Broward County schools officials are responding to scathing criticism from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis who suggested the state take over the district.
This comes as the district continues to navigate a slew of recent financial scandals — suddenly backing out of an office-space lease worth nearly $3 million that resulted in a lawsuit against Broward schools, misallocated teacher referendum money and a “botched multimillion-dollar procurement process” meant to find an entity to oversee construction projects.
In a letter to state Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, superintendent Howard Hepburn outlined some of the cost-saving measures the district has taken recently to improve its financial reality, like not filling vacancies for non-critical positions.
"Over the past year, our school board and I have taken decisive and responsible actions to strengthen financial controls, improve accountability and generate meaningful cost savings," Hepburn wrote. "I also continue to identify and correct past structural and systemic processes within the District that contributed to long-term inefficiencies."
Recently, a Broward school board member invited the state Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and Ingoglia to look at the district’s finances. DeSantis called the district a “disaster.”
School board member Adam Cervera called on state officials to conduct "a full scale review" of the district's finances.
" This crisis is not the result of bad luck. This is the result of years of mismanagement, wasteful spending and a complete lack of proper oversight and it has only gotten worse in just the past few months," Cervera said. "We've seen scandal after scandal."
Hepburn thanked the state's leadership and welcomed the support.
"We view the state as a valued partner in our efforts to further streamline operations, identify additional efficiencies and ensure long-term financial sustainability for the students, families and taxpayers of Broward County," he wrote.
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