FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — One day after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis floated a state takeover of Broward County Schools, district leaders hit back Tuesday at the governor’s criticism of the district.
DeSantis, speaking at an event in Davie on Monday, said dealing with the district’s issues has been a “disaster” and suggested that the district may be put into receivership at some point.
BCPS leaders, speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, said the district is now on the right path.
“Let’s talk about the new Broward,” School Board Chair Sarah Leonardi said. “We are a back-to-back, ‘A’-rated school district with no ‘D’ or ‘F’ schools for the first time ever.”
Superintendent Howard Hepburn said he and district leaders are actively making changes to stabilize the multi-million dollar budget challenges and address enrollment dropping by 40,000 students in the last decade.
“We’re going to complete that with school consolidations, closures, program realignments to ensure resources match enrollment and every school delivers high quality programs,” Hepburn said. “We can’t continue to hire new people. We need to be very strategic of who we hire, why we hire, and also maximize district staff (who) have instructional certifications that we’re going to push out to schools to fill those voids.”
School Board member Adam Cervera, a DeSantis appointee, spoke separately on Tuesday, echoing the governor’s message but stopping short of endorsing a receivership.
He said there are a lot more steps that would have to happen for a state takeover. He did, though, call district leadership a failure, saying the public “deserve(s) the truth about what is happening” in the district.
“They deserve transparency and they deserve accountability. The district owes it to every resident of Broward County to be good stewards of every tax dollar that is entrusted to us. Unfortunately, this district has fallen short,” Cervera said. “We failed to answer this call and, instead, BCPS has fallen into financial peril. This must end now.”
Cervera called on Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia and the DOGE team to come in and fully investigate BCPS and its spending.
Leonardi and Hepburn said they welcome the governor to come in and engage with district leaders on finding the most efficient way to run BCPS.
Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco, meanwhile, offered the following statement on the matter: “The members of the Broward Teachers Union are proud of the work we do with parents to ensure that every child gets the education they deserve and need. The fact of the matter is that Floridians are facing a rising cost of living crisis in the state. Teacher pay in Florida is 50th in the nation once again. There are billions being siphoned from Florida’s public schools, including here in Broward, to a voucher program Florida’s own Auditor General’s office said was ripe for fraud, waste and abuse. Right now, parents, students and community members need leaders to strengthen our public schools, rather than abandon them. Whether you are a parent, a grandparent, a small business owner or a taxpayer, public schools are your schools.”
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