FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Broward School Board voted Tuesday to keep Howard Hepburn as superintendent through 2030.
He’ll receive a salary of $360,200, which represents a raise of $10,000.
“I don’t take this responsibility lightly and I plan to make you proud during my continued work and leadership,” he said.
The decision comes as board members will have even tougher financial decisions to make in the coming months.
Enrollment in the district has been declining as new numbers show staffing levels have slightly increased.
Hepburn described it last week as “out of whack.”
He estimates a $75 to $80 million shortfall.
“We’re working on a plan that we’re going to provide to our board about how we’re going to address some concerns immediately,” said Hepburn.
Board member Allen Zeman is already eying potential cuts.
“We have five layers of management between the superintendent and the first one that’s responsible for education, the principal, and the public ought not to tolerate that and I won’t tolerate it anymore, but we will not make trade-offs that lower the number of teachers for our students.”
That’s a concern echoed by the teachers union.