Broward County School Board

Broward School Board Hasn't Paid the Bills for School Resource Officers

It seems astonishing, given the emphasis Broward County Public Schools has placed on school security since the Parkland tragedy happened five years ago.

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School resource officers, or SROs, play a vital role in school safety and security. So you might be surprised by what Hollywood Police Chief Chris O’Brien told the Broward County School Board.

“No municipalities in Broward County have been paid a dime yet this year for reimbursement for the SROs,” O’Brien said.

It seems astonishing, given the emphasis Broward County Public Schools has placed on school security since the Parkland tragedy happened five years ago. O’Brien came to the school board meeting to bring up the issue: local municipal police agencies are providing SROs to more than 200 public schools, but the district is not paying back those agencies.

“Municipalities are really fed up with the process because it’s not a true partnership,” O’Brien said.

As the head of the Broward Chiefs of Police Association, O’Brien was negotiating on behalf of the Association. The talks started last May, and now, almost eight months into the school year, nothing has been resolved and now each municipality is conducting its own negotiations. The police are asking for $103,000 per year per officer, the district is offering $73,000 for the remainder of this school year.

NBC 6 anchor Cherney Amhara has more on the issue that has come to light in the wake of the recent shooting in Nashville.

“These guys worked all year with no contract and we went out and spent that money, and for us to come back and say we can’t pay you; what we want to pay you because we went and spent that money on other stuff,” said board member Dr. Allen Zeman.

“The relationship they have with our staff, with our students, and they truly have a heart to protect our kids, I believe we need to change that, we need to get better,” board member Daniel Foganholi said.

The issue is extremely personal for board member Debbi Hixon, who lost her husband, Chris Hixon, in the Parkland massacre.

“Safety and security is of the utmost importance, I’ll say it now, I’ve said it before, if our students and staff don’t come home, nothing else matters, so we have to put our money where our mouth is in this particular instance,” Hixon said, her voice cracking.

Hixon wants to bump up the offer to $80,000 per officer per yet over the next three years.

“The officers are getting paid, the cities aren’t being reimbursed, and it’s a little frustrating and we’re looking to reestablish some partnerships because we believe it’s important at the end of the day, the two most important things for me are education and the safety of our students,” O’Brien said.

By the end of the meeting, the board seemed to settle on offering $75,000 per officer per year over the next three years, but it was a workshop meeting so no votes could be taken. The total cost to the district, we learned in the meeting, would be around $3 million.

To a person, the board members seemed embarrassed that they hadn’t paid up for the SROs this year so it’s likely that this issue will be resolved soon.

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