Eleven candidates are throwing their hat in the ring for Pasco County’s crowded school board race.
Only one incumbent is up for re-election across three school districts. Their potential replacements include Air Force veterans, veteran teachers, business consultants and “constitutional conservative” activists.
Some have garnered support from county officials and Tallahassee political action committees, while others are entirely self-funded. Only two — Christopher King and Kimberly Coward — are registered Democrats.
While the candidates’ positions diverge considerably on using artificial intelligence in the classroom, parental rights and book bans, most maintain school boards should be apolitical spaces that help teachers transform school culture from the inside out.
District 1: The Entrepreneurs
Health care executive Al Hernandez is stepping down after four years representing District 1, which includes parts of Wesley Chapel and Land O’Lakes.
District 1’s fundraising frontrunner is Gino Collura, 40, of San Antonio. He's a business consultant, University of South Florida-educated behavioral scientist, and one of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ appointees to the Pasco-Hernando State College (PHSC) Board of Trustees.
Collura earned endorsements from Pasco Superintendent John Legg and outgoing Pasco sheriff Chris Nocco.
Donors include a Dade City well drilling company; New College Dean Miguel Benitez; and Republican state-level and super PACs such as Rep. Brad Yeager’s re-election campaign committee, Congressman Mike Haridopolos’ Fight for Florida and American Values.
However, Collura said he has a vested, apolitical interest in the job — he’s a “born and raised son” of Pasco County public schools and now a parent in the district.
Collura added he intends to prioritize offering competitive teacher pay packages, curbing excessive personal technology use and using threat management technologies to improve school safety.
“A huge deciding factor in running is the volume of explosive growth that’s happening in this county,” he said. “Change management is something I do on a regular basis on the behavioral side.”
Brian Perras, a Pasco substitute teacher, podcaster and Navy veteran, describes himself as a “constitutional conservative.” He said schools are under attack from “cultural Marxist” forces — which, for him, means any discussion of race or sexual orientation in the classroom.
“Kids need to know what it means to be an American citizen,” Perras said. “What’s it hurt if we attempt to put God in the school system?”
Perras’s largely self-funded campaign centers on “back-to-basics” civics education, career and technical education (CTE) and clean eating. He wants to team up with local farmers and restaurant owners to replace current school meal offerings, carve out more time for trade apprenticeships in the school day, and implement a four-day school week to allow teachers more lesson planning time.
Perras added Florida public schools should de-emphasize standardized testing and, on the safety front, consider arming disabled veterans to protect kids from gun violence.
He said he has several learning disabilities that held him back a grade as a Pasco County student. In retrospect, he said, graduating later was best for his development, and he wants more aides and smaller class sizes for kids in similar situations.
“The system needs a complete overhaul,” Perras said. “The ‘no child left behind policy’ is no good.”
Zephyrhills resident Christopher King calls himself the “Gentleman of Tampa.” Originally from Texas, he did four combat tours as a U.S. Marine and managed tours for his grandfather, B.B. King.
When the blues legend passed, King transitioned to charity work, creating an anti-trafficking nonprofit, the Gentleman’s Course, that teaches youth etiquette and supports victim reintegration. He’s also president of the Florida United For Human Rights chapter.
King said his Pasco school board candidacy stems from a desire to reinvent school culture as he’s observed it from a parent and nonprofit vendor’s vantage points.
“I’m a 90s baby, when you actually liked going to school — now the fun is gone,” King said. “I think cell phones have taken away social engagement in its entirety, because a kid can be in a corner with his phone and won’t engage. It affects whether or not teachers want to come to work; it affects truancy.”
King believes school board members’ lack of visibility in the communities they serve are partially to blame for this culture shift. He said hopeful politicians often use the position as a springboard to other elected offices, and they aren’t as invested as they should be in student success.
King also plans to prioritize closing achievement gaps among lower-performing schools. Reflecting on Pasco’s recent elevation to “A” status in the Florida Department of Education’s school grade reports, he said the district is not doing enough to address declining literacy rates and workforce preparedness.
