Voters Flip Sarasota School Board; New Majority Faces $45M Gap
Two former teachers won Sarasota County School Board seats Tuesday, ending the conservative supermajority that controlled the district since 2022 and handing a progressive majority a board facing declining enrollment, 259 eliminated jobs and an estimated $45 million hole left by Florida's voucher program. Megan Tennimon took District 4 with 55.1% of the vote and Beth Mayberry won District 5 with 56.7%, both defeating Republican-endorsed opponents by double digits. Joined by sitting members Tom Edwards and Liz Barker, progressive-aligned officials now hold at least a 4-1 majority regardless of the District 1 runoff on Nov. 3, where Jimmy Glover (43.6%) faces Republican-endorsed Heidi Brandt (31.7%) after conservative candidate Teresa DeWitt's 23.7% likely split the right-leaning vote.
All three open seats were vacated by conservative incumbents who chose not to run again, most notably Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler in District 1. The outgoing conservative bloc had passed measures that drew community backlash, including a resolution affirming cooperation with ICE, a vote penalizing student walkouts, and a policy change removing certain anti-discrimination language from the student code of conduct. Tennimon, a former second-grade teacher and mother of three in the district, and Mayberry, a retired math and science teacher who will become the first North Port-based board member since 1990, both emphasized moving past the culture wars; Tennimon told supporters at the election night watch party that focus on politics "will change in November."
The new majority inherits a $45 million budget shortfall as federal COVID-19 relief has fully expired and the state's voucher program has drained revenue, forcing the district to cut 180 instructional positions and 79 classified jobs for 2026-27. The board approved a tentative $1.3 billion budget in July, about 2.2% smaller than last year's, with final adoption set for September. Turnout was 33.06% of the county's 328,751 registered voters.
