A $150 ticket to a partisan gala has landed Broward County School Board Chair Sarah Leonardi in the middle of a state investigation and a local political storm, after the cost was put on a district purchasing card.
Leonardi says the charge was a mistake, that she quickly paid the district back and gave up her card. But the fallout now includes a state review, potential personnel consequences inside the district, and a fresh round of scrutiny over how school officials handle public money and the district’s brand.
Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas has ordered the state’s Office of Inspector General to review the matter after an advertisement for a Broward County Democratic Party gala featured headshots of six school board members, the district logo, and a ticket for a board member that was bought with a district P-Card, as reported by the Miami Herald. The Office of Inspector General, which conducts audits and investigations into alleged waste or misuse of public education funds, will handle the review, according to the Florida Department of Education Office of Inspector General.
In a letter shared with Kamoutsas, Leonardi said her executive secretary accidentally used her district purchasing card to buy the $150 gala ticket. Leonardi said she responded by reimbursing the district with a $150 money order and surrendering her P-Card. She told the commissioner she had not authorized the purchase and has already discussed possible personnel consequences with Superintendent Howard Hepburn. Human Resources is running its own inquiry that could lead to termination, according to AOL.
Ad Used District Logo And Board Photos
The controversy was supercharged by the gala advertisement itself, which splashed the Broward County Public Schools logo alongside the headshots of six sitting school board members. Leonardi says she did not approve that use of district branding, and Kamoutsas publicly blasted the look, writing on X that “official district branding must never be used to advance partisan efforts.”
Leonardi told the commissioner she had not seen the ad before it ran and that once the misuse was flagged, she removed her secretary from any promotional duties tied to events or advertising, the Miami Herald reported.
Board Will Vote On Tighter Rules And Audits
The school board is set to meet Tuesday, and Leonardi has put an item on the agenda aimed at tightening the rules around both logo use and P-Card spending. The proposal directs the chief auditor to comb through purchasing card transactions from the past year and authorizes the district’s general counsel to hire an outside firm for a separate review, according to AOL.
If approved, that would mean parallel deep dives into how school officials are using district plastic and how loosely the district’s branding has been controlled in political or quasi-political spaces.
Ethics Rules That Could Shape The Outcome
Florida’s Code of Ethics bars public officers from using their position or public resources “to secure a special privilege, benefit, or exemption,” language that puts the focus squarely on whether any misuse was intentional or corrupt. That standard will guide how investigators interpret the $150 ticket purchase and the promotional materials that followed.
The Office of Inspector General will sort through the facts and decide whether state statutes or ethics rules were violated, while the district’s own audit and the Human Resources review will feed into that record. The Florida Statutes and the Florida Department of Education Office of Inspector General outline the process and potential consequences.
Tuesday’s meeting is expected to draw plenty of public comment and pointed questions about internal financial controls and political neutrality. If the audit or the inspector general flags serious lapses, the end result could be much stricter rules on how board offices wield the district logo and swipe those P-Cards. This story will be updated as audits, filings, or official actions become public.
