Indian River school board approves reorganization, cites $2.8 million in savings

The School Board of Indian River County unanimously approved a district reorganization and associated personnel recommendations on June 16, 2025, a realignment Superintendent Eric Moore said will reduce district expenditures by about $2.8 million as the district prepares for the coming school year.

The reorganization moves several central‑office functions, consolidates positions and creates a new Department of Strategic Communications and Marketing; the Department of Safety, Security and Emergency Operations will report directly to the superintendent, Moore said. The board approved the item on a 5–0 vote.

Why it matters: Moore told the board the changes are intended to protect schools from deeper cuts at the school level by reducing central‑office cost and improving the district’s ability to market and compete for student enrollment. He characterized the reorganization as part of a multi‑year effort to 'keep the schools as whole as possible' while adapting to enrollment shifts and school‑choice pressures.

Moore framed the savings and shifts in concrete terms. "Specifically this gives us an anticipated cost savings of just over a million dollars in terms of anticipated salary," he said during his presentation, and later summarized the total estimate: "When you look at the overall estimated cost savings is approximately $2,800,000 in, reducing expenditures." The superintendent said the $2.8 million combines roughly $1.7 million in eliminated position costs, roughly $500,000 of new or revised position costs and additional reductions in district spending.

Among the operational changes Moore described: - A new Department of Strategic Communications and Marketing to centralize outreach and recruitment efforts and to support the district's school‑choice strategy. - The Department of Safety, Security and Emergency Operations, led by Jaime Alberte, will report directly to the superintendent to streamline decision making on security matters. - Academic support functions, including prekindergarten alignment and some special education (ESE) supports, will be organized under the leadership of Miss Basura to create a more cohesive preK–12 instructional support continuum. - Risk management, benefits and some human‑resources functions will be consolidated to improve budgeting, reporting and benefits administration; information services will be embedded in finance to strengthen the district’s data ecosystem and dashboards. - Food service and transportation functions will be aligned to the office of school leadership and management to shorten reporting lines for day‑to‑day operational services affecting schools.

Board members and staff emphasized the goal of limiting reductions at the school level. Jackie Rosario, who had pulled the personnel item to ask for additional detail before the vote, said she had concerns about transparency of specific salary numbers and asked that base salary and salary‑plus‑benefits be shown to the public in future reports. After the superintendent explained how figures were computed, Rosario and others supported the reorganization.

Moore credited the cabinet and district directors for leading the review and said the plan is intended to be stabilizing: "At the end of the day, this is probably the last realignment that we can have that is gonna come with without major shifts or changes, without us being able to stabilize and improve enrollment," he said.

The board approved the personnel recommendations and the reorganization on a unanimous vote. The superintendent and cabinet will implement the changes over the summer and bring any required follow‑up reports to the board.

Ending: The board meeting included other items and public comment on unrelated topics. District staff said they will return with implementation details and, where required by policy, additional workshops or reports so the board and the public can track how reorganized units operate in the first year under the new structure.