BREVARD COUNTY — Brevard Public Schools has agreed to pay nearly $568,000 to settle a long-running lawsuit filed by members of the conservative group Moms for Liberty, who accused school board officials of violating their First Amendment rights by restricting public comments at meetings.
The draft settlement is set for approval at a school board meeting Tuesday. The settlement ends a legal battle that began in November 2021 amid debates over COVID-19 masking policies and guidelines for LGBTQ students.
Under the agreement, the district will pay $541,810 to the Institute for Free Speech, which represented the plaintiffs, and $26,180 to attorney David Osborne of Goldstein Law Partners. Payments are due within 60 days.
The suit alleged that the school board’s guidelines for public comments shut down dissent, barring “abusive” or “personally targeted” statements. The plaintiffs maintained these rules got enforced unevenly, letting through compliments for board members but clamping down on critics—like those who slammed LGBTQ policies as an “evil agenda.”
A federal judge in Orlando issued a temporary restraining order in January, following a ruling from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that deemed the policy’s prohibition on abusive speech unconstitutional and viewpoint-based.
Since then, the board has revised its public comment rules, splitting sessions into agenda-related discussions, which are recorded, and non-agenda topics, which are not. Board member Katye Campbell said the changes aim to maintain decorum while allowing open input.
“We want to allow the public to continue to come and share any thoughts they have with us about school board business,” Campbell said. “We want to continue to hear that, but we want to have it in a way that … we’re not broadcasting whatever.”
The settlement resolves disputes over attorneys’ fees and costs, avoiding further litigation.
The case highlighted tensions in Brevard County, where school board meetings often drew large crowds during the pandemic. Moms for Liberty, a national group advocating for parental rights, alleged favoritism toward LGBTQ activists, including priority access to meetings.
Brevard Public Schools serves about 74,000 students in east-central Florida. The district has faced ongoing scrutiny over policies on speech, books and curriculum.
