International business trips in some school districts lack documented approval and benefits to the province, according to the auditor general.

Paul Martin’s latest report, tabled in the legislature last week, included a look at out-of-province and international travel in select school districts.

Martin focused his audit on the Anglophone West, Anglophone North and Francophone South districts “based on risk analysis.”

“We noted a lack of documentation pertaining to approvals, estimated costs, anticipated and actual benefits of travel,” the auditor general told a legislative committee last week.

The office identified three international trips in each district and obtained details such as the location, purpose, the number of employees, and the cost to the province.

International travel included trips to Dubai, Australia and France, with as many as 17 district staff attending one conference.

The costs for those nine trips ranged from $5,772 to $86,410, according to the auditor general’s report.

“Our audit is not intended to imply judgement as to whether travel should or should not have occurred, but to evaluate compliance with the policy in terms of approval, and to ensure value to government has been demonstrated and documented,” said Martin.

The auditor general said he was also unable to determine if virtual attendance had been considered by the districts, when available.

In addition, Martin found no documents to ensure budget pressures had been considered as part of the approval decision process.

“School districts are often faced with tight budgets and must make decisions on how best to allocate funds to achieve these objectives. In this decision process, travel is often a discretionary expenditure,” he said.

The report also noted instances where district superintendents attended international conferences with no documentation about approval, estimated costs, or anticipated or actual benefits of travel.

Martin said they were informed that approval is often verbal from the chair of the district education council, but could not find any documented evidence supporting the process.

The auditor general made a series of recommendations to each of the three districts as part of his report.

New Brunswick’s seven school districts spent a total of $5.28 million on travel expenses during the 2022-23 fiscal year.