briefings, the Associated Press reported.
Broader scrutiny of department finances
Some travel involved maintenance work at neighbour island schools, professional development and student learning opportunities on the mainland. Hallett said certain trips used federal Covid relief funds rather than state dollars, though this was not reflected in the submitted report, according to the Associated Press.

The travel issue follows other financial concerns. The state auditor previously said it could not fully track spending on school cooling projects, limiting oversight of about $100m in air conditioning costs. Lawmakers also questioned the department last year over rising school meal expenses.
Proposals to curb future travel
Lawmakers have introduced a bill proposing a two-year moratorium on most state-funded employee travel, with exceptions for court appearances, federal compliance and essential meetings. Agencies would still be allowed to approve professional development travel but would need to confirm that virtual options were not feasible.

Since summer 2023, the department has taken administrators and students on more than a dozen trips to South Korea costing about $750,000. Kim said airfare figures were initially overstated before being corrected, the Associated Press reported.
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