A Davenport attorney wants to help the Davenport School District spend more money on its students. This week, Cathy Cartee filed a class action lawsuit against the Iowa legislature, the governor, and the Iowa Department of Education.
Thanks to a school funding law that's decades old, Davenport is one of more than 150 districts across the state forced to spend up to 175 dollars less per student than other districts.
"All laws have to be uniform and they have to be fair and equal to all citizens, and clearly this one is not."
Cartee's lawsuit also claims the funding formula is discriminatory, and violates students' civil rights and their right to due process.
"I'm hoping what'll happen is the General Assembly will actually do what's right and somehow rectify this old, antiquated law which they should have done years ago. They had knowledge of it years ago and obviously they're not going to do it unless someone puts a little more pressure on them, and that's what I intend to do."
Earlier this month, the Iowa School Budget Review Committee rejected a request from the Davenport School District to spend more money than the current law allows, with the additional dollars coming from its reserve funds. The next day, the Department of Education filed an ethics complaint against Superintendent Art Tate.