A proposal to cut more than 300 filled jobs from Broward schools could face some major changes, as most School Board members supported restoring some employees who work directly with students while cutting a few more district-level administrative jobs.
Board members made numerous suggestions of jobs to be saved or eliminated toward the end of a seven-hour workshop about Superintendent Howard Hepburn’s proposed organization chart.
A meeting is scheduled for April 28 to make final decisions on the organization chart.
Board members often disagreed on specific cuts, but agreed that cuts were necessary due to declining enrollment, an $80 million budget shortfall and a failure in past years to cut district-level positions at the same rate as student losses.
“We recognize that this is an extraordinarily difficult moment for our school community,” Board Chairwoman Sarah Leonardi said near the start of the meeting. “The decisions being discussed today affect colleagues, friends and families who have given so much to our students and our district. They are the hardest decisions we face as a board, and they are far more difficult for those whose lives and livelihoods are directly impacted.”
The district reached some tentative decisions following a seven-hour meeting that drew dozens of public speakers, mostly district employees and representatives of employee groups who overwhelmingly panned the proposals.
“All union and labor groups have come together to say that this is a travesty. This is deplorable. This is unacceptable,” Anna Fusco, president of the Broward Teachers Union, told board members. “I clearly heard almost every one of you say, ‘Don’t impact schools. Don’t touch teachers. Don’t touch educators.’”
But she said the cuts largely do that.
Hepburn and board members agreed to restore some positions.
After numerous complaints, Hepburn said he decided to keep five filled exceptional student education program specialists and 17 ESE family counselor positions. While the district’s overall student enrollment has declined dramatically in recent years, the special-needs population has actually increased, advocates noted.
Board members also decided to not cut 17 social worker positions.
Board member Rebecca Thompson, whose background is in social work, said a consulting report last year recommended the district increase the number of ESE support staff, school welfare workers and counselors. She said she has advocated for ensuring there’s at least one social worker per school.
“I recognize that we had funding concerns and that having one social worker assigned per school would take some time to come to fruition,” she said. “But never did I imagine that we would be cutting school social workers.”
Melanie Birken, a longtime social worker in the district, told the board that the district has incorrectly suggested that these jobs don’t impact students.
“My first year, I covered three schools alone,” she said. “Today those same campuses have more support because student needs have grown — even as many of us are still split across multiple schools. Students don’t schedule crises. Cutting staff while expanding responsibilities reduces our ability to respond quickly.”
Board members also heard from teachers who work in district-level jobs but work directly with students in a number of schools. Victoria Trujillo Cortellese, an instructional teacher facilitator, told board members she was missing time with students to speak before the board.
“I’m supposed to be leaving a second-grade classroom and going to a fifth-grade classroom. I work with them on reading,” she said.
Cortellese said she’s worked for the district nearly 29 years, just a little more than a year before she’s eligible for retirement. “My position is about to be eliminated. … That’s not respectful,” she said.
While board members agreed to eliminate the positions of dozens of teachers who are not based at specific schools, Hepburn said there’s so much turnover among teaching staff that they should easily get placed in schools to fill vacancies and are at low risk for being laid off.
Board member Jeff Holness said the district communicated this poorly with affected employees. He said they were informed their positions were being cut.
“It creates some level of panic because they weren’t aware that they would like to be placed somewhere,” Holness told Hepburn. “I would say in the future, if we could look at how we communicate to make sure we’re not leaving essential information out, that would be relevant to individuals that doesn’t create any stress on themselves and their families.”
Most School Board members had at least some objections to the cuts, but Adam Cervera was particularly critical, saying the cuts focused more rank-and-file employees than high-level leaders.
