Last week, Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson asked Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest to supply 10,000 sheets of paper to the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to fulfill his request for information about the Common Core State Standards.  Staples.com sells copy paper for $5.79 per ream (500 sheets).  The 10,000 sheets requested by Atkinson would retail at $115.80.

Of course, DPI’s request was nothing more than a cheap stunt.

But that got me thinking.  How much does DPI and the State Board of Education spend on office supplies in a given year?  According to figures supplied to me by DPI staff, the answer is that our state education agencies spent almost $375,000 in state, federal, and local funds on office supplies last year.