One day after a School Board member called for her to step down amid mounting District turmoil, Broward Public Schools Chief Operations Officer Wanda Paul has tendered her resignation.

She’s officially leaving June 5. But she plans for her last day in office to be on April 3 “to allow for an orderly transition and continuity of operations.”

“I believe it is time for me to transition to the next chapter of my life,” Paul said in a short letter to Superintendent Howard Hepburn that included a list of projects she said were completed under her leadership.

Since Paul came on as Broward COO in early 2024, she said, the District completed 199 projects, “strengthened processes and advanced key initiatives that support safe, efficient, and high-quality learning environments.”

“While there is no doubt that important work remains, I am confident the District is on a stronger path because of the dedication and professionalism of this team,” she said.

Events that led to Paul’s pending departure suggest otherwise. In recent weeks, audits and media reports have detailed breakdowns in how staff under Paul mishandled a major construction oversight procurement tied to the District’s $125 million capital program. An audit found procedures were bypassed, required evaluations were skipped and the School Board was not properly informed, leading to a rushed and legally questionable process now facing collapse.

The controversy followed an earlier firestorm over a since-terminated $2.6 million office lease that drew a lawsuit from the District’s former landlord.

Hepburn, who took office last year amid lingering fallout from past Broward Schools debacles, has acknowledged the District’s struggles but largely urged patience as reviews continue.

Enrollment has dropped by roughly 10,000 students in the past year, contributing to an $85 million budget shortfall. District leaders are also weighing 34 school closures, staff reductions and program cuts.

Citing those quandaries, the lease issue and the construction procurement fiasco — described by Board members Jeff Holness and Allen Zeman, respectively, as an “existential threat” and “five-alarm fire” — Board member Adam Cervera publicly demanded that Paul step down on Sunday.

“This is not about politics or blame,” said Cervera, whom Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed to the Board in April. “It is about restoring trust.”

Paul acquiesced Monday, promising to support “a smooth transition in any way that is helpful.”

A University of St. Thomas graduate with a master’s degree in business administration, Paul took over in May 2024 as Broward Public Schools COO, a post in which she earns an annual salary of about $221,500.

She came to the job following COO positions from May 2017 to January 2024 at the Palm Beach County School District and the Houston Independent School District Foundation. She resigned from the latter job after the Texas Education Agency took over the District due to what the Texas Tribune described as “years of poor academic outcomes at a single campus and allegations of leadership misconduct” that led to “extraordinary staff turnover and plummeting enrollment.”

According to the Houston Chronicle, which first reported on the takeover, Paul announced on LinkedIn that after her resignation from the Houston Independent School District Foundation became effective, she planned to work as an education consultant at Paul Consulting Group LLC.

Paul registered an identically named company with the Florida Division of Corporations in March 2021. It was administratively dissolved in September 2022. Whether she resurrects it remains to be seen.

Florida Politics contacted Paul for comment but received no response.

House Speaker-designate Sam Garrison believes artificial intelligence will dominate next year’s Legislative Session, spurring unusual coalitions amid Gov. Ron DeSantis’ call for regulation.

“I think this year, outside of property tax, I think AI policy is going to be probably the biggest area of tension that we’re going to see because it doesn’t fall on traditional partisan lines. You can have very conservative Republicans and very liberal Democrats who might find common cause,” the Clay County Republican said on “First Coast Connect.”

DeSantis has proposed a “far-reaching artificial intelligence bill of rights” during next year’s Legislative Session. That’s an effort to counter what he says could be an “age of darkness and deceit” without action against deepfakes, subversion of parental controls, malign foreign influence, data security, insurance companies’ reliance on the technology, and regulating data centers.

Garrison agreed that some checks are needed on data centers while acknowledging the importance of private property rights.

“If you’re going to have a data center, it has got to be extraordinarily regulated to make sure that you’re not adversely impacting the quality of life for Floridians,” Garrison said.

“I’m not a big proponent of telling people what they can and can’t do on their land. So if … Amazon wants to come to town and say we want to build a data center, sure, go for it. But you’re going to have to be regulated like heck to make sure that nothing on that property is going to adversely affect the residents of a community — whether it’s from electrical use, whether it’s from water, things of that nature.”

Florida’s policy considerations are moving forward despite President Donald Trump pleading for national uniformity in AI guidance. DeSantis has said he’s not worried about a recent Trump executive order as it “doesn’t/can’t preempt state legislative action.”

A bill from Republican Sen. Tom Leek (SB 482) would ban governmental agencies from contracting with AI companies controlled, owned or governed by countries of concern.

Leek’s legislation would also ban children from communicating with chatbots without parental authorization. Chatbots would also have to disclose being artificial intelligence, and programmers would have to ensure that adult materials are not accessed by children.

The measure would confer other rights, including warning people when they are communicating with AI chatbots rather than human beings, and whether identifying data or biometric data is being exposed.

Additionally, the proposal would ban using AI to appropriate name, image and likeness of nonconsenting people for commercial purposes, as well as for fraud, identity theft and cyberbullying.

While Leek’s bill seems to satisfy the Governor’s requirements, a House companion has yet to manifest.

Citrus County’s top 2025 story is still in the making.

County Commissioners came close to approving ballot language for a November local-option sales tax referendum, but held off while still determining whether voters will back it or not.

Citrus is the only county in Florida to never have a voter-approved penny sales tax. Collier County sunset its local sales tax after reaching a predetermined financial goal.

While Citrus County officials, community leaders and citizens have bantered about the sales tax the past several years, an early January call to action by the blogger Just Wright Citrus started the conversation moving in earnest.

Officials estimate a 1-cent sales tax would generate about $25 million annually, with one-quarter of that coming from tourism spending.

Wanting to start the process while at the same time removing themselves from it, Commissioners tasked the Citrus County Chamber of Commerce with gathering citizen input to test the waters for a referendum.

The Chamber created a steering committee for town hall meetings and opened up a website for public input. In all, over 700 people participated in the survey, which showed 57% support for a referendum.

As for how the money should be spent, survey participants overwhelmingly chose road resurfacing and repair as the top priority.

The steering committee recommended Commissioners approve a 1% sales tax referendum with all the money collected for road improvements.

County Commissioners in October reached consensus to do just that. They supported Commissioner Jeff Kinnard’s idea to set the tax at four years, giving the county time to establish a track record of projects, then asking voters later to extend the tax.

Commissioner Holly Davis, however, had a different idea that caught traction in December. Commissioners delayed a vote on setting the referendum to allow time for the North Florida Land Trust to conduct a “greenprinting” survey of Citrus County.

Davis said the survey, aimed at targeting land for conservation, is unrelated to the sales tax. North Florida Land Trust will be paid $43,000 from private donors for the survey, which is expected to the county by March 31.

Simultaneously, the Trust for Public Land is polling to determine what uses voters would support for a sales tax.

Commissioner Janet Barek said she doesn’t know why the county wants to ask voters their views on the sales tax when the chamber survey showed support for road resurfacing.

“I can’t see supporting something that will take us down a rabbit hole,” she said.

Davis disagreed.

“We need to know what the voters want,” she said.

Road repair and capacity is among the county’s biggest challenges. A consultant’s report said the county has $714 million in unfunded road needs. It now spends about $16 million annually on roads.