LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It’s no secret the Jefferson County school district spends a lot of money on attorneys and school administrators.

In an audit released in May, state Auditor Adam Edelen revealed that Jefferson County Public Schools pays 369 administrators more than $100,000 per year, well over the 281 in the state’s executive branch.

In November, The Journal-Courier reported that JCPS officials paid its former school spokeswoman $200,000 in a wrongful termination lawsuit.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

And just last month, WDRB.com reported that school officials have spent nearly $10 million on legal fees since 2009 to handle issues that are not covered by the district’s insurance policy.

But what many local parents and taxpayers may not understand is the district’s questionable spending practices don’t stop there.

An EAGnews analysis of a portion of the district’s check register and credit card records shows that JCPS employees enjoyed stays at luxury hotels throughout the country during the 2013-14 school year at a cost of well over a quarter million dollars.

The records also show that the district spent more than $1 million on outside food vendors, and nearly a half-million dollars on airfare and travel expenses.

The review of financial records is part of EAGnews’ “Runaway School Spending” series, which features similar analysis of school finances in districts across the country. In most cases, school officials shrug off the staggering spending as grant-funded by the federal government, but regardless of the source, the money originates from taxpayers who deserve to better understand how it’s spent.

In Jefferson County, EAGnews analyzed only travel and food related costs, which showed the district spent a total of at least $1,872,287 on those categories in 2013-14.

MORE NEWS: How to prepare for face-to-face classes

Hotel expenses totaled $258,096, which included numerous five-figure totals for both local and out-of-state lodging. District officials spent $19,535 at the Hyatt Regency in Phoenix, $16,473 at the J.W. Marriott, $16,325 at the Crowne Plaza Louisville Airport, $13,499 at the Ramada Plaza Hotel & Conference Center, and $13,422 at a Minneapolis Hilton.

The district also spent at least four figures at 57 other locations during the same school year, including $6,167 at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center, $5,432 at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel, $4,783 at Sheraton Boston Hotel & Towers, $3,969 at Marriott Indianapolis Downtown, $3,482 at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare near Chicago, $2,938 at the Omni Charlotte Hotel, $2,622 at the Holiday Inn Washington Capitol, $2,268 at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, $2,207 at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, $2,155 at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, and many more.

Other destinations included Albuquerque, New Mexico, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Savannah, Georgia, Nashville, Baltimore, Dallas, Miami, San Diego, Greenville, South Carolina, Detroit, St. Louis, Albany, New York, Minneapolis, Jacksonville, Myrtle Beach, and Austin, Texas, to name a few.

Records show Jefferson County spent $23,468 in airfare with Southwest Airlines to travel to those destinations, as well as $430,343 with travel agencies and tour companies.

The district spent $272,015 with DC Tours Inc., $84,422 with Jack’s Travel Professionals International, $55,279 with Custom Travel, $5,953.03 with Travel Options, and $1,015 with Travel Planners Inc.

In addition, district officials spent $987 with two different companies for ground travel.

Jefferson County school officials also authorized purchases from at least two dozen area restaurants last year, spending a total of $1,159,393. The most by far went to Papa John’s pizza, which collected at least $1,121,024 from the district.

Seven other individual vendors also took in four figures from Jefferson County schools: Mark’s Feed Store at $6,565, Gattiland at $4,755, Chick-Fil-A at $3,540, Subway at $3,299, Texas Roadhouse at $1,950, Ladyfingers Fine Catering Inc. at $1,801, and The Old Spaghetti Factory at $1,055, records show.