Tag Archives: Anna Fusco

BTU Pays Six-Figure Salary To President Anna Fusco While Broward Taxpayers Pay Her Broward School District Salary Plus Vaccine Bonus and Reopen Pay

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According to IRS filings, Anna Fusco is paid $158,386 a year to lead the Broward Teachers Union (BTU). The union’s tax documents state Fusco spends 39.9 hours a week working for BTU. Fusco was first elected BTU President in April 2016.

If she is putting in nearly forty hours a week with a six figure paycheck, why is Anna Fusco still getting a paycheck from the Broward School District?

Last month, REDBROWARD reported on a public records lawsuit brought against the School Board of Broward County. An attorney told Broward Judge Jeffrey Levenson that Anna Fusco was not a full time employee of the District. Attorney Megan Pariti claimed Fusco had “been on approved and uninterrupted full-time union leave…since on or about July 1, 2016.”

FUSCO ON THE PAYROLL

REDBROWARD obtained Broward Schools payroll records for Anna Fusco covering pay periods from August 2016 to July 2022. These records show Fusco was paid a salary for performing up to 75 hours of work during the two week pay period. In addition to salary, the records show received generous holiday pay and sick leave buy back.

While the District claims Fusco is on full-time leave, she was paid a $250 vaccine incentive during the COVID pandemic. Fusco also received a $2,000 “Staff Reopen Stipend,” a $1,000 “Disaster Relief Payment” and your run of the mill $1,500 bonus payment.

REDBROWARD asked Fusco about the payments. In a text message, Fusco said, “It’s a contract agreement.” In a follow up telephone call, Fusco said she received a direct deposit from the Broward School District every two weeks. Even though she is on full time leave, Fusco said she is legally due the payment per the employment contract.

Fusco said the Broward School District is reimbursed once a year by the Broward Teachers Union for the payroll deposits. When asked where this arrangement is documented, Fusco provided language from the BTU contract with Broward Schools which states:

The president and vice president of the BTU, the president of the state affiliate, and the executive officers of the national affiliate shall be granted temporary duty leave for their respective term of office. Upon return from leave, the employee shall be placed in the same position held before such leave, or if such position is not available, to a substantially equivalent position within the scope of the employee’s certification. Such employee shall have the right to continue participation in the retirement system and insurance programs of the District, as well as to receive credit for salary increments, all as if in actual service to the District. The BTU shall reimburse the Board for the actual cost of such employee’s salary and benefits.

A review of the BTU bylaws does not mention reimbursement of salary and benefits paid by Broward taxpayers. Article IX, Section 4 of the BTU bylaws details “officer compensation.”

The document states, “An elected executive officer, working full time, shall Be compensated with a salary approved by the executive board in accordance with available funds as established by the annual budget.”

A review of IRS filings between 2013 and 2015 show then-BTU President Sharon Glickman did not get a salary for her forty-hour work week at the union. Things changed after Fusco became BTU President in 2016.

The 2016 IRS filing shows Fusco received $92,676 in “reportable compensation” (a W2 form) from BTU plus another $8,341 in “other compensation from the organization or related organizations.” In 2017 Fusco was paid $145,513 plus $33,769. In 2018, Fusco was paid $122,620 plus $40,639. In 2019, she was paid $125,053 plus $24,737. In 2020, Fusco was paid $128,738 plus $28,648.

There is no mention of reimbursement of funds payable to the Broward School District.

Sources with other unions tell REDBROWARD it is common practice for union representatives to receive salary from employer as a well as the union.

Those same sources were unfamiliar with practice of unions reimbursing employers.

REDBROWARD asked BTU and the Broward School District for documentation of the reimbursement. As of publication, no documents have been provided.

Can Broward taxpayers really trust the BTU and the Broward School District to do the right thing?

June 2021 BTU Filing With IRS

Angered By Six-Month Delay, Judge Orders School Board of Broward County To Produce Records And Text Messages Of Board Members, Former Employee And The Broward Teachers Union President

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Angered by a six-month delay in fulfilling a simple public records request, Judge Jeffrey Levenson ordered the School Board of Broward County to produce records and text messages of Board Members and employees including Broward Teachers Union (BTU) president Anna Fusco. Judge Levenson also ordered the Board to use its best efforts to produce the text messages of controversial former employee Jillian Harring. Last April, the Broward Principals and Assistants Association (BPAA) made a public records request for the records.

Under Florida law, public records are to be produced in a timely manner unless such records fall under a legal exemption. The Broward School District never claimed the records were exempted.

Tired of the delays and excuses, the BPAA filed a case in Broward County Circuit Court in October.

On November 21, 2022 a hearing was held in front of Judge Levenson. A transcript of the hearing was filed by the lawyers for the School Board.

A lawyer for the School Board said they did provide “batches” of records to the BPAA but they were having trouble securing other records. The lawyer said problems arose when individuals no longer had records on their personal phones, upgraded their phones or got a new phones. “Those text messages no longer exist,” she said.

The attorney for BPAA told Judge Levenson that BTU President Anna Fusco is a public employee paid by the School Board and by law, must produce her records. “So, this distinction they’re attempting to make between private phone and public phone is meaningless here,” he said. “[T]hey simply don’t want to produce them.”

When the Judge suggested giving the School Board ten days to produce the records, their attorney said, “Well, here’s the thing. The Broward School Board doesn’t have access to these things.”

Judge Levenson responded, “Then [Fusco & Harring] need to produce it themselves, but somebody needs to produce it. The reason why Florida has the public records requirements…is because they believe in openness. And you can’t hide behind, you know, this one or that one; you have to produce the records.”

Judge Levenson continued, “So, I will give you ten days. I want you to notify the two individuals, plus the School Board, you need to respond. They need to respond specifically, either provide the records or explain why you don’t have the records. And it should be verified, so there’s someone taking responsibility.”

After learning that text messages provided by Board Chair Lori Alhadeff proved existence of communications with Fusco and Harring, Judge Levenson said, “So, when they say, no, I can’t do it, or I don’t have any, it’s not intellectually honest.”

Judge Levenson told the School Board attorney they were “getting to the end” of this matter.

“And the power that I have is, things like contempt, fines, sanctions and so forth. I don’t want to do that. I want them to cooperate,” Jude Levenson said. “But they should also comply with the law, the public records law and the court.”

Levenson said, “And I want personal responses. And if these people do not respond, they need to get a lawyer, okay. Or they need to have the School Board lawyer come in, or somebody that’s going to basically explain why they haven’t complied.”

Judge Levenson said everything must be done under oath. He said, “I want some skin in the game here, all right. It’s been since April. That’s just too doggone long.”

THE ORDER

On Tuesday, Judge Levenson signed the order in the BPAA matter. The order says the School Board of Broward County shall produce the public records on or before December 5, 2022. The defendant “must produce” the text messages of Anna Fusco on or before December 5th. The defendant must use its “best efforts” to produce the text messages of former employee Jillian Harring.

Judge Levenson’s order states counsel for the defendant shall specify all efforts to secure these records. The orders states Defendant shall file certification under oath that all records were provided.

A hearing is scheduled for December 14, 2022 where the Court may issue an order to show cause should any records not be produced.

Lisa Maxwell, Executive Director of the BPAA, called Judge Levenson’s ruling a “Great day for the Sunshine Law and the public records act.” She told REDBROWARD a public entity such as the School Board of Broward County needs to allow the public to understand the communications of its leaders and its employees.

Anna Fusco was unavailable to comment.

School Superintendent Vickie Cartwright’s office directed our inquiries to another office at the School Board.

Judge Jeffrey Levenson