The Office of Statewide Prosecution dropped a perjury charge against former Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie on Monday.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement officers arrested Runcie in 2021 after a state grand jury indicted him for perjury.
Runcie was accused of lying while testifying under oath about the 2018 Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
Runcie answered questions related to a $1 billion bond that the state grand jury determined had been mismanaged and about Tony Hunter, a former technology chief whose public corruption case was later dismissed.
Runcie, who was born in Jamaica, earned his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and his master’s degree from Northwestern University. He was appointed superintendent in 2011.
Runcie was the 2016 Florida Superintendent of the Year. The Broward County School Board voted 5-4 to terminate him without cause as he faced the perjury charge in 2021.
Broward County Circuit Judge Martin Fein had dismissed the case in 2023 over jurisdictional issues, but the Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed his decision.
Fein had set jury selection to start on Monday when The South Florida SunSentinel reported the defense and the prosecution had reached an agreement and the terms included Runcie had to pay about $4,740 in prosecution costs and admit that some of his answers “were misleading, inaccurate, and therefore untrue.”
The Broward State Attorney’s Office was not involved in the case.
This is a developing story.
