The Broward County School Board is dealing with a controversy of its own making.
An internal audit revealed that the most highly paid district employees have been receiving supplements from the referendum voters approved in 2022, when they voted to tax themselves to give struggling teachers a raise.
“Referendum is for the folks who are closest to our students,” said Superintendent Howard Hepburn at Tuesday’s school board meeting.
The board members took turns demanding a fix to the situation.
“This whole fiasco, in one word, unacceptable,” said board member Adam Cervera.
“For the public, I’m sorry, I’m very sorry that this happened,” added board member Nora Rupert.
What happened to cause all the outrage? In the summer of 2024, the school board voted to expand the list of employees eligible to receive supplements from the referendum to include some who make six-figure salaries.
“You were basically duped, I mean, I don’t want to mince words,” said Anna Fusco, president of the Broward Teachers Union during the public comment portion of the meeting.
“In other words, you took money away from teachers by doing this,” added retired teacher Trudy Jermanovich.
An auditor’s report and a Sun-Sentinel article fueled the anger from the teacher’s union and among board members.
“This is a large mistake, it needs to be fixed. Our public loves Broward County Public School educators and support staff, and they know that they need to be paid better,” Fusco said.
“If you are not interacting with a child on a daily basis, this money should’ve never been given to you, period, full stop,” Cervera said.
The board members made it clear they understand the referendum passed because the public knows many teachers are barely getting by and need the extra money.
“Our teachers, principals and APs, the people that have direct, daily impacts on our kids, benefit immensely from the referendum and the voters knew that when they entrusted us with that money,” said school board chair Sarah Leonardi.
“This is about what the public voted for, and that we have to be sure as elected officials that we are doing what the public expected of us,” said board member Debbi Hixon.
So the board took action, voting unanimously to rescind the supplements for the highly paid employees.
“We’re moving in the right path, just to correct something that shouldn’t have happened in 2024,” Hepburn said. “I do not support administrators getting that type of money; it should go directly to our teachers and frontline staff.”
The school board also voted unanimously to have its own auditor and the county’s inspector general investigate how the board was supposedly fooled into voting for a concept they do not support.
The total amount of money spent on the supplements for those employees was about $300,000. That’s not a huge amount of money; it’s all about the principle involved.
