As part of our commitment to providing you with what you need to make an informed decision in the 2026 elections, News 6 joined with the News Collaborative of Central Florida to present the Voting Central Florida 2026 Voter’s Guide.
Tuesday, Aug. 18 is the Florida Statewide Primary election, a mix of party primaries and nonpartisan local elections, such as school board races, judicial races, and county commission races in some counties.
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Florida has a closed primary system, which means only members of a political party may vote in party primaries. To be eligible, a voter had to identify with that party by July 20.
However, judicial races and local races, for the most part, are open to all registered voters, regardless of political party.
Everything you need to know in order to vote in the Aug. 18 Statewide Primary, including how to vote by mail, vote early, and vote on Election Day, can be found in our Election 2026 section HERE.
Orange County School Board District 2
All school board races are nonpartisan elections, which means all voters can vote in the election, regardless of party affiliation.
There are seven school board districts in Orange County, with a board member representing each one. District 2 in Orange County covers much of Central Orange County, including Lake Nona, Narcoossee, Rio Pinar, and part of Azalea Park. A map of the school districts is available HERE.
The News Collaborative of Central Florida created a list of common questions to ask the candidates. Questionnaires were sent to all candidates.
Not all of the candidates responded. Where candidates did not respond, we have filled out the information to the best of our abilities.
Our partners at the Orlando Sentinel compiled the candidate responses for the Orange County school board races, emailing and calling the candidates over several weeks.
You can see the full Orlando Sentinel Voting Guide HERE.
Marisol Lugo
WEBSITE: votemarisollugo.com/
NOTE: This candidate did not respond to our request to fill out this voter guide. To best serve you, we searched candidate websites to answer questions about their candidacy.
Her priorities are supporting teachers and giving parents a voice, according to her campaign website. She believes teachers deserve competitive pay and quality healthcare, according to her campaign Facebook page. With more than a decade of experience working in the mental health field, she understands the importance of reducing stress in the classroom and protecting a teacher’s well-being so they can better serve students. She will bring faith-centered leadership to the district, according to her website.
Lugo’s website did not say how she thinks the district should handle teacher shortages, how she would improve Florida’s low level of academic growth in reading, what changes, if any, she would make to school safety policies, how she feels book challenges and library removals should be handled nor what policy she would try and pass in her first year.
There were no official endorsements featured on Lugo’s website.
Gloria Reina O’Neal
WEBSITE: votegloriareina.com/
YOUR NUMBER 1 ISSUE and how you plan to address it: Teacher Pay / Insurance Benefits: As a School Board member, my top priority would be to ensure that Orange County attracts and retains world-class educators by offering highly competitive compensation and affordable, stable health benefits. We must actively collaborate with our teachers’ union and external vendors to assess a path forward for competitive insurance coverage options.
YOUR NUMBER 2 ISSUE and how you plan to address it: Fiscal Management and Declining Budget for the district: First, we must cut administrative waste to ensure every tax dollar goes straight to the classroom, not bureaucracy. Second, instead of letting empty school spaces drain our budget, we will launch innovative public micro-schools and utilize partnerships and additional grants to bring in other financial money. Finally, we must protect our local tax renewal one-mill referendum, which is directed to a sizeable portion of the district’s current budget.
YOUR NUMBER 3 ISSUE and how you plan to address it: Declining enrollment: To solve the challenge of declