Broward school board advances plan to shrink district with closures. What to know
Broward County Public Schools are preparing to close seven schools as financial pressures and declining enrollment worsens, district officials said during a day-long workshop at the Kathleen C. Wright Administration Building in Fort Lauderdale.
The school board’s discussion during the Monday, Dec. 8, meeting focused on reviewing recommendations from the boundary advisory committee, a 50-person advisory group that makes suggestions about changes to school attendance zones, potential school closures, mergers or reconfigurations.
The proposed consolidations and closures are part of the district’s multi-phase ‘Redefining Our Schools’ plan, intended to mitigate the empty school seats.
The district is projecting a $94.7 million budget shortfall, about $33 million more than projected earlier this year, as enrollment continues to plummet, according to district data.
More than 20,000 students have left in the past five years, and officials reported another 3,000 were gone as of Monday. A hiring freeze is underway and more than 1,000 staff positions are expected to be cut.
“These steps are difficult but they are necessary to ensure we remain financially responsible and continue delivering high-quality education to our students,” Superintendent Howard Hepburn said at the start of the workshop.
“It is now more critical than ever that we right-size our district and remain in control of our future.”
Along with budget challenges, the district also is trying to shrink its footprint and find new uses for schools to try to fend off “Schools of Hope,” which are special charter schools that are allowed under a new state law to operate rent-free on district campuses.
Closure list takes shape
Board members cast support votes in two rounds during Monday’s meeting and largely supported the following closures and student reassignments:
- Close Sunshine Elementary in Miramar and move students to nearby Fairway Elementary.
- Close Palm Cove Elementary in Pembroke Pines and move those students to Pines Lakes Elementary.
- Close Plantation Middle and move those students to Plantation High, which would become a 6-12 school.
- Close North Fork Elementary in Fort Lauderdale. Most board members supported a proposal to send all those students to Walker Elementary or to split them between four schools.
- Close Bair Middle in Sunrise, with students attending Westpine Middle.
- Close Seagull Alternative High School in Fort Lauderdale and move those students to Whiddon Rogers Education Center.
The plan is more aggressive than what the boundary advisory committee initially supported.
Board member Allen Zeman said the School Board should have already closed dozens of schools but has only closed one in recent years, Broward Estates in Lauderhill, which was converted into an early learning center this year.
He suggested five additional schools should be reconsidered for closure, including Forest Glen Middle in Coral Springs. That proposal fell flat.
“I think it is completely disingenuous to the entire community,” said Lori Alhadeff, who represents District 4. “We’ve gone through these community meetings. I get that we need to save money, and there’s a process to do that. But you lose public trust when you just make these decisions off the top of your head.”
Forest Glen was on an initial list of possible closures, but the School Board removed the school from its list in October, after Alhadeff, who represents the school, said it is far less under enrolled than many other middle schools in the county.
Two campuses appear safe in the short term.
Most board members back District 2 member Rebecca Thompson’s proposal to convert Glades Middle in Miramar into a K-8 school.
“It’s going to expand our opportunities for elementary students because they will have access to all the Glades facilities, including a gym so we don’t have to have classroom recess anymore,” Thompson said.
Thompson says this proposal will add competitiveness with charter schools and provides a marketing opportunity for the district.
It remains unclear whether Broward will move forward with a proposal to add a new branch of Sheridan Technical College to the Glades Middle campus.
With Walter C. Young Middle on a lease with the city of Pembroke Pines until 2037, the board intends to keep the school open for two more years while planning its transition and addressing any legal questions around the property. Thompson has also proposed turning Charles W. Flanagan High, also in Pembroke Pines, into a 6-12 campus.
Money on the table
Another point of concern brought by District 6 representative Adam Cervera was the financial urgency felt throughout the district.
“[We’re] $95 million in the red, that’s a lot of money, even for the sixth-largest school district in the nation,” Cervera said. “This is only going to get worse, unless some severe and drastic action is taken. Everything has to be on the table here — renting, selling, potential closures, all of it.”
He also asked Hepburn to weigh potential revenue from selling or leasing unused school properties.
Hepburn said that the taxable value of the facilities under consideration, including the administrative building where the meeting was held, totals about $230 million, with possible lease revenue of $2 million annually for an elementary school and $3.7 million for a middle school.
Cervera asked whether selling the properties might yield “upwards of $300 million, maybe $350 million in profit.” Hepburn said he “affirmatively” believes that.
Hepburn also acknowledged that years of delaying tough decisions had led to a breaking point.
“From a superintendent standpoint, we need to close a lot of schools because they just haven’t been addressed in a decent frequency over the past 10 years,” he said.
The board plans to make final decisions next month, with changes taking effect for the 2026-27 school year. Hepburn plans to issue his formal recommendations Friday, Dec. 12.
