Broward school board member calls for Florida DOGE to investigate district

Broward County School Board member Adam Cervera called for the state’s “DOGE” task force and Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia to investigate the school district after several financial blunders, scandals and school closures.

“Broward students, teachers, parents and taxpayers deserve the truth about what is happening inside Broward County Public Schools. They deserve transparency and they deserve accountability,” Cervera said at a press conference Tuesday morning. “The district owes it to every resident of Broward County to be good stewards of every tax dollar entrusted to us. Unfortunately, this district has fallen short. We failed to answer this call, and instead, BCSPS has fallen to financial peril. This must end now.”

Cervera called for a “full scale review” into alleged wasteful spending and mismanagement a day after Gov. Ron DeSantis blasted Broward County Public Schools as a “disaster” and suggested the district should be placed under a receivership, hinting that the state should step in. When asked by reporters if he agrees with a receivership, Cervera said, “Everything has to be on the table.”

Broward County Public Schools, the sixth-largest school district in the country, plans to make more than $100 million in cuts, close seven schools and eliminate about 1,000 jobs as it deals with declining enrollment and other financial controversies in recent months. The district is in the midst of a hiring freeze and is no longer using substitute teachers, the Sun Sentinel reported. Enrollment has declined by 11,000 students in the last year, and there are at least 50,000 more empty seats than students.

Cervera highlighted three recent controversies. The district agreed to a $2.6 million five-year lease with a nonprofit group to rent office space for employees instead of using the empty space at low-enrolled schools. The school board voted to terminate that lease in November, and Cervera called for Wanda Paul, the district’s Chief Operations Officer, to resign. She did in December.

District facilities and procurement staff botched the solicitation process to find a management company to oversee construction work, prompting an investigation. And, after voters approved a 2022 referendum to boost pay for teachers, the district used that money to give its highest-paid employees annual bonuses of up to $14,000. (School board members then voted to stop those payments.)

School Board member Debra Hixon said in a statement, “I welcome any additional support that will help us further improve our processes. We have already had an investigation on one issue and have asked for an investigation on other issues, even sending it to the [Office of Inspector General], so I don’t believe we need additional investigations. We have identified the issues and have responded to them or are working on addressing them to ensure transparency and fiscal responsibility.”

Last April, DeSantis appointed Cervera, a lawyer and fellow Republican, to the otherwise liberal school board to fill a vacancy after conservative board member Brenda Fam resigned, citing a “toxic environment.”

DeSantis suspended four Democratic school board members and appointed Republican replacements in 2022 after a statewide grand jury ruled them to be incompetent and negligent. The two appointees who ran campaigns to retain their seats lost their respective races in the 2024 elections. The board has held a liberal majority ever since.

Following President Donald Trump’s 2024 reelection, Broward County emerged as the only solid Democratic stronghold in South Florida. DeSantis took aim at the county last year, accusing county officials of skirting his Elon Musk-inspired Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and sending auditors to investigate excessive spending. Local Democrat leaders said the governor’s move was a political stunt.

On Monday, DeSantis turned his attention toward Broward’s school district. “Let’s just be honest, it’s been a disaster in many different ways. It is really run more to benefit the entrenched interests, particularly the school unions, rather than the parents and the students,” he said at a press conference.

Superintendent Howard Hepburn and other school board members responded to the governor’s criticism at a press conference Tuesday morning, acknowledging the district’s financial issues but arguing the district does not need a receivership. “We’re taking disciplined action to ensure financial stability, academic excellence and accountability,” Hepburn said.

“We welcome the governor and his team as well as his CFO to come help us find further efficiency because we, like the governor, are committed to spending taxpayer dollars responsibly,” said board member Sarah Leonardi.

Notably absent from that Tuesday press conference was Cervera, who told reporters that same morning that after six months on the board, “I’ve seen enough.”

“These are absolute failures of district leadership that directly harm our students, our teachers and our community,” Cervera told reporters. “These recent missteps are not something that happened years ago or with the old board, this is happening right now in front of our very eyes, swift and decisive action is needed to right this ship. There is no sunshine and lollipops at BCPS right now.”

When asked if the superintendent “needs to go,” Cervera didn’t disagree.

“I think everybody needs to take a hard look in the mirror and decide whether or not they’re doing their jobs to the best of their ability,” Cervera said. “And when we start to get some of this data, and when we start to get some of these numbers, [...] from the superintendent down: if you are doing something wrong, if we find fraud, waste and abuse and you’re involved in any of it, I’m going to call for your ouster. I don’t care who you are. I don’t care how long you’ve been here. Nobody is safe in this building. We are going to fix this problem.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly listed Debra Hixon as chair of the Broward School Board. She previously served as chair.

This story was originally published January 13, 2026 at 2:06 PM.