Tag Archives: Florida Board of Education

State Board Of Education: Broward Schools Owe $80 Million To Charter Schools, Sets Strict April Deadline For Compliance; Board Member Urges School Board To Find New Lawyer

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Marylin Batista, center, address Board of Education with Lori Alhadeff and Jamie Cole

Broward County’s dysfunction was on full display as School District officials appeared before the State Board of Education meeting Wednesday in Winter Park. Superintendent Peter Licata, School Board Chair Lori Alhadeff and School Board General Counsel Marylin Batista were summoned to appear before the Board to discuss their noncompliance with Florida law. On March 7th, REDBROWARD broke the news that the Board of Education opened an investigation into Broward Schools. Last week, Commissioner Of Education Manny Diaz, Jr. found probable cause the Broward School District failed to comply with laws requiring the sharing of revenue with charter schools.

In a March 19, 2024 memorandum, Diaz wrote, “I find there is probable cause to believe the Broward County School District (the district) is not in compliance with Florida law. Specifically, the district has failed to comply with section 1002.33(17), Florida Statutes (2019), regarding revenue it collected from an ad valorem tax it levied under section 1011.71(9), Florida Statutes.”

According to Diaz, a 2018 ballot measure pushed by the School District promised to raise funds for all public and charter schools. “However, Broward County School District decided to share only a small portion of the revenue generated under this voter approved tax and only shared it with certain public charter schools,” Diaz wrote.

Diaz stated, “[T]he district has knowingly and willfully refused to comply with the law.”

One day later, the School Board of Broward held a marathon session to decide how to respond to Diaz.

After several hours of discussion, the Board voted to give Superintendent Licata and Batista permission to negotiate a payment plan with nearly 90 charter schools in Broward.

While the Board referred to the “alleged” noncompliance, they signaled a willingness to resolve the matter before the April 17, 2024 Board of Education meeting in Tallahassee.

Superintendent Peter Licata with Lori Alhadeff

MODE OF ENFORCEMENT

Instead of the April meeting, Licata, Alhadeff and Batista found themselves answering questions Wednesday morning.

Under questioning by Board Member Ryan Petty, Batista admitted she thought they would have more time. Batista said she called Tallahassee to ask for more time to resolve the issue. Batista was told the State had moved on from a mediation mode. She said the State was now in a “mode of enforcement.

Ryan Petty

Most members asked Batista about the letter she sent to the Board of Education and a subsequent response by Broward School Board Member Torey Alston.

On Tuesday, Batista sent a letter to the State about the ongoing matter. As instructed at last week’s meeting, Batista included the language in the motion passed by the Board. Then, Batista stated the District was in full compliance.

For some reason, Batista included a fourteen page “memorandum of law” written by the outside legal counsel representing the District in a lawsuit brought by three charter schools.

While Jamie Cole of Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman did attend last week’s School Board meeting, there was no discussion by the Board regarding the inclusion of a memorandum of law.

Instead of attempting to garner sympathy from the Board of Education, the Weiss Serota memorandum acted like the proverbial finger in the eye.

In addition to proclaiming the District was in full compliance with the law, the memorandum argued the Board of Education had no jurisdiction over the matter. The memorandum made a tenuous “separation of powers” argument—the Board could not act until the judicial branch heard the matter.

Andrew King, General Counsel for the Board of Education stated the Florida Constitution and law gave them jurisdiction over this matter.

Board Member Ryan Petty read Torey Alston’s response to Batista’s letter and memorandum into the record.

Alston said the Batista response did not “reflect the deliberate, three-hour board discussion and consensus authorizing both the Superintendent of Schools and General Counsel to end this looming issue.

Alston said he was highly disappointed. “The filing, attached to the letter, is 100% counter to the intent, tone and spirit of our prior collective discussion,” Alston wrote.

Petty asked Batista about Alston’s letter and whether the filing was authorized.

Batista claimed she received authorization at March 12th closed door meeting. A meeting she said Alston did not attend.

In a post on Twitter/X, Alston seemingly responded to Batista. He wrote, “Green light given a week prior to notice from the Dept and no one knew about today’s mtg. Doesn’t add ! Politricks! (Pull the transcript, if it exists).”

Petty said the School Board of Broward County should be frustrated with their general counsel. Petty said Batista appeared to be “contravening the will” of the Board by arguing the matter could not be resolved by April.

Petty made a stunning suggestion that Board Members cannot trust Batista’s judgment. Petty said Board Members should review all documents and memos Batista plans to send to outside entities before she sends them.

Following the testimony, the Board Of Education found Broward was out of compliance with Florida law and Broward would have to document compliance by the April 17, 2024 Tallahassee meeting.

Chairman Ben Gibbons stated the options the Board of Education will have at that meeting.

According to Gibbons, if the Broward School District is “unwilling or unable” to show compliance, the State can 1. Report the noncompliance to the State Legislature with recommended actions, or 2. Withhold funds from Broward Schools or 3. Declare Broward Schools ineligible to receive grants and monies.

Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz Jr, on left, with Chairman Ben Gibbons
Florida Board of Education

Transgender Volleyball Player And Family Spoke To Broward School Board Members And District Officials At Public Meeting in 2017—“The School Board Has My Back”

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“The School Board Has My Back”

D.N. To Broward School Board 2017
Transgender student speaks to Broward School Board

While District officials claimed ignorance about the status of a Broward transgender high school student, REDBROWARD obtained a video of a public meeting in 2017 when the same student praised Broward School Board members for keeping her safe at school. Last month, the principal at Coconut Creek’s Monarch High School and other officials were reassigned after Superintendent Peter Licata learned the transgender student played on the girls volleyball team. As first reported by REDBROWARD, in June 2021 the student and her family filed a lawsuit against the Broward School Board, the Florida Board of Education and Governor Ron DeSantis over a 2021 law which prohibits males and transgender females from playing on women’s sports teams.

In June 2021, D.N., an eighth grader, and her parents filed a lawsuit for injunctive relief from the Fairness In Women’s Sport Act which would take effect on July 1, 2021. Signed by Governor Ron DeSantis, the act prevents biological males from playing on female sports teams. According to the lawsuit, D.N. played on the girls soccer team at her middle school. The lawsuit stated she planned on participating in volleyball as well.

On November 6, 2023, the Judge granted a motion to dismiss the lawsuit by the remaining plaintiffs-Florida Commissioner Of Education Manny Diaz and the Florida State Board of Education.

Two weeks later, Broward School Superintendent Peter Licata said a “constituent” alerted him that a transgender volleyball player was a member of the Monarch High School team.

Licata immediately reassigned Monarch High principal James Cecil, Monarch High assistant principal Kenneth May and three other school employees.

THE BLAME GAME

While investigating the 2021 lawsuits, several individuals tied to the Broward School District told REDBROWARD they were unsure when the District learned the student was violating the law by playing for Monarch High. Yet they all mentioned that the Florida Board of Education was aware since March 2023.

According to their reasoning, since the Broward School Board was dropped from the lawsuit in 2022, they never saw a March 2023 filing where lawyers for the student admitted she played volleyball for Monarch.

On Saturday, the Sun-Sentinel repeated the District’s attempt to shift the blame. According to the report:

It’s unclear who at the Broward school district may have known the student was playing on the girls’ team. The district was named in the original lawsuit in 2021, but was one of several parties dismissed from it in February 2022, leaving Education Commissioner Manny Diaz and the State Board of Education as the sole defendants.

THE SCHOOL BOARD HAS MY BACK

During a late 2017 Broward School Board meeting, the District’s LGBTQ co-ordinator introduced three transgender students and their families to the Board, District officials and members of the public. One student was in high school while the other two were both ten years old.

The first student to address the Board was D.N.

(While D.N. used her name, REDBROWARD has decided not to publish her first or last name).

D.N. told Board members she was ten years but she began transitioning when she was just eight years old. She said she was having “the best time of my life.”

“Living in Broward County has given me the sense of safety knowing that the School Board has my back and makes my safety important,” she said.

Other speakers included then-School Board Members Rosalind Osgood and Laurie Rich Levinson.

After the students spoke, Levinson introduced Michaellle “Mickey” Pope, the chief of Student Support Initiatives and the driving force behind the controversial “PROMISE” program.

Pope admitted the District aimed to protect civil rights and help students “live, work and learn in an environment that is safe and inclusive.”

When a transitioning student comes “forward,” Pope said her staff and their community partners “sit with school teams, the principals, the support staff and they get to understand the child, they get to understand the true work.”

Then, Pope asked the team assisting the other transgender ten year old to stand up and take a bow.

Was the support for a transitioning student was so comprehensive to include hiring a student’s parent?

In 2017, D.N.‘s mother told the Sun-Sentinel she was hired as a teacher at her daughter’s school. The mother told the Sun-Sentinel, “To negate as much bullying as possible, [the mother] joined the PTA board at [D.N.’s] school and eventually became the president. She has recently been hired at the same school as a teacher and will work with staff and educators to bring awareness of transgender students’ needs and rights.”

The mother moved to a position at Monarch High School when D.N. started attending the school.

Pope retired in 2019. But according to Pope’s own words, the District staff and community partners on D.N.’s team should have been well aware of her academic and athletic status.

According to Pope’s policy, school staff should have been made aware of D.N. at every step of her academic career.

So why is the District so surprised by the entire matter?

Did someone in administration keep new Superintendent Peter Licata in the dark?

Did someone at the District urge D.N. to file the lawsuit?

If administrators were so aware of D.N. why were the Monarch principal and four other employees the only ones reassigned?

If they really had her back, why didn’t the School Board join D.N. in suing the State of Florida?