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%, according to unofficial results reported by Your Observer. Both defeated Republican-endorsed opponents by double digits in races that are officially nonpartisan.

They join sitting members Tom Edwards and Liz Barker, giving progressive-aligned officials at least a 4-1 majority regardless of what happens in the District 1 runoff Nov. 3.

That runoff pits Jimmy Glover, who led with 43.6% on Tuesday, against Republican-endorsed Heidi Brandt, who finished second at 31.7%. A third conservative candidate, former Moms for Liberty activist Teresa DeWitt, drew 23.7%, likely splitting the right-leaning vote.

Departing conservative incumbents cleared the way

The three open seats were all vacated by conservative incumbents who chose not to run again: Bridget Ziegler in District 1, Karen Rose in District 4 and Robyn Marinelli in District 5. Ziegler, a Moms for Liberty co-founder who served three terms beginning in 2014, was the most prominent departure, according to WUSF.

The conservative bloc in recent years passed measures that drew community backlash, including a resolution reaffirming cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a vote to penalize student walkouts and a policy change that eliminated certain anti-discrimination language from the student code of conduct.

Political analyst Lars Hafner told 10 Tampa Bay the results fit a statewide pattern, saying voters want schools focused on academics rather than culture wars and that pragmatic candidates are replacing hard-right ones across Florida.

New members bring decades of classroom experience

Tennimon, a 1997 Sarasota High graduate and former second-grade teacher at Gocio Elementary, is a mother of three children in the district who also served as PTO president at Fruitville Elementary.

Mayberry, a retired math and science teacher with more than 13 years in Sarasota County schools, will become the first North Port-based board member since 1990, according to the Herald-Tribune.

At the Democratic Party's election night watch party at Tamiami Tap in Sarasota, Tennimon told supporters she planned to end the "culture wars" in the boardroom. "For almost all of [my children's] school years, we have been living with culture wars and dealing with policies that have nothing to do with education or the well-being of our students and our teachers," she said at the Aug. 18 gathering, as reported by the Daily Sun. "And that, my friends, will change in November."

New majority inherits a $45 million budget shortfall

The $115 million in federal COVID-19 relief that propped up staffing and programs has fully expired. District officials estimate Florida's universal voucher program drained roughly $45 million from revenue this year alone, according to Longboat Key News. The district is cutting 180 instructional positions and 79 classified jobs for 2026-27.

The board approved a tentative $1.3 billion budget in late July with an operating budget about 2.2% smaller than last year's. A final budget and millage adoption hearing is set for September.

Enrollment in traditional district-run schools stands at roughly 36,600 students, with about 44,000 countywide when charter schools are included.

Turnout on Aug. 18 was 33.06% of the county's 328,751 registered voters. Of those who cast ballots, 57,786 were Republicans, 36,831 Democrats and 14,059 had other or no party affiliation.

Sarasota County Democratic Party Chair David Dean said at the watch party that the party intends to support Glover through the Nov. 3 runoff.