Broward voters have mixed views about the performance of the Broward school district and its superintendent, and it\u2019s largely divided by race, a new poll has concluded.
\nThe poll of 1,039 registered voters also finds support for the district\u2019s \u201cRedefining Broward County Public Schools\u201d effort to close or find new uses for low-enrolled schools, as a final decision on that is scheduled for Wednesday.
\nOverall, 45% of voters polled from Dec. 19 to Dec. 23 have a favorable view of the school district, with 24% disapproving, according to the survey, released Tuesday by MDW Communications, a national political strategy and public relations firm based in Plantation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a narrative that Broward voters are overwhelmingly upset with the direction of our schools,\u201d Michael Worley, CEO and partner with MDW, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. \u201cThat does not play out in the data.\u201d<\/p>\n
But there are stark differences among racial groups.
\nAbout 61% of Black voters strongly or somewhat approve of the job the school district is doing, while 16% disapprove. But among white voters, that drops to 42% approve and 27% disapprove.
\nAbout 42% of voters who identified as Hispanic approved, while 26% disapproved.
\n\u201cWhat the data tells us is that there are many voters who are upset about the direction of the School Board, but there\u2019s a racial divide there,\u201d Worley said. \u201cIt\u2019s very clear in the data that white voters have more concerns with the direction of the School Board than Black and Hispanic voters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Voters had an 11-point net positive rating of Superintendent Howard Hepburn, but this also differed by race. The net favorability rating among Black voters was 40 points, compared to one point for white voters and seven points for Hispanics.
\n\u201cI think it speaks to some of the visibility and leadership of Dr. Hepburn and being seen as a prominent Black leader of the (school district) who is working hard to make changes,\u201d Worley said. \u201cI think that definitely resonates. But beyond that, I think that there is a certain level of pride that Black voters have in our public schools, especially among ones who have had or still have children in the school system. They want to see them get better and want to see them improve.\u201d<\/p>\n
About 63% of voters agreed that state-level school choice policies, such as the easy availability of vouchers for private and home schools, \u201chave created an environment where a redefining effort is necessary,\u201d the survey found. An overwhelming number, 88%, support converting closed schools into vocational and technical schools, while 73% voiced support for converting them to K-8 centers.
\n\u201cThis is something the board has pushed for since the beginning of the redefining effort,\u201d School Board Chairwoman Sarah Leonardi told the Sun Sentinel. \u201cThese options strengthen public education, improve safety and focus on student achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n
The poll results show that Broward voters have mixed views about the performance of the school district, with a significant racial divide in approval ratings. However, there is support for the district\u2019s efforts to close or repurpose low-enrolled schools. The survey also found that voters understand the need for the redefining effort and are open to different options for closed schools.<\/p>\n
Q: What is the overall approval rating of the Broward school district?
\nA: 45% of voters have a favorable view of the school district, with 24% disapproving.
\nQ: Is there a racial divide in approval ratings?
\nA: Yes, there are significant differences in approval ratings among racial groups, with 61% of Black voters approving and 42% of white voters approving.
\nQ: What is the net favorability rating of Superintendent Howard Hepburn?
\nA: The net favorability rating is 11 points, with significant differences by race.
\nQ: Do voters support the redefining schools effort?
\nA: Yes, 63% of voters agree that state-level school choice policies have created an environment where a redefining effort is necessary.
\nQ: What options do voters support for closed schools?
\nA: 88% support converting closed schools into vocational and technical schools, and 73% support converting them to K-8 centers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction to the Poll Broward voters have mixed views about the performance of the Broward school district and its superintendent, and it\u2019s largely divided by race, a new poll has concluded. The poll of 1,039 registered voters also finds support for the district\u2019s \u201cRedefining Broward County Public Schools\u201d effort to close or find new uses […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":24603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-24601","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sun-sentinel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/tfl-l-broward-school-board-0113-04.jpg?w=1400px&strip=all&w=1400&resize=1400,933&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24601"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24601"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24604,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24601\/revisions\/24604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}