Perjury charge dropped against ex-Broward Schools superintendent Runcie

A felony perjury charge was dropped Monday against former Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie.

Runcie was arrested in 2021, after he was accused of lying to a grand jury that investigated events surrounding the 2018 Parkland high school shooting, which left 17 dead.

The felony perjury charge stemmed from questions over his management of a $1 billion bond issue that passed four years before the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High massacre.

Broward County Circuit Judge Martin Fein dismissed that charge in 2023, but a three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal revived it in 2024.

On Monday, the day jury selection was scheduled to begin, the state decided to drop the charge.

“Of course I’m thrilled, extremely happy, and I’m also grateful for the state and their consideration so we can move on," Runcie told NBC6.

Runcie did sign an agreement, though it was not a plea deal, to pay the state’s investigative costs, which totaled more than $4,700. He also made an admission, according to Assistant Statewide prosecutor Richard Mantei, that he made statements that were “misleading, inaccurate, and therefore, untrue.”

It "essentially said that although I never intended to commit perjury at all, that some of my answers may have been interpreted to be misleading, inaccurate and possibly untrue, but there was no intent to commit perjury,” Runcie said.

When asked if the perjury charge against him ever felt politically motivated, he responded:

"You know, there’s always some motivation around it, but I can’t speculate. All I can ever work with are facts. I understand there are lots of politics going on with public education. I think what we need to do as a country is focus on providing the best outcomes for our kids, so they can compete in a hyper-competitive global world."

What was Robert Runcie accused of?

At the request of Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Florida Supreme Court in 2019 impaneled a grand jury to investigate school-safety issues after 17 students and faculty members were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas.

DeSantis’ request included investigating issues related to whether school officials improperly diverted money that had been raised through bond issues for school-safety improvements.

The opinion of an appeals court in 2024 said the Broward County school district, while Runcie was superintendent, established a program to issue up to $800 million in bonds for school safety and other projects.

In January 2021, the statewide grand jury indicted the Broward district’s chief information officer for alleged bid tampering in the program. The allegation involved the use of a sole-source contract, instead of a competitive bidding process, according to the court's opinion.

The perjury charge against Runcie involved testimony before the statewide grand jury on April 1, 2021. Shortly before Runcie testified, a witness notified the Florida Department of Law Enforcement about a call from Runcie seeking information about a type of sole-source contract known as a “piggyback” contract, the opinion said.

Runcie was indicted on April 16, 2021, with the allegations including that he falsely said he had not spoken with anyone in advance of the grand-jury hearing about the chief information officer’s situation or contracting issues, according to the opinion.

This is a developing story. Refresh for updates.