Davenport board approves joining statewide storm protection pool to cover wind and hail deductibles

The Davenport Community School District board voted to participate in a statewide storm protection pooling agreement that funds districts’ wind and hail deductibles up to 1% of a property’s replacement cost.

Bridal Matlock, the presenter for the plan, told the board the arrangement is a 2080 agreement signed by most of Iowa’s school districts and that Davenport’s first‑year contribution would be $392,058. “Think of it as a savings account. It is invested, so it will grow income, and it’s there for when any of the school district members decide they want to use it,” Matlock said.

The vote implements a pooling model in which participating districts effectively reinsure each other. Matlock explained the pool would pay deductible costs up to 1% of replacement value and described a local retention level of $500,000 per storm; amounts above 1% would remain the responsibility of the district’s insurer. She said the actuaries estimate the total fund with current joiners at about $8.5 million, plus a separate $5 million excess layer, and cautioned that a sufficiently widespread catastrophe could deplete the pool and trigger recontributions.

Why this matters: the pool is intended to reduce individual districts’ out‑of‑pocket exposure to wind and hail claims by sharing risk across many districts. Board members said the arrangement creates a new annual decision point — districts must decide each year whether to continue — and asked about scenarios in which multiple large claims occur in the same year.

Board discussion centered on risk and cost. Doctor Beck asked what would happen if “a major storm affects the whole state and everybody makes a claim the same year.” Matlock replied that while actuaries designed the fund to reduce the likelihood of depletion, “there absolutely could be some disaster scenario” that exhausts the pool, and that any amount above the 1% threshold would be covered by commercial insurance.

The board approved a resolution to join the storm protection fund. Director Hayes moved the resolution and the motion carried after a voice vote.

What’s next: district staff will incorporate the contribution into the district insurance plan; the presentation noted decisions for subsequent years will be made earlier (June 1 in future years) with 60–90 days of data available in advance.