Former Indiana schools superintendent Tony Bennett has agreed to pay a $5,000 ethics fine after admitting to using his state office for political purposes.
Bennett was accused of using state resources to benefit him for the 2012 election campaign. He lost the election to current education chief Glenda Ritz.
A series of Associated Press reports from August 2013 alleged Bennett stored a list of donors for his campaign on his state office computer. A report also suspected his office of changing the A-to-F grade for an Indianapolis charter school from a C to an A for the 2011-12 school year.
In the settlement this week with Indiana’s inspector general, Bennett avoided more serious charges that he and his staff changed the states A-to-F grading formula to benefit select schools.
The reports came out after Bennett became the state education commissioner in Florida. He denied that he had done anything wrong but resigned last August.
