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Richard C. Iannuzzi, , President, NYSUT, (l.) and U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan head a round table with teams of teachers at NYSUT headquarters in Latham, N.Y.

New York State United Teachers hosts more than 150 conferences a year at some 50 rustic retreats, lakefront lodges and oceanfront hotels - even though it has a conference center near its Albany headquarters.

That means union members and brass average three powwows a week as they wine and dine from Montauk to Niagara Falls, a Daily News review of union spending found.

Funded by its 575,000 members' dues, the teachers union dropped $3.8 million on conferences last year - plus $225,000 more for catering and $231,000 for 14 photographers who snapped pictures of the parleys, documents show.

All told, the union has shelled out nearly $17 million since 2005, with their two favorite spots being Gurney's Inn Resort & Spa in Montauk ($2.1 million) and the Otesaga Resort Hotel near the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown ($2.4 million).

For entertainment, it paid $9,500 for the Capitol Steps comedy troupe and $25,505 for the Okie Dokie Nightclub, both in Washington.

To get to upstate hot spots, union employees can take advantage of the union's $1.8 million fleet of more than 155 vehicles. Rank-and-file members can bill their locals for tolls and mileage.

Extravagant union spending has continued even as Mayor Bloomberg threatens to ax 4,700 city teachers and union lobbyists fight to salvage "last in, first out," which bases firing on seniority.

Last month The News revealed how the city's United Federation of Teachers, the state union's largest local affiliate, blew $1.4 million on a 50th anniversary gala.

"NYSUT talks about shared sacrifice, but the taxpayer makes the sacrifice and foots the bills for its frivolous spending," said Jason Brooks of the Foundation for Education Reform & Accountability, a charter school advocacy group and union critic.

"School taxes pay the salaries of teachers, who are required to pay union dues, which go to fund junkets at five-star resorts."

Dick Iannuzzi, NYSUT's $294,313-a-year president, declined comment, but spokesman Carl Korn insisted the trips were training sessions, not junkets.

Conferences offer invaluable training on standards, testing, teacher evaluation and all aspects of the job, he said.

"It's absolutely essential," said Korn. "It provides the skills they need to advocate for members and fight for what students and schools need to succeed."

Korn said the union has 16 regional offices and each holds a summer, fall and winter conference, as well as policy and health conferences and others.

He noted that the union's conference center in upstate Latham hosts hundreds of meetings a year, but its 150-seat auditorium is too small for many workshops.

With few upstate union facilities able to handle some 300 people, NYSUT seeks venues near its members and books off-season to get big discounts, Korn said.

"Our financial operations are transparent - and our members get every penny's worth in the representation they receive from NYSUT," he said

About $86,000 worth of those pennies paid for a "summer leadership conference" at Skytop Lodge in the Poconos, which offers archery and lawn bowling. The conference featured workshops on benefits, bargaining - and investment tips.

Union dissidents also provided The News with some locals' newsletters openly boasting of the perks at conferences:

"The accommodations were top shelf," wrote Al Cotoia, vice president of NYSUT Local 15-175, after a $268,732 conference at the Wyndham Princeton Forrestal Hotel in New Jersey. "There was unlimited access to refreshments and food."

Until it closed in 2009, the storied Rainbow Room was a union hangout and scene of a $118,875 party held after a "presidents conference" at the New York Hilton.

NYSUT Local 3882, which represents staffers at NYU, recounted a postconference party like this: "After a day packed with workshops, local presidents were treated to an evening of dining and dancing at New York's legendary Rainbow Room. Your president had a wonderful time."

NYSUT's reports to the U.S. Labor Department also show the parent union splurging at:

• Otesaga Resort Hotel, with its private tours of the Baseball Hall of Fame and 700 feet of Lake Otsego shorefront. Tab for conferences in 2010: $488,110.

• Gurney's Inn, which features karaoke, stand-up comedy and a seawater spa. Regional workshop tab: $235,602.

• Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel in Niagara Falls, where 4,200 slot machines await. Regional conference cost: $69,643.