So we still don't have an answer to that, but here's what we have so far...

Several weeks ago while doing research on vendor contributions to school board member campaigns, we tripped over this little gem in the Houston ISD check register...

So that led us to put in what we thought would be a trivial public information request to see what exactly the expense was. See request below...

Then, 10 days after we submitted the request, the district public information office responded with an estimate that it would require 16 hours of labor to "locate and compile" the requested information and asked if we would like to pay the $289 in related cost to do so.

Now remember, this was a single check register item for $453 which couldn't have been for more than a one, two or three night stay by a single person.

Turns out, in our quest to get answers, we are left with more questions. What is taking 16 hours of labor to find? What type of control does HISD have over travel expenses? What is someone trying to hide by making it expensive to find? And what exactly was Houston ISD staff doing at the Aria? In a world where the trustees want to roll the political dice with $30 million in classroom funds, that's all we really want to know.