Fourth Broward County Superintendent in 3 years takes the helm

The fourth permanent Broward County Superintendent to take the seat in a bit longer than three years has finalized his contract amid turmoil which has observers worried that local control of the country’s sixth-largest School District is about to end with a state takeover.

Howard Hepburn, who had been the District’s deputy superintendent of teaching and learning since August 2023, will be paid $340,000 a year, according to reporting by the Sun-Sentinel’s Scott Travis. Hepburn replaces Peter B. Licata, who got the job in June after a national search brought him from Palm Beach County schools’ leadership team.

Licata is the second Broward County Superintendent to resign after less than a year in the permanent role.

“We need to have that stability of leadership at the helm and to make sure he is leading us in the direction we need to go,” said Broward County School Board Chairwoman Lori Alhadeff, when Hepburn’s appointment was announced April 16.

Licata’s surprise retirement after nine months in the job — attributed to medical issues — came last week as the School District of about 200,000 students faces a bumper crop of issues, including state Education Board demands that the District cough up $80 million in tax money it received in 2018 and distribute it to the county’s charter schools.

Under threat of state sanctions against the District, an agreement with the state Education Board was reached last week.

Also, with a District analysis showing that there are about 57,000 fewer students enrolled than there were 20 years ago — a drop of about 22% — the School Board is facing pressure to close schools and consolidate students in fewer buildings. Some on the Board have suggested that as many as 40 schools be closed.

The School District’s turbulence — and its conflicts with state leaders in Tallahassee — reached a crescendo in September 2022 when Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended four out of the nine sitting School Board members and one other currently serving in the state Senate. The suspension was due to the District’s mismanagement of an $800 million school construction bond detailed in a grand jury report.

Two of DeSantis’ appointees remain on the Broward County School Board. One of them this week questioned whether the new Superintendent should be in that position.

“Dr. Licata went through a process,” said Dan Foganholi, whom DeSantis appointed to represent the District that covers the southeast section of Broward County. “And we’re now bypassing that and giving it to someone that did not go through that process. This is not somebody that Broward County selected as their Superintendent. … It’s going to be the person that was given the job and didn’t earn it.”

Foganholi was part of the original four appointed to the School Board in 2022. He had been scheduled to step off after a 2022 election, but the winner of that election, Rod Velez, faced complications because of a 1995 felony conviction. Velez of Hollywood had his right to vote restored, but his right to hold office was a murkier matter.

Even though Velez had not formally had his right to hold office restored, the Broward State Attorney announced after the election that Velez would not be prosecuted for swearing that he was eligible when he filed for election to the Broward County School Board.

Velez was due to be sworn in on Dec. 22, 2022, days after the State Attorney’s ruling. That same day, DeSantis issued an executive order, saying the seat was vacant and Foganholi was appointed again to the School Board, in Velez’s place.

Velez filed suit against the DeSantis and Foganholi and Circuit Court Judge John Cooper issued a writ of quo warranto asking DeSantis to show a reason why Velez should not take his School Board seat. A hearing on the matter was held March 18 in Tallahassee. On April 11, Velez announced that the results of the hearing convinced him to drop his bid to be seated — because continued pursuit could disrupt the District 1 School Board election scheduled for this November.

“This case’s purpose has always been to restore faith in democracy, not undermine it,” Velez said in a prepared statement announcing his decision to drop the lawsuit.

Foganholi, who did not list his School Board salary on his 2022 Form 6 that asks elected officials to report all sources of income or the accompanying 1040 tax form filed with the State Commission on Ethics, said that he was thankful that the Governor’s team prevailed in the matter of Velez’s election.

“I’m glad that we are past it and I am able to focus fully on District 1 and moving our District forward just as I was appointed to do,” he said in a text to Florida Politics.

Foganholi, who had run for Coral Springs City Commission in 2022, is currently one of three candidates filed to run for the School Board seat in the southeast portion of the county in this November’s election. He said he will be filing an amendment to his 2022 Form 6.