DAVIE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had strong words for Broward County Public Schools during a visit on Monday to Broward College in Davie.

The governor lambasted what he called a “laundry list of failures” in the district.

“Honestly, it’s been a disaster,” DeSantis said.

The visit was part of an effort to highlight progress in navigating the state’s complicated property insurance market, but at one point, the talk turned towards slamming the county’s school system.

“It is really run more to benefit the entrenched interests, particularly the school unions, rather than the parents and the students,” said DeSantis.

School Board Chair Sarah Leonardi said there are inefficiencies and issues within the nation’s sixth-largest school district, but the current team in place has a track record for success.

“I think the governor was referring to the old Broward Schools; I want to talk about the new Broward Schools,” said Leonardi. “We are a back-to-back ‘A’-rated school district by the state’s own metrics. We have no ‘D’ or ‘F’ schools for the first time ever.

“I would love to invite the governor to walk through schools with me, to see our students thriving, to see our teachers working hard to deliver academic results for our students.”

Enrollment, though, is down district-wide, which could be a loss of tens of millions of dollars.

School closures have been tossed around as answers to fill the financial gap, and the district’s chief operating officer recently resigned over scrutiny involving operational and financial failures.

“There’s a handful of spots around the state where maybe thrusting some of these entities into receivership may be the best way going forward,” said DeSantis.

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