Are Training Dollars Spent Wisely?

A Republican senator is asking questions about how much is being spent by the federal government to train high-level workers in the executive branch.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on Wednesday sent letters to the directors of the Office of Personnel Management, OPM's Executive Institute, the Center for Creative Leadership and Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government questioning the costs of and dollars spent on executive training programs. OPM does not collect complete, reliable information on how many federal employees receive training or how much the training costs taxpayers annually, Grassley said.

"Training is important, but it needs to be managed in a responsible way," Grassley said. "The limited information that is available about current training programs indicates that in some cases, programs are 460 percent higher in cost than the total tuition, fees, and room and board of the average four-year private university, and exceed the average four-year public university by over 1,000 percent."

Are federal training dollars being spent wisely, especially when it comes to grooming top-notch IT workers for executive positions? Are there other possible alternatives, including moving all or part of executive training programs online?