ESE Counselor Joy Haber, of Oakland Park, speaks during a Broward County School Board workshop about proposed cuts to more than 300 jobs across the district on Tuesday. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Audience members silently salute a public speaker during a Broward County School Board workshop about proposed cuts to more than 300 jobs across the district on Tuesday. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Mary Carr leaves the podium after speaking during a Broward County School Board workshop about proposed cuts to more than 300 jobs across the district. The meeting was held at the Kathleen C. Wright Administration Center in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Discovery Elementary School second-grade teacher Robin Sloop talks during a Broward County School Board workshop about her own ESE child who she had to move to a private school to get the services and environment her daughter needed. The meeting, about proposed cuts to more than 300 jobs across the district, was held at the Kathleen C. Wright Administration Center in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
School Board member Rebecca Thompson asks a question during a Broward County School Board workshop about proposed cuts to more than 300 jobs across the district. The meeting was held at the Kathleen C. Wright Administration Center in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
School social workers, from left, Tanya Ivy, Latoya Richards, Melanie Birken, and ESE Advisory Chair Jacqui Luscombe, of Coral Springs, have a lively discussion during a brief break in a Broward County School Board workshop about proposed cuts to about 350 jobs across the district on Tuesday. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Fort Lauderdale High School math teacher Thomas Handwerg speaks during a Broward County School Board workshop about proposed cuts to more than 300 jobs across the district. The meeting was held at the Kathleen C. Wright Administration Center in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
School Board member Adam Cervera questions why more cuts weren’t made to non-school-based positions during a Broward County School Board workshop about proposed cuts to about 350 jobs across the district. The meeting was held at the Kathleen C. Wright Administration Center in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Maria Medina-Podesta speaks passionately during the one minute she was given for public comment during a Broward County School Board workshop about proposed cuts to more than 300 jobs. The meeting was held at the Kathleen C. Wright Administration Center in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
As she exits the board room, Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco, left, reacts to a public comment made that she agrees with during a Broward County School Board workshop about proposed cuts to more than 300 jobs across the district. The meeting was held at the Kathleen C. Wright Administration Center in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
McNab Elementary School second-grade teacher Maureen McHugh, who noted she had to take a vacation day to be present, speaks during a Broward County School Board workshop about proposed cuts to more than 300 jobs across the district. The meeting was held at the Kathleen C. Wright Administration Center in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
School Board member Allen Zeman speaks during a Broward County School Board workshop about proposed cuts to more than 300 jobs across the district, that he would like to see layoffs come from eliminating one level of high-level administration and all staff associated with that level. The meeting was held at the Kathleen C. Wright Administration Center in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Joshua Jamieson, who questioned the legality of laying off fully disabled veterans, speaks during a Broward County School Board workshop about proposed cuts to more than 300 jobs across the district. The meeting was held at the Kathleen C. Wright Administration Center in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco, left, and Broward Schools Chief of Staff and Communications speak during a Broward County School Board workshop about proposed cuts to more than 300 jobs across the district. The meeting was held at the Kathleen C. Wright Administration Center in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Audience members react to public comments during a Broward County School Board workshop about proposed cuts to more than 300 jobs across the district. The meeting was held at the Kathleen C. Wright Administration Center in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Broward Teachers Union Field Staff Representative Terry Preuss speaks during a Broward County School Board workshop about proposed cuts to more than 300 jobs across the district. The meeting was held at the Kathleen C. Wright Administration Center in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
ESE Family Counselor Catherine Nieves speaks during a Broward County School Board workshop about proposed cuts to more than 300 jobs across the district on Tuesday. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Audience members film during a Broward County School Board workshop about proposed cuts to more than 300 jobs across the district. The meeting was held at the Kathleen C. Wright Administration Center in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
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ESE Counselor Joy Haber, of Oakland Park, speaks during a Broward County School Board workshop about proposed cuts to more than 300 jobs across the district on Tuesday. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
He said the board’s directive was “start from the top and work your way down. Unfortunately, this directive, in my opinion, has been ignored.
“I want to be very clear what my position is with the current form of this org chart,” Cervera said before ripping up a copy of the organization chart.
Hepburn argued that he had to cut more lower-level positions than higher-level ones because the district doesn’t have a large number of high-level positions. But he said the district eliminated 16% of upper-level jobs, compared to 13% of lower-level jobs.
He said if the district cut all the chief executives in his cabinet, the savings would be about $3.8 million out of $1.9 billion in personnel costs.
“Proportion matters,” he said.
Most board members said they did want to see some more high-level jobs eliminated. While Hepburn recommended cutting some executive directors and directors, he kept all chief positions in place.
Most board members agreed to combine two vacant positions, chief operations officer and chief facilities officer, into one. They also supported a proposal for Hepburn to bring back the possibility of downgrading two chief positions into executive directors.
Board member Allen Zeman also asked if Hepburn could bring back a proposal that would cut 200 more jobs, although board members only committed to reviewing it, not enacting it.
Board members rejected some ideas, such as one by Board member Nora Rupert to slash the salaries of School Board members and district administrators by 10%.
General Counsel Kathy Dupuy Bruno said School Board salaries, which are about $50,000, are set by the Legislature, while cutting employee salaries creates some legal and collective bargaining challenges.
Another idea that failed to get traction was a proposal by Zeman to eliminate one layer of management. He said right now, between the superintendent and principals are a deputy superintendent, regional superintendents and regional directors.
“We’ve got to this year make the courageous decision to eliminate at least one layer of management,” Zeman said. “And Dr. Hepburn, you can pick one.”
Other board members were skeptical.
“Is this something that’s practical? This is going to come next week. He’s going to remove a layer of management, and we’re going to vote on it next week?” Bulman asked Leonardi.
Even without Bulman, a majority of board members opposed the idea, and it was scrapped.