Broward School Board adopts $5.0 billion budget, sets millage rates and directs cost-cutting steps

The School Board of Broward County, Florida on Tuesday completed its second public hearing and adopted final millage rates and a $5,001,752,524 budget for fiscal year 2025–26 after a presentation by district budget staff and more than two hours of public comment and board discussion.

The board adopted Resolution No. 26115 setting millage rates on a certified taxable value of $347,159,915,358, including a required local effort millage of 3.072 mills and a total levy that exceeds the rollback rate by 5.94%, and later adopted Resolution No. 26116 formally approving the district's final budget.

Jeff Whitney, the district's budget director, told the board that the budget reflects state and local funding calculations the Florida Department of Education provided in July, and that a combination of enrollment declines and federal and state adjustments reduced expected revenue. Whitney said the district's calculations show an estimated total revenue loss of about $85.4 million relative to earlier projections, driven in part by a decline in student full-time equivalents.

Whitney said the district's overall budget figures include pass-through funds such as charter school allocations and Family Empowerment Scholarship (FES) amounts, and highlighted portions of the levy: required local effort (3.072 mills, $1,023,816,250), discretionary…