Coral Springs City Commission Approves SRO Contract With Broward County School Board

by News Staff May 20, 2023

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Broward County Public Schools Under Fire for Withholding Reimbursements for School Resource Officers (SROs)

Chief Bradley Mckeone greets Sawgrass Springs Middle School students with School Resource Officer Janice Matsko. {Coral Springs Police}

By Bryan Boggiano

With almost three weeks until the end of the school year, the School Board of Broward County and the City of Coral Springs finally have an agreement in place on school resource officers (SROs) and their pay.

The city commission authorized an agreement with the school board at their Wednesday meeting, agreeing that the board will reimburse the city $103,000 for each SRO for the 2022/2023 school year.

According to the contract, the school board will reimburse the city $2,266,000 through June.

Currently, Coral Springs provides 22 SROs through the city’s police department at all 19 public schools. Each elementary and middle school has one. This includes Coral Springs Elementary-Middle, which serves grades K-8. Each high school has two.

As per the agreement, the school board reimburses cities for SRO services. While there was no contract for most of the school year, each school had one or two officers in place.

At the city commission’s April 26 retreat, Police Chief Brad McKeone said then-superintendent Vicki Cartwright promised to have a contract in place following the passage of the Secure the Next Generation Referendum in August 2022, which passed.

Negotiations on the new contract did not begin until January and continued through March. The controversy reached a boiling point at the school board’s March 28 workshop, when Broward League of Cities President Bob Mayersohn and Broward County Chiefs of Police Association President Christopher O’Brien implored the board to take action.

At their April 11 meeting, the board agreed to reimburse cities $103,000 per SRO per year, up from the previous $61,200.

On Wednesday, the commission considered a contract that runs through June 8. McKeone said Coral Springs has meetings scheduled with the school board to discuss three-year contracts.

Ultimately, the city commission unanimously approved the 2022/2023 school year contract.

“This is not making us completely whole, but this is a step in what we hope is the right direction,” said Commissioner Joshua Simmons.

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