BCPS superintendent outlines plans as district aims to cut 1,000 jobs amid crisis
Broward County Public Schools is moving forward with plans to cut about 1,000 positions, but Superintendent Howard Hepburn says the focus remains on restructuring services without taking away support for affected schools.
“Right now, we’re through the identification phase,” Hepburn told the Pembroke Pines News on Thursday, Feb. 26. “We’re actually remodeling the services that we provide to schools, just to make sure we don’t decrease the level of service that we provide to our schools, our teachers, our parents and our students.”
The cuts, which the district has said will mainly affect district-level positions, not school-based staff or front-line personnel, comes in the throes of a significant budget deficit driven by years-long declining student enrollment and rising costs.
The district has lost nearly 39,000 students over the past decade, while staffing levels have only modestly decreased from 21,835 to 20,847, according to data reported by the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Another 9,000 student enrollment loss is projected for the 2026-27 school year.
The school board is looking to cut about $80 million from the district’s budget.
This comes as the board continues to take steps to save money, including the January approval to close six Broward schools under the district’s “Redefining Our Schools” initiative, a plan aimed at addressing declining enrollment and stabilizing the district’s finances.
The Sun Sentinel reported that a Feb. 20 email sent to district employees outlined that teachers, school-based staff, security personnel, facility service workers, bus drivers and cafeteria staff are not the primary targets of the cuts.
“A new staffing model may be implemented that would slightly reduce the overall number of staff based on next year’s enrollment numbers,” the email read.
The impacted employees will be notified in late spring with layoffs becoming effective by June 30.
The letter also says the layoffs will be based on the financial realities the district is facing, not individual performance.
“Then coming up in April, we’ll discuss that with the board through our reorganization and going over our new chart as far as leadership structure and also discussing how we’re remodeling the services that we’re providing to our schools,” Hepburn told the Pembroke Pines News.
Board members and district staff are also discussing the possibility of furloughs.
A Feb. 22 memo from BCPS Interim General Counsel Kathelyn Jacques-Adams states that the district has the ability to impose furloughs to staff, with some exceptions.
The district cannot furlough union employees, including teachers without engaging in collective bargaining, per state law. There are seven collective bargaining employee groups within the district.
For non-union positions, however, furloughs are valid. This includes roles such as principals, assistant principals, district administrators and executive secretaries.
This story was originally published February 26, 2026 at 3:03 PM.
