Bad news for some employees of the Davenport schools. On Friday layoff notices were sent to teachers, secretarial, and administrative staff, as part of the budget reductions agreed to by the board of education.
Spokeswoman Dawn Saul blames falling enrollment in the district, and lost revenue due to the state's decades-old school aid formula that requires Davenport to spend less per student than many districts in Iowa.
She doesn't have exact numbers, but says the layoffs affect 83 teachers of the approximately 1,200 employed by the district. Total employment is about 2,400. The layoffs include members of the central office staff.