Broward superintendent signals big changes fueled by under-enrollment

On a day when Lori Alhadeff was re-elected by her peers as chair of the Broward County School Board, and on a day when the board met behind closed doors to discuss the new contract with the Broward Teachers Union, the superintendent was thinking, let’s hit the ground running.

“So we have some major changes, major plans coming up,” said superintendent Dr. Peter Licata at a news conference Tuesday. “We know that we can’t budget for the size we used to be and we’re going to be working on that, we know we’re going to be working on, as a large landowner, our budget’s gonna require us probably to maybe sell those lands, we’re gonna repurpose some schools as I’ve been tasked by the board.”

Licata said the school district has 60,000 surplus seats right now. Enrollment this year stands at 202,916, which is down by 2,827 students from last school year. For example, Broward Estates Elementary School has only 248 kids at the moment, the lowest enrollment of any traditional school in the district.

“And we can’t continue to operate as a 260-thousand-student district as we decline and we’re expecting 10,000 more to leave over the next three years, which is normal because we’re not having families move in,” Licata said.

So will some schools be shut down? Licata says only as a last resort.

“I don’t want to see schools close, there has to be tremendous communication with communities, we can’t just close schools, so whatever that looks like with repurposing that school or bringing other resources into that school to make the school more vital, I would love to see that happen,” Alhadeff said.

School improvement to draw more students in is the first option. Northeast High School, for example, has a brand-new building about to open. It’s currently one of the most under-enrolled schools in the district. Licata wants to expand magnet and choice programs, and possibly convert more schools into the K-8 model.

“What can we offer more, how can we make sure that we’re capturing all of those students?” Licata said.

Another move being considered by the district is to build housing on school grounds for teachers and school employees. There are two ways to do that, by utilizing unused space on campuses or by selling school properties and allowing developers to raze the existing buildings and convert the whole property into housing.

School board member Dr. Allen Zeman supports both options.

“We need to think about housing, it’s just too expensive for our teachers to live here,” Zeman said, contending that the district operates 40 more schools than it can afford to operate.

Licata said any of these changes are at least 16 months away.