External review supports deep staffing cuts for Broward schools. What it found
The Broward County School Board is proposing a sweeping districtwide reorganization plan that would eliminate at least 1,000 positions as officials try to tackle declining student enrollment and an $80 million budget shortfall.
The plan, outlined during a seven-hour workshop on Tuesday, April 21, at the Kathleen C. Wright Building in Fort Lauderdale, is part of a broader effort to align staffing with shrinking student enrollment and stabilize finances while protecting classroom instruction.
The board had previously directed Superintendent Howard Hepburn to cut about 1,000 positions this year, followed by 500 to 1,000 positions each of the next two years.
According to district materials, the 856 positions targeted in the reorganization include “300 occupied positions, 159 vacant positions resulting from attrition and the current hiring freeze, and 53 support positions associated with school repurposing.”
“As it relates to our current budget reality, and make no mistake, this is driven by a decline in student enrollment, we have already implemented significant cost-saving measures,” Hepburn said. “However, additional action is also required. Forty-eight percent of our budget is tied to personnel.”
He said the district must maintain at least a 3% fund balance to avoid potential state intervention in its financial decisions. The district’s reserve is at about 3.8%, roughly $1.6 million above the threshold.
Additional job cuts expected through the spring and summer would bring the total to at least 1,000, Hepburn added.
The financial situation is not unique to Broward County, Hepburn said, noting similar trends across Florida.
The district faces an $80 million budget deficit, compounded by years of student enrollment losses and rising operational costs, including employee benefits and transportation.
Over the past decade, the district has lost nearly 40,000 students, including about 10,000 this school year, with another 10,000 projected next year. Because state funding is tied to enrollment, revenue has declined as student numbers dwindled.
The proposal is also backed by a six-week external review conducted by social impact consulting firm MGT, which the district hired to analyze central office staffing and identify potential reductions.
The review found Broward has higher central office staffing and spending than other Florida districts, such as Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Orange and Duval counties.
Hepburn described the organizational chart and proposals from MGT as an effort to “right-size” the district to align staffing and structure while still protecting “classrooms, instruction and direct services to students.”
“This generates approximately $40 million in savings, with more being realized throughout the spring and the summer,” Hepburn said. “This proposal includes the reduction of approximately 862 positions, making it among the largest reductions enforced in recent school district history.”
MGT findings
MGT presented its “Central Office Staffing Optimization Review,” during the workshop, outlining the analysis behind the proposed reductions.
Project manager Stephanie Ratti said it was a “fast but comprehensive and rigorous process” that benchmarked Broward against five peer districts and included a review of HR and financial data, along with input from more than 70 department leaders.
The report found Broward has about 6,613 central office positions, representing roughly 20% of total staff, above the peer median.
If the district reduced between 800 and 1,000 positions, that share would drop to about 17%. MGT presented two scenarios: The superintendent’s recommended plan, which identifies about 803 positions for reduction, and a maximum reduction model that would reach 1,000 cuts.
The recommended plan would generate a net cost savings of about $36.6 million, while the larger reduction model would add about $9 million more.
MGT recommended the board proceed with the superintendent’s plan for the upcoming fiscal year and conduct further analysis before additional cuts are made.
Public comment and board response
Public speakers raised concerns about the cuts to exceptional student education positions, mental health services, proper termination notices and whether principals were adequately consulted, among other concerns.
Others said that the plan appeared to be a shuffling of roles instead of reductions in the upper district staff.
Hepburn emphasized the work is ongoing and that they presented the process to the board earlier than usual to “provide our impacted staff the opportunity to transition appropriately with the right support.”
After feedback from the community, Hepburn said 22 previously proposed cuts to ESE-related roles would be restored, five related to program specialist positions and 17 to family counselor positions.
Board member Jeff Holness suggested restructuring upper leadership positions and reducing the number of chief-level roles (there are seven), specifically eliminating the chief of facilities position and raising the chief operating officer role to a higher pay band.
He also suggested reviewing the current chief-level positions to determine which could be reclassified as executive directors, asking Hepburn to reclassify at least two roles and eliminate at least one, “so all of us can bear the brunt of the financial constraints that we have.”
Board member Rebecca Thompson said the issue extends beyond the district.
“While better budgeting and staffing adjustments and even school closures may help stabilize our individual systems in the short term, the reality is this: School systems across Florida are going to eventually break under the current state funding model,” she said.
She also raised concerns about maintenance backlogs and said it is inaccurate to claim the cuts will not affect schools.
“If we have to go to a bare-bones model of management so that we can pour the majority of our funding into our actual school sites, this is something we must do,” Thompson said.
Board member Adam Cervera criticized the plan, tearing a paper copy of it before speaking to his concerns.
“This current plan that we have disproportionately impacts our lower-level staff while sparing some top-level administrators,” Cervera said.
Board member Debra Hixon suggested restructuring operations under financial leadership, moving the chief operations job under the chief financial operations officer and making it a deputy position and keeping the CFO under the superintendent.
Chair Sarah Leonardi went through each board member’s proposals and asked for consensus on which items to direct the superintendent to evaluate ahead of the next workshop, scheduled for April 28.
