School Administrator Stole to Pay Kids' Private School Tuition

Deborah Swirsky-Nunez is charged with fraud and grand theft

A Miami-Dade County Public Schools employee is in jail after teaching her kids honesty isn't always the best policy, especially when private school tuition is at stake.

Deborah Swirsky-Nunez, a 24-year veteran of the school system, has been charged with fraud and grand theft after she allegedly stole scholarship money meant for children with learning disabilities and used it to fund her own children's private school education.

"This is not a singular error of judgment; it is an act of arrogance and greed," State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a released statement. "It is an act of perceived opportunity and it is a crime."

Swirsky-Nunez, 45, was an instructional supervisor for exceptional student education at the North Regional Center and had access to the inner workings of state-funded ESE scholarships.

She used a false address and forged documents to enroll her daughter at Michael Krop Senior High School for two weeks, long enough to get $11,356 in scholarship money.

Her daughter was a student at American Heritage School, a private school in Broward County, and the scholarship money went to pay that tuition. Swirsky-Nunez did the same thing with her son, who was awarded $7,791 in scholarship money, authorities said.

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