Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has lambasted the Broward County School District for a “laundry list of failures” and suggested that placing it in receivership might be an option to fix it.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that DeSantis characterized the Broward district as impervious to reform and raised the possibility of drastic action by the state.
“Maybe thrusting some of these entities into receivership may be the best way going forward,” DeSantis said.
He said state Education Commissioner Anastasios “Stasi” Kamoutsas would need to determine “what authorities are there under current law" to pursue a receivership.
Broward schools have been plagued by declining enrollment, financial problems and missteps in recent months.
Enrollment has declined by 11,000 students in the last year and the district has at least 50,000 more seats than students.
The district has been looking to make more than $100 million in cuts; plans have been proposed to close seven schools and eliminate about 1,000 positions.
Broward also has faced criticism for recent management missteps, including:
- Entering into a $2.6 million five-year lease with a nonprofit group to house a few dozen facilities employees when the district has plenty of empty space in low-enrolled schools. The school board voted to terminate that lease and has been sued over it.
- District facilities and procurement staff botched a solicitation for a management company to oversee district construction, prompting the board to reject all bids. The contract with the current management company expires Jan. 17, so the board is taking emergency actions to select a vendor.
