Broward County Public Schools

With Florida's primary elections taking place Tuesday, Broward County voters will weigh in for the first time on two school board seats whose current members were appointed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Community members in Broward, Duval and Hillsborough counties have spoken out against efforts to close or change programming in schools.

Broward County Public Schools' Redefining Our Schools initiative is meant to slow the downward spiral of declining enrollment and deteriorating services. But at a town hall this week, some parents said the proposed changes would push them to do just what district leaders are hoping to prevent — to pull their children out of BCPS and place them in private school.

Broward County Public Schools officials are drafting plans to address the district's years-long decline in enrollment. BCPS will hold a series of town halls on May 6 - 9 to gather community input on the proposals.

The State Board of Education delayed taking possible action against Broward County Public Schools, after the district approved a payment plan to the district's charter schools. The exact amount hasn't been released, but state officials estimate it to be about $80 million.

Broward County Public Schools is undertaking a major effort to consolidate schools in response to declining enrollment. At a workshop on Wednesday, the school board outlined their priorities for the district’s 'Redefining Our Schools' effort.

Broward County school officials are working on a plan to repurpose at least five schools — and maybe many more than that — due to declining enrollment. The school board will talk more about the proposal on Wednesday, March 20.

Broward County's superintendent has been tasked with picking at least five schools to repurpose in the 2025-2026 school year. At a school board workshop this week, he said many more could be cut — with one member saying that as many as 40 schools could be affected.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25) called for Florida's surgeon general Dr. Joseph Ladapo, a Gov. DeSantis ally, to resign or be terminated over his refusal to declare a public health emergency over the Broward County outbreak.

Broward County Public Schools plans to combine or close at least five schools, due to years of declining enrollments. Some two hundred people filed in the auditorium at Fort Lauderdale High School on Thursday night to have a say in those decisions.

Years of enrollment declines, a booming market of alternatives to traditional public schools, and the looming sunset of federal COVID funds are pushing Broward officials to make some hard financial decisions — including closing or combining schools. Now, the district is holding community town halls on how to move forward.

Florida's state athletic board fined Monarch High School on Tuesday, placing the Coconut Creek school on probation after a transgender student played on the girls volleyball team, a violation of a controversial law enacted by DeSantis and the Republican-majority Legislature.