Broward school board silent on developer waiver vote amid bribery charges

The six Broward County School Board members who voted unanimously in 2007 to waive $507,942 in developer fees are mum on the decision, even though it’s now at the center of a criminal case against their ex-colleague, Stephanie Kraft. The suspended board member pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to taking bribes from Prestige Homes of Tamarac in a project that allowed the developer to build new homes without paying to offset the school district’s cost of educating the additional students who would live in them. Instead of the approximately $1.7 million Prestige was initially supposed to pay, the company wound up building four classrooms worth $1.2 million. When the matter came to a vote, Kraft herself abstained but did not file a conflict-of-interest form, while the rest of the board members, who won’t talk about it now, voted without discussion. [Miami Herald]