The Broward School Board plans to reconsider its decision to enter into a $2.6 million office rental contract, a move that had raised concerns as the school district faces major budget cuts and has plenty of extra space in school buildings.
A special meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. Tuesday to vote on whether to rescind the five-year agreement the School Board approved June 17 with Handy, whose name stands for Helping Advance and Nurture the Development of Youth. The district had planned to house about 75 facilities staff members in part of Handy’s Wilton Manors office.
The vote follows a South Florida Sun Sentinel article on Oct. 23 that questioned why the district was spending money for outside space when it has faced a $77 million shortfall over the past year and is trying to find new uses for underenrolled schools. The district has also proposed to close at least seven schools.
Several board members told the Sun Sentinel last month they were having second thoughts and would like to revisit the lease. Now, Board member Maura Bulman is asking the board to vote on it on Tuesday.
“The District is working to eliminate unnecessary real estate costs by taking steps to ensure that District employees are occupying District-owned facilities to the greatest extent possible and cannot afford to occupy rental space when district facilities are currently available or can be available upon a required buildout or renovation,” Bulman wrote in the agenda item.
Kirk Brown, CEO of Handy, couldn’t be reached for comment on Monday, despite attempts by phone and email.
Bulman also cited a new law allowing charter schools known as “Schools of Hope” to co-locate on the campuses of traditional schools. Last month, Mater Academy, a Miami-based charter operator, made a request to house 18,000 charter students on 27 district campuses. Other requests are expected this month, so the district is trying to reduce the amount of vacant space at these schools by leasing them to community groups or using them for office space.
Bulman is using a provision in the lease that allows the district to terminate if funds are not allocated in the yearly budget. While the $510,000 rental expense for the 2025-26 year has been allocated in the district’s capital budget, the request asks the School Board to amend the budget “to deallocate the remaining unused funds” for the agreement.
This would result in savings this year of $297,500, the agenda item states. That equals seven months’ rent and suggests the district has already spent or committed $212,500, the equivalent of five months’ rent.
Although the district signed the lease in June, district staff haven’t actually moved into the building, officials said. The district has spent about $88,000 on technology upgrades to the building, according to a response to a public records request.
A district summary for June 17 said that 117 facilities employees and contractors would be moving into the Handy building, but a district spokeswoman told the Sun Sentinel in October that it would be closer to 75, with the other employees using district-owned facilities.
The employees had planned to move out of the district’s Rock Island Annex Facility, a series of office buildings on Northwest 26th Street in Oakland Park. The Urban League of Broward County bought the facility for $5.36 million in October 2024 and plans to develop affordable housing on the site.
“We had to vacate that building (Rock Island), according to the actual contract that we signed with the entities that purchased it, so that team needs to get out sooner than later,” Hepburn told the Sun Sentinel in August.
However, after closing, the district entered into a lease agreement with the Urban League that allowed employees to stay at the Rock Island property until May 2027.
Some School Board members have voiced concern that the district had provided inaccurate information in an executive summary for the June 17 item. One sentence included contradictory information about how much written notice was needed to get out of the lease, listing both 90 and 180 days.
“Upon a ninety (180) day written notice, either party may terminate the Office Lease Agreement with or without cause,” the executive summary said.
When School Board member Nora Rupert sent a recent email asking district staff whether the item should have read 90 days to terminate or 180 days, she got a response explaining it was neither.
“The mention of ninety (90) days or one hundred and eighty (180) days in the Executive Summary was a scrivener’s error,” wrote Chris Akagbosu, director of facility planning and real estate.
He wrote that 180 days is the amount of time the district must give Handy if it decided to renew after five years.
“That is not a scrivener’s error,” Board member Adam Cervera told the Sun Sentinel. “A scrivener’s error is if you miss a letter in a word. A scrivener’s error is not when you say this can be terminated with 180 days’ notice when you really meant it can be renewed. This is a you misinterpreted a legal provision in a binding contract that you just signed for millions of dollars.”
In addition to the special meeting, the School Board has a full day of workshops on Tuesday scheduled to start at 9 a.m.
Topics include the district’s committees, the $800 million bond program and collective bargaining for employee groups.