Broward voters approve a new tax hike for schools. Here’s who won for the school board
Broward voters said yes to doubling their property taxes when they passed the Broward Schools’ referendum Tuesday night, calling for the school district to raise $267 million over the next four years to pay for teacher raises and hire additional school safety and mental health staffers.
The measure won by 57 percent to 43 percent, with all 345 precincts counted and all early votes counted. The Broward Supervisor of Elections still needed to count about 2,000 votes of the total 136,303 votes by mail received, as of 11:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Broward Schools Superintendent Vickie Cartwright celebrated the referendum win: ”We are truly grateful for the voters’ support, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to educating today’s students to succeed in tomorrow’s world.”
But while voters supported the district’s initiative, they reelected only two incumbents, forcing the third into a Nov. 8 runoff election. School board candidates must win 50 percent of the vote, plus 1 additional vote to avoid a runoff.
READ MORE: Broward district is voters to double tax rate to boost teacher pay, school safety
Three of the nine school board members sought reelection this year.
Nora Rupert and Lori Alhadeff, two of the incumbents, won with 59 and 61 percent of the vote, respectively. Rupert, first elected in 2010, served as board chair in 2017. Alhadeff won her first election in 2018 after her 14-year-old daughter Alyssa died at the Feb. 14, 2018, mass shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, in which 14 students and three faculty members were killed.
“Tonight’s win is gratifying because it affirms that voters support the important work to which I’ve committed myself over the course of the past four years,” Alhadeff said
Donna Korn, who was elected to the board in 2012 and served as board chair in 2014 and 2020, was locked in a tight race Tuesday night with Allen Zeman, a former senior executive at the Pentagon, in the District 8 at-large seat. As of 11:30 p.m., each was hovering with around 30 percent of the votes in the four-person race.
In all, 21 candidates ran among the six races. But it was the referendum that garnered the most attention, as both the district and the teachers union pushed it hard.
The president of the Broward Teachers Union Anna Fusco said she had no doubt it would pass.
“I feel great. I’m happy; I’m getting a lot of people saying they’re happy,” she said.
The measure, which the district dubbed the “Secure the Next Generation Renewal,” is an extension of the district’s 2018 referendum, which is set to expire this year. Tuesday’s referendum will run from 2023-2027.
The district has to allocate some of the funds to charter schools, after a Miami appeals court panel ruled earlier this year that Miami-Dade County Public Schools had to share money with charter schools operated by the city of Aventura and Archimedean Schools. As such, the Broward district said it estimated that $214 million from the referendum’s proceeds would go to traditional public schools and $53 million would go to charter schools.
The bulk of the district’s funds — at least 75% or $160 million — will be allocated for raises for teachers and other eligible staffers, the district estimated. Up to 17%, or $36 million, will fund 500 safety personnel and up to 8%, or $17 million, will fund 100 mental health professionals.
The referendum calls for the millage rate to jump to 1.0 mill, up from .50 mill, a 100 percent increase annually in the district’s property tax rate over the next four years.
The homeowner with an average taxable property value of $390,000 would pay about $23 each month or $276 a year — double the cost of the 2018 referendum. The condo owner with an average taxable property value of $190,000 would pay about $13 each month, or $156 per year, again double the 2018 cost.
Results from Broward School Board races
District 1
Earlier this year, Ann Murray chose not to seek reelection after 14 years representing District 1, which includes the cities of Hallandale Beach, Hollywood and Dania Beach.
Three candidates vied for her spot: her daughter and a reading, film and journalism teacher, Marie Murray Martin; real-estate property manager Rodney “Rod” Velez; and pastor and businessman Paul Wiggins.
Velez, who garnered about 41 percent of the votes, and Murray Martin, who secured about 35 percent of the votes, will face each other in a Nov. 8 runoff.
District 4
Incumbent Alhadeff won solidly against her opponent, Kimberly Coward, a Coral Springs attorney and former guidance counselor, in District 4, which spans across Coral Springs, Parkland, Tamarac, North Lauderdale and part of Margate.
Alhadeff won her first election in 2018. On Tuesday, she amassed about 61 percent of the votes. Coward collected about 39 percent of the votes.
District 5
Former District 5 member Rosalind Osgood left the school board last November to run successfully for a seat in the Florida Senate. Gov. Ron Desantis appointed Daniel Foganholi to the vacant seat in April, but he didn’t run in the August primary.
The open seat, which represents northeast Plantation, northwest Fort Lauderdale, Lauderdale Lakes, Lauderhill and east Sunrise, triggered a crowded race with seven candidates.
On Tuesday, the top two vote-getters were Jeff Holness, the director of Kumon Math and Reading Center and a former communications university professor, and Ruth Carter-Lynch, the president and CEO of a marketing firm. In 2020, Holness lost to Debra Hixon for the District 9 countywide at-large seat.
Holness, with about 31 percent of the votes, and Carter-Lynch, with about 24 percent of the votes, will square off in the Nov. 8 runoff.
They defeated five other candidates:
Antonio Burgess, a teacher
Clifford Coach Sr. (no information available)
Nathalie Lynch-Walsh, a public accountant and vocal member of the BCPS Facilities Task Force
Gloria Ann Lewis (no information available)
Jimmy Witherspoon, a longtime school district employee
District 6
Laurie Rich Levinson, the current board chair, did not seek reelection after 12 years representing District 6, which spans Weston, Davie, Cooper City and south Plantation.
Brenda Fam, an insurance lawyer, and Steven R. Julian, a former wrestling coach who’s pursuing a master’s degree in mental health counseling, advanced to the Nov. 8 runoff election.
Fam locked in about 40 percent of the votes, while Julian captured about 45 percent of the votes. Both beat the third candidate: Chris Canter, a Title I grant compliance specialist and former middle school principal.
District 7
Incumbent Rupert defeated her challenger, Merceydes Morassi, an adjunct psychology professor at Florida International University.
Rupert received about 59 percent of the votes and will represent District 7, which covers northeast Broward, including Deerfield Beach, Coconut Creek and Pompano Beach, for four more years. Morassi fell behind with 41 percent of the votes.
Rupert, a former language arts and reading teacher, has a long history on the board since she first was elected in 2010; in 2017 she served as its chair for a year.
District 8
Korn, the incumbent, got locked in a close race with Zeman, the former Pentagon executive, with each garnering about 30 percent of the vote.
Korn, a former English teacher, has represented the entire county in the at-large seat since 2012, serving as board chair in 2014 and 2020.
But she recently came under fire. A statewide grand jury report released Friday recommended Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis remove five Broward school board members for “incompetence and neglect of duty.” DeSantis convened the grand jury, which investigated mismanagement of Broward schools, after the Stoneman Douglas shooting.
The report recommended that DeSantis remove Korn, along with Levinson, who did not seek reelection; Vice Chair Patricia Good; Murray, who did not seek reelection; and Osgood, who resigned to run for the Florida Senate.
Korn and Zeman beat Raymond E. Adderly III, a political science student at Florida Atlantic University and former student representative to the board, and Mourice “Mo” Hylton, a chess coach.
