Following public outcry over speculation that junior varsity sports could be on the chopping block, Gov. Linda Lingle is asking the state Department of Education to explain spending more than $1.2 million this summer to send some 650 educators to a conference in Florida.

From June 22 to 25, the DOE sent 652 principals, teachers and other educators from 177 schools to a Model Schools Conference at Walt Disney World's Swan and Dolphin Resort in Orlando, said Sandy Goya, spokeswoman for the DOE.

Now the governor wants the department to explain the expenditure in light of the DOE's plan to cut $1 million from its athletics budget.

"Given the serious fiscal limits the state is facing, the board's pending deliberations to cut basic programs such as junior varsity sports, I would appreciate knowing how much the Department of Education expended in total for all participants to this conference," Lingle wrote in an Aug. 4 letter addressed to state Board of Education Chairwoman Donna Ikeda.

The Model Schools Conference is the nation's premier conference on education reform, Goya said.

Schools and complexes were allowed to make their own decision about whether to use their school's general funds, or federal funds, to send their educators to the conference, she said. Most of the decisions were made six months to a year ago, prior to the governor imposing budget constraints, Goya said.

"This was an investment in professional development for our educators, which will have a long-term impact on student achievement," Goya said.

In her letter, the governor pointed out that 6,954 people from around the country attended the event.

"Of which 652 came from the Hawai'i State Department of Education, almost 10 (percent) of the participants," she wrote.

The money spent on the conference came from the school year 2007 to 2008 budget, Goya said.

However, the governor's budget constraints apply to the school year 2008 to 2009 budget.

The state Board of Education is expected to discuss some $9.2 million in budget restrictions mandated by Lingle at their business meeting this evening at Waipahu Intermediate School.