Broward School Board approves contract for new superintendent with these 3 crucial details
The Broward School Board unanimously approved a three-year contract for newly hired superintendent Peter Licata on Tuesday, agreeing to pay him an annual salary of $350,000 with the possibility of an additional $20,000 in performance bonuses — but denying his request to harden the requirements to fire him without cause.
Following the abrupt, controversial dismissal of former Superintendent Vickie Cartwright in November, Licata had asked the board to increase the number of the board members needed to terminate him, to require a 6-3 super majority instead of the previous 5-4 majority. The board refused, but agreed to consider the issue again in a year. (A new board rescinded Cartwright’s firing in December, then agreed in January to mutually part ways with her.)
The board also forced Licata to move from Palm Beach County to Broward, as opposed to how the Miami-Dade School Board allowed Superintendent Jose Dotres to live in Broward instead of Miami-Dade when he was named superintendent in January 2022. The Broward School Board pushed Cartwright to move south from Orlando before she took the job.
“I’ve been an expectant father for the past three weeks — a father waiting to give birth to this job,” said Licata, 58. “I’m as excited as I’ve ever been.”
READ MORE: Five things to know about Peter Licata, Broward’s new superintendent
For compensation comparisons: Cartwright made $350,000 per year without bonuses. The board named her superintendent in February 2022, after naming her interim in August 2021. Dotres makes $370,000 per year, and just had his contract extended for up to three years. Palm Beach County’s superintendent makes $310,500 per year.
On June 15, the Broward School Board voted 7-2 to hire Licata, who worked as a regional superintendent in Palm Beach County Public Schools. The two dissenters were Torey Alston and Brenda Fam.
On June 21 -22, Vice Chair Debra Hixon negotiated the contract with Licata, a Pompano Beach native.
The board was scheduled to onboard Licata June 29 so he would start July 3, but not enough board members showed up to produce a quorum. He officially started Tuesday, replacing interim Superintendent Earlean Smiley, who stepped in when Cartwright left.
Higher bar to terminate superintendent
During the contract negotiations, Licata asked Hixon to change the majority needed to fire him to a super majority of six out of the nine board members.
Last November, the Broward School Board unexpectedly voted 5-4 to fire Cartwright, raising concerns at the time of a political crusade against her. The five board members who voted to fire her were appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis last year. Of the five appointees, only two remain on the board: Alston (District 2) and Daniel Foganholi (District 1). All the other board members were elected.
Hixon agreed to Licata’s request, but the full board denied the change after Alston fought it.
“Why would we trip up ourselves as a board with a super-majority vote?,” asked Alston.
Alston moved to change that super majority back to just a majority, seconded by Foganholi. Alston, Foganholi, board Chair Lori Alhadeff and board members Brenda Fam and Allen Zeman passed it in the 5-4 vote.
Sarah Leonardi, who voted against it, argued the edit would look like the board doesn’t trust Licata.
“Given the history over the last few years and months, I don’t think it’s appropriate to remove the super majority for termination without cause. I think it will be very difficult to recruit people into Broward County without that super majority right now,” said Leonardi, representing District 3. “It’s important to also make the distinction that termination with cause does not require a super majority.”
Licata’s lawyer, Glen Torcivia, also mentioned the board’s record, and asked if it would consider establishing a super majority requirement for the first 18 months and then dropping it.
“I don’t want to be negative but your recent history is not positive,” Torcivia said. “That’s our request. It’s a compromise.”
Still, the board doubled down. Zeman cited worries about setting the wrong precedent with other employees.
Alston said Licata maybe should’ve requested the board consider the super-majority requirement in a year, after proving himself. Licata did that and the board approved it.
Bonuses for A rating, SMART Bond
The board also heavily debated the superintendent’s compensation on Tuesday.
Initially, Hixon had agreed to a $360,000 base salary. Alston suggested lowering that to $350,000 and then add $20,000 in performance bonuses — $10,000 dependent upon the school district achieving and maintaining an A-rating from the state, and another $10,000 dependent upon the progression of the SMART bond program.
The SMART bond program, an $800 million program intended to improve school facilities, technology and safety, has about doubled in price and experienced major delays since voters passed the bond in 2014.
All of the board members agreed to lower the salary except for Jeff Holness, District 5, but all of them approved the bonuses.
Licata’s address, car and severance pay
On Tuesday, Alston also asked Licata to move to Broward County by July 2024 and proposed reimbursing him up to $10,000 of his moving expenses.
Licata said it takes him anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes to drive from his home in Boynton Beach in Palm Beach County to the school district’s headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, but that he lives north to stay close to his mom, who’s under hospice care.
Then he added: “I don’t want this to be a sticking area.”
When the board voted 5-4 to approve Alston’s motion, Licata accepted it. Alston, Fam, Foganholi, Hixon and Zeman advanced it.
Other points of Licata’s contract questioned:
Alston and Fam wanted to lower for the first few years the 20 weeks of severance pay that Hixon had agreed to pay Licata in case the board terminated him. Their bid failed 6-3, with only Alston, Fam and Foganholi supporting it.
Alston proposed to lower Licata’s vehicle allowance from $1,200 to $800. That motion also failed 6-3, with the same three dissenters.
