School Board reforms credit cards after ex-member accused of racking up $100K in expenses

Miami Herald | By Jimena Tavel and Charles Rapin | January 17, 2024

Miami-Dade School Board members, alarmed at last week’s arrest of a former colleague for allegedly spending at least $100,000 of taxpayer dollars on personal items, voted unanimously Wednesday to reform the way credit card expenses are audited for past and present board members.

The drama behind the attempt to regain the public’s trust came on the same day former School Board vice chair Lubby Navarro made her first court and public appearance since her arrest last Thursday. Navarro, 49, has been charged with two counts of organized fraud and two counts of grand theft for “doctoring” at least a year’s worth of expenses.

She’s accused of racking up nearly $100,000 on her school district-issued credit cards over a year to outfit the Fort Lauderdale restaurant of her former boyfriend, and taking him to Las Vegas, where they stayed at the Wynn Las Vegas hotel, among other trips she took, investigators say. The expenses were from 2022.

With her attorney at her side, the former vice chair briefly faced Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Carlos Lopez during a hearing in which she had to show where the she obtained what’s believed to be $10,000 to bond out of jail last week. After handing over her passport and being fitted with an ankle monitor, she agreed to re-appear Jan. 31, when state prosecutors questioned some of the paperwork. Her arraignment, when she is expected to plead not guilty, is set for Feb. 9.

During Wednesday’s lengthy School Board meeting, the nine members said they were shocked at the lack of oversight within the school district that led to Navarro’s arrest.

“Without question this is a difficult conversation because it’s about failings, alleged personal failings by a former School Board member. But also failings because of a lack of internal controls,” said board member Danny Espino.

He said the district should have caught the red flags: “Forget red flags; red flares should’ve gone up.”

School Board Chair Mari Tere Rojas called the allegations “extremely problematic and reprehensible,” and said the board and its constituents need to know how these expenditures occurred for so long and why the credit card limits were constantly raised for Navarro.

She said she’s expecting a report from Superintendent Jose Dotres on what the district can do to correct its failed checks and balances.

“If we’re going to do this right, these concerns must be answered and moving forward, enhanced procedures must be developed and implemented so that this never — and I will repeat, never — happens again,” Rojas said. “We must do everything we can to maintain our public trust.

“It has been upsetting and these have been very sad days for the entire Miami Dade County Public Schools family,” she added.

In its unanimous vote, the board asked Dotres and the district’s chief auditor to work with the county’s Office of Inspector General in any further reviews of credit card expenses for past and present board members. And if the inspector general doesn’t audit everything dating back to June 2019, the board asked the district’s chief auditor to do so, hiring external auditors if needed.

In addition, the board directed the district auditor to prioritize credit card audits this school year, to add more audits for senior district leaders and to provide additional training for School Board members.

During the meeting, board member Luisa Santos asked how many district employees hold travel cards, and board member Mary Blanco asked how many district employees hold purchasing cards.

District officials said only 11 hold travel cards — the nine board members, the superintendent and a lobbyist. They couldn’t provide a specific number for purchasing cards but said only a “few” have them, mentioning department heads, some maintenance staffers and others.

At another point, Santos wondered if the school district could modernize the auditing process by using artificial intelligence or other forms of technology in the future.

Navarro was appointed to the School Board in 2015 by former Republican Gov. Rick Scott. She was later elected in 2016 and 2020, representing the board’s District 7 seat, which includes Kendall and parts of Southwest Miami-Dade.

She resigned from the School Board at the end of December 2022, the day before a new state law prohibiting elected officials from working as lobbyists went into effect. At the time, Navarro was a registered lobbyist for the South Broward Hospital District, which includes Memorial Healthcare System hospitals in Hollywood, Pembroke Pines, Miramar and Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood. That lobbyist salary paid her just over $220,000. The School Board position paid about $46,000 annually.

On Thursday, the South Broward Hospital District announced it placed Navarro on unpaid administrative leave.

Navarro posted bond and was released from the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Saturday. She spent two nights there.