Miller gets new term on school board

Gary White

Lakeland Ledger USA TODAY NETWORK

Lisa Miller will receive a third term on the Polk County School Board without facing an opponent, but elections will be held for three other seats.

The deadline to qualify for the ballot in School Board races was June 12 at noon. Because no one else filed to run in District 7, Miller automatically gains another four-year term.

Three other incumbents will face challengers in the nonpartisan elections.

Longest-serving board member faces challenger

Sam Neelam qualified to run against six-term School Board member Kay Fields in the District 5 race. Neelam, a technology executive, filed to run in early January.

Neelam, a member of the Florida Polytechnic University Board of Trustees, has reported nearly $45,000 in campaign funds. Of that amount, Neelam has given $40,000 to his own campaign.

Fields did not file to run until April 20. She has so far reported only $850 in campaign contributions.

Current chair faces challenge from college student

Justin Sharpless, seeking a second term in District 6, drew a lone opponent, Kasen Hampton of Lake Wales.

Hampton, 19, is a student at Polk State College studying public administration. He graduated in 2025 from Candlelight Christian Academy in Lake Wales.

Sharpless, chosen by peers this year as chair of the School Board, has reported nearly $45,000 in campaign contributions. Hampton has reported just under $1,000.

Three-way race in District 3

In District 3, voters will choose

among three candidates — incumbent Kate Wallace, Sarah Corona and Victor Sims.

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Wallace in November to fill a vacancy created by the death in August 2025 of Rick Nolte after a long medical absence. Nolte was in his first term.

Wallace, a Bartow native, is the director of state government affairs for Charter Communications. She previously worked for the Foundation for Excellence in Education, a nonprofit founded by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush that promotes school choice. She later served as executive director of Lakeland Leads, now known as ConnectED.

Corona, a Lakeland resident, is CEO of a behavioral health network based in Tampa. The Cuba native came to Lakeland as a teenager. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Florida Technical College and holds two master’s degrees from Grand Canyon University.

Sims, a Winter Haven resident, works as a senior associate in philanthropy for a child-welfare organization. He spent 12 years in foster care in Polk County, starting at 6 months old, before being adopted.

Sims said he attended 13 elementary schools while moving through fostercare homes before graduating from Chain of Lakes Collegiate High School in 2014.

Wallace has reported nearly $56,000 in campaign contributions since filing to run in April. Corona has disclosed about $31,000 in campaign funds and Sims about $19,000.

If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in the three-way race, a runoff election between the top two finishers will take place in November.

Board member term limits

The Florida Legislature passed a law in 2022 setting 12-year term limits for school board members and a year later reduced that to eight years. But the law does not apply retroactively, making Miller and Fields eligible to run again.

School Board elections take place during the primary round on Aug. 18. While School Board members are required to live in their districts, voting in all races takes place countywide.

Gary White can be reached at gary. white@theledger.com or 863-8027518. Follow on X @garywhite13.

Lisa Miller of Lakeland will receive a third term on the Polk County School Board after no one filed to challenge her by the deadline of June 12 at noon.

Candidates for Polk County School Board District 3, from left: Kate Wallace, the incumbent appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis; Victor Sims and Sarah Corona.

PROVIDED BY THE CANDIDATES

Kay Fields, the longest-serving member of the Polk County School Board, faces a challenge from Sam Neelam, right, in District 5 in the 2026 election.

PROVIDED BY THE CANDIDATES

PROVIDED BY LISA MILLER

Justin Sharpless, the incumbent on the Polk County School Board in District 6, faces a challenge from Polk State College student Kasen Hampton of Lake Wales in the 2026 election.

LEDGER AND PROVIDED