“In my eyes, you’re still failing the students,” he said.
He claimed the district relies too heavily on temporarily staffing a handful of “turnaround principals” at underperforming schools, which he said doesn’t set Pasco as a whole up for long-term success.
For example, the district asked veteran teacher Dr. Rick Saylor to lead Chester Taylor Elementary School, an “F” school that jumped to a “C” this year.
“They felt he was the only turnaround principal in Pasco County as a whole,” he said. “If the man is four years from retirement, put a principal in there that can have longevity, right?”
King’s donors are primarily local retirees, realtors, truck drivers and doctors.
Rounding out the District 1 pool is yet another veteran, Kimberly Coward, a former Dade City guidance counselor who recently returned to Pasco County. Campaign contributors include an Orlando college provost, an Atlanta attorney and a Gainesville school counselor.
Coward holds an education doctorate and law degree from the University of Florida, and went on to serve as a judge at MacDill Air Force Base. Coward did not respond to an interview request but wrote in the Florida Public Media Voter Guide she supports “data-driven, fiscally responsible” solutions to teacher pay and declining enrollment.
District 3: Competing tech visions
Real estate agent Cynthia Armstrong is leaving after 20 years in District 3, which includes most of New Port Richey and Holiday.
Another realtor, Mollyana Ward, is running to replace her, and she’s won the backing of Superintendent Legg, State Sen. John Hooper, and Pasco County Commission Chairman Jack Marano.
Ward plans to strengthen local teacher pipelines through partnerships with the USF College of Education, PHSC and alternative certification programs. She also listed A.I. threat detection, bus driver recruitment, and curriculum oversight as priorities.
“Book challenges should be handled through a clear, lawful process that respects parents’ rights and age-appropriate standards,” Ward wrote in the Florida Public Media Voter Guide. She did not respond to an interview request. “This is not book banning, despite how the issue is sometimes characterized.”
Her donors include several realtor political advocacy committees as well as Protecting Florida’s Future, a conservative PAC current Department of Education chief of staff and former Florida legislator Amber Mariano Davis chairs.
Kirk N. Phillips, a retired U.S. Air Force human resources expert and educational researcher, disagreed with that assessment of book bans and DEI-based curriculums.
“If you’re going to operate in the world, you’re going to come across it,” Phillips said. “If we’re going to create a bubble that protects them from every potential thing, that’s not right. They need to understand politics.”
Phillips also helped transform the Air Force’s virtual education technologies and worked on the Department of Defense’s overseas school system. Since moving to Pasco five years ago, he’s mentored kids at a local Rotary Club and advocated for turning the former Gulf High School building into an educational and cultural heritage center.
An anti-regulatory stalwart, Phillips believes artificial intelligence training should be incorporated into curriculums and career development initiatives.
“We’ve been using artificial intelligence in the Air Force for 20, 30 years,” Phillips said. “We work in the future, and I know what’s coming. AI is going to be a fundamental skill.”
He’s the primary contributor to his own campaign, which has raised more than $50,000.
Veteran teacher Sean O’Flannery, meanwhile, supports going back to pen-and-paper basics and phasing out personal devices in schools. He said tools like Chat-GPT build “cognitive debt” rather than encouraging deep reading comprehension, and he’s concerned educational technologies like MagicSchool don’t properly safeguard student data.
O’Flannery’s taught social studies and driver’s education in Tampa Bay for nearly three decades, and while he lives in Pasco, he said he works in Hillsborough now because the pay and benefits are better there.
“I am the poster child for our district’s dysfunction,” he said. “As a local resident, I drive 20 minutes south to earn $20,000 more with superior insurance.”
Another priority for O’Flannery is improving teacher satisfaction, in part through reducing budgetary bloat so the district can increase their salaries.
O’Flannery also proposes increasing teacher-parent connectivity by adopting fundamental school models district-wide.
Osceola Fundamental High School in Pinellas County requires parents to attend PTA meetings and periodic parent-teacher conferences, and, rather than detention, a demerit system tracks student behavior over time and enforces school policy.
O’Flannery said he thinks such measures will convince more parents it’s worth it to keep their kids in the public school system rather than turning to private, virtual or homeschooling options.
“I want to be a proactive school board member rather than a reactive individual,” O’Flannery said. “I’m hoping folks realize I’m an educator who has an incredible amount of experience, and I only want to serve on the school board — I don’t want to be a state representative or county commissioner.”
O’Flannery added he’d shorten his twelve-year term to eight, because if he can’t fulfill his promises in that time, someone else should have the chance.
Roughly a quarter of his campaign finance funds come from the Florida Leadership Committee in Tampa, which the late moderate Republican Jack Latvala once chaired.
Erin Stroupe is a parent activist, communications professional and pre-kindergarten aide with three daughters at Starkey Ranch K-8 in Odessa.
The United School Employees of Pasco endorsed her platform, which hinges on reversing declining enrollment and recruiting bus drivers and help aides. If elected, Stroupe would advocate for a districtwide exit interview process with families who choose private and homeschooling options.
“We’re not doing enough research to understand why families are looking for alternatives in the first place,” Stroupe said. “We also need to look at the budget with transparency, with student and teacher success top of mind.”
Stroupe first became interested in school board membership while opposing the construction of a cell tower at Starkey Ranch. She acknowledged not every parent has the time and resources to be as involved in school happenings, but she intends to hold open office hours and weekend question-and-answer sessions if elected.
Pasco County realtors, retirees, homemakers and preschool teachers have all lent financial support to Stroupe’s campaign.
Finally, Matt Geiger, an educator with 20 years of experience in private, public and parochial schools is running with a focus on both parental rights and teacher satisfaction. Most recently, Geiger directed a residential soccer academy. He’s also a Pasco County parent.
“My top priority is ensuring every child receives a high-quality, academically rigorous education free from ideological indoctrination,” Geiger wrote in a United School Employees of Pasco questionaire. “We need to emphasize phonics-based reading, basic math proficiency and American exceptionalism — not divisive social theories.”
He’s proposed building district-owned affordable housing, modeled after Chicago’s Teacher Village, as well as adding school safety officers who’d write citations for chronic misbehavior.
Geiger added he’d support a local-option property tax referendum to boost teacher pay, but he sees it as somewhat of a Band-Aid solution to an endemic issue.
“Many teachers feel undervalued due to discipline issues, bureaucratic paperwork, and external pressures,” he wrote in the questionnaire. “The solution is not just more money but better working conditions.”
Geiger’s campaign finances show a mixture of self-funding and community member contributors.
District 5: A radical insurgent
District 5, encompassing most of Port Richey, Hudson and Spring Hill, has a leaner lineup.
Megan C. Harding, the incumbent since 2019, earned Legg’s endorsement as she faces a challenge from Michelle Mandarin, an activist affiliated with the Republican Party’s “patriot wing.”
Mandarin, who uses the moniker “Mama Bear For Liberty” on social media, hosts a podcast whose mission is to “restore the culture of America to align with the values and principles envisioned by the Founding Fathers.”
Neither Harding nor Mandarin filled out The Florida Public Media Voter Guide survey or responded to interview requests.
Educators, retirees and the conservative PAC, Protecting Florida’s Freedom, gave financial backing to Harding. Mandarin’s contributors include herself, a Republican pastor and a Spring Hill schoolteacher.
Pasco voters can cast their ballots for the school board race on August 18 Early voting begins August 3. Find your polling places here.
A candidate must get more than 50% of the vote to win. The two top vote-getters advance to the November election for a run-off. School board races are non-partisan so every registered voter can have a say in their district.
This story is part of a statewide partnership of 27 nonpartisan newsrooms and universities working to help Florida voters make informed decisions in the 2026 school board elections. Learn more about the Florida Election Reporting Partnership at floridaelections.org.
For more information on candidates running in the Florida primaries check out the Florida Public Media Voter Guide.
