As it tries to bear the brunt of a financial storm, the Broward County School Board approved its budget for the 2026-27 school year — but without a guaranteed salary increase teachers had been desperate for.
At a heated meeting that ran late into Tuesday night, two board members who had been pushing for raises refused to approve the $4.7 billion budget, which passed in a 6-2 vote. One member didn't vote.
Around $12 million is going towards maintaining past raises, accounting for some salary growth for eligible educators, but this doesn’t materialize into teachers seeing a bump in paychecks.
However, a referendum on the Nov. 3 ballot could bring a boost of over $230 million in funding for public schools, the vast majority of which would go towards salaries.
READ MORE: Broward School Board votes to direct $254M from Nov. 3 referendum to pay teachers, key support staff
Anna Fusco, president of the Broward Teachers Union, said board members were “ weak and uneducated” and they “should know better and they don't.”
Educator Melissa Sherman was among many who spoke emotionally at the meeting.
“ Year after year, the employees in your classrooms have absorbed the difference. We've adjusted our budgets. We've postponed our purchases. We've taken second jobs,” she told the board.
“ At some point, ‘we value our teachers’ has to show up somewhere other than a slogan. It has to show up in the budget,” she added.
Florida ranks last nationwide in teacher pay and per student funding. The average teacher salary in Florida public schools was $56,600 in 2025, compared to the national average of $74,400, according to aNational Education Association report.
In South Florida in particular, where the cost of living has skyrocketed in recent years, teacher salaries aren't keeping up.
A family of two with two kids in Broward County would need to make $124,800 annually to live a modest and adequate lifestyle, according to calculations by the Economic Policy Institute.
Board member Maura McCarthy Bulman, who voted to approve the budget, pointed to the enrollment woes the district is facing. The first day of the 2026-27 school year saw 11,000 fewer students compared to last year's first day, which equates to about $100 million less funding. Last month it was revealed the district is considering closing 10 schools next school year.
“ I just want everyone to understand that we're not bringing money out of the sky,” she said. “We are in a very tight budget, losing students, losing money.”
'This budget does not meet the expectation'
In budget hearings leading up to the final vote that took place Tuesday night, board member Debbie Hixon had pushed for a minimum 4% raise for teachers, saying she would not vote for anything below it.
“ We say that we value our teachers and employees, and our budget must demonstrate that commitment,” Hixon said. “ This budget does not meet the expectation I have for honoring the direction of this board and prioritizing our employees.”
Board member Adam Cervera, the only other dissenting vote, had been advocating for a 7% raise.
“ I am tired of the broken promises from this district,” he said. “I am tired of having to listen to teachers tell me about their second and third jobs that they have to work because they can't pay rent, or they can't pay their car note, or they can't pay their doctor bills, or they can't go out to eat or they can't buy groceries.”
As proposed, the general fund budget, from which teacher salaries are paid, is approximately $3.5 billion, an increase of $50 million from last year. However, that doesn’t translate into more for schools and teachers, Omar Shim, the director of capital budget warned.
Of the $3.5 billion, charter schools receive 19% and the Family Empowerment Scholarship, a state voucher, makes up 12%. That leaves the remaining $2.1 billion for district-run schools.
Superintendent Howard Hepburn, and the board members who approved the budget, are looking to the referendum on the Nov. 3 ballot as a point of relief for teacher salary bumps.
In 2022, voters approved a property tax increase that’s equal to $100 per $100,000 in assessed property. This year’s ballot asks voters to renew it, which could mean $238.4 million for traditional public schools. In May, the board approved having 90% of the collected money go towards teacher salaries.
Moreover, the district projects to save as much as $52 million under the budget, half of which would come from a hiring freeze at the central office.
Board member Allen Zeman predicts the savings will be higher than that. And once it’s known if the referendum was renewed, the district will be in a better position to understand its financial reality, he said. For now, however, he said it’s best to deal with the facts they have.
“ This board has been very clear about wanting to find money to compensate people,” he said. “I will not sleep until teachers make $100,000 each.”
The budget can be amended and the cost savings identified could give way for a 4% raise down the line, according to superintendent Howard Hepburn.
Fusco accepts the referendum is needed. If it doesn’t get renewed, “there will be a catastrophe,” she said, “but it was never put in place to take over" the raises outlined by the district’s budget.
Yvonne Moniz,a special education teacher at Virginia Shuman Young Montessori elementary school in Fort Lauderdale, told the board she’s passionate about her job.
“But if that referendum and that 4% doesn't come, I may not be able to stay here,” she added. “I am so sad about it. It's the reality of what the cost is.”
