The superintendent of the Davenport schools has gotten off easy, with a reprimand instead of possibly losing his job. The Iowa Board of Educational Examiners has reprimanded Art Tate for spending more than the state allows districts to spend. Tate and the board staff negotiated the reprimand to settle the state's complaint.
Davenport officials have said some districts in Iowa can spend up to $175 per student more than Davenport, so the district used reserve funds to make up that difference.
The Iowa Education Department filed the ethics complaint in December 2016, saying the district broke state law by using reserve funds to pay for ongoing programs. Doctor Tate had announced that he intended to violate the state funding formula for the district's 2016-2017 budget.
Hearings before the Board of Educational Examiners were scheduled, and postponed, several times while the Iowa legislature considered helping Davenport and other districts held back by the 40 year old school funding formula. Following passage of a bill last spring that would help these districts for one year, the board finally held Tate's hearing in June.
The board could have cancelled his license, and cost him his job