The State Board of Education is meeting at a St. George hotel resort for two days this week — a trip that's costing taxpayers more than eight times as much as it does to have the board meet at its Salt Lake headquarters.

Taxpayers will pay an estimated $11,457 to have the school board meet in the Holiday Inn Resort in Utah's Dixie Thursday and today, according to numbers provided by the Utah State Office of Education at the Deseret Morning News' request.

Typically, the board's monthly meeting in Salt Lake costs Utah taxpayers $1,378.

The St. George costs don't include travel expenses for staff who are required to attend the meeting; their expenses will be reimbursed later, the state office reports.

The board meets off campus once or twice a year to give residents outside of Salt Lake City a chance to meet with or address them, state office spokesman Mark Peterson said in a press release.

Board chairman Kim Burningham says it's worth the money.

"We have the philosophy, the same as the Legislature has, if we always meet in Salt Lake City and never get out to meet people at all, we are neglecting the people in the far reaches of the state," Burningham said in a phone interview Thursday, during the board's tour of Tuacahn High charter school.

The state board in the late 1990s would travel each year to Cedar City, typically during the Shakespearean Festival, and often meet up with the State Board of Regents to discuss common goals. But the trips came to a halt between about 2002 and 2004, during statewide budget cuts.

Since then, the board has met in Cedar City, Logan and Vernal, Burningham notes.

"We send people to national conferences, too, which costs money," he said. "You've got to keep in touch with your constituency and with what's happening nationwide if you're going to do your best possible job."

This week's trip includes 18 State Board of Education members, the board's secretary, and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Patti Harrington and four associate superintendents.

Thursday, the group toured Tuacahn and was scheduled to discuss the achievement gap, dropouts and education funding. Today, the board meeting, scheduled to span from 8 a.m. for committees to about 3 p.m., will be streamed online at www.schools.utah.gov/admin/projects/live.htm beginning at 10:15 a.m.

Travel, including flights and mileage reimbursements at 48.5 cents per mile, will cost an estimated $6,664, compared to $787 when the board meets in Salt Lake City, the state education office reported.

Hotel costs, at the state rate of $78 a night, totaled $3,358, compared to $272 when they meet in the capital city, associate superintendent Patrick Ogden reported.