Broward County School Board Votes To Stop Paying For DeSantis-Suspended Members’ Legal Fees

BROWARD COUNTY (FLV) – The Broward County School Board voted unanimously to stop paying legal expenses for suspended school board members Ann Murray, Donna Korn, Patti Good and Laurie Rich Levinson.

The board said they will not pay for any services rendered after Aug. 26, when the Board members were suspended by Gov. Ron DeSantis in the wake of a grand jury report on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018.

Murray and Korn had racked up grand jury-related legal bills of $120,000 over the past 16 months to try and stop the grand jury report that called for their removal from office.

If the suspended members choose to challenge their suspensions, they may have to pay thousands of dollars out-of-pocket.

General Counsel Marylin Batista said state law requires legal coverage for School Board members if the actions in question are related to their jobs, but that state law doesn’t require coverage for suspended board members.

Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended them in August after the Twentieth Statewide Grand Jury recommended their suspension because of incompetence, neglect of duty, and misuse of authority.

The Florida Supreme Court impaneled the Statewide Grand Jury to investigate whether school officials committed fraud and deceit by mismanaging funds. The findings said the Board was aware of problems with the SMART Program.

The governor’s office cited the grand jury’s findings, which noted that a safety-related alarm that could have saved lives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School “was and is such a low priority that it remains uninstalled at multiple schools,” and “students continue to be educated in unsafe, aging, decrepit, moldy buildings that were supposed to have been renovated years ago.” 

The governor’s office called these “inexcusable actions” by school board members who have shown “a pattern of emboldening unacceptable behavior, including fraud and mismanagement, across the district.”

“It is my duty to suspend people from office when there is clear evidence of incompetence, neglect of duty, misfeasance or malfeasance,” DeSantis said. “The findings of the Statewide Grand Jury affirm the work of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas School Safety Commission. We are grateful to the members of the jury who have dedicated countless hours to this mission and we hope this suspension brings the Parkland community another step towards justice.

“This action is in the best interest of the residents and students of Broward County and all citizens of Florida.” 

The governor previously swore in four new Board members to the Broward County School Board to replace the suspended members:

– Torey Alston, former Commissioner of the Broward County Board of County Commissioners and President of Indelible Solutions;

– Manual “Nandy” A. Serrano, member of the Florida Sports Foundation Board of Directors, and CEO and Founder of Clubhouse Private Wealth;

– Ryan Reiter, a U.S. Marine Corps Veteran and Director of Government Relations for Kaufman Lynn Construction; and

– Kevin Tynan, Attorney with Richardson and Tynan, who previously served on the Broward County School Board and South Broward Hospital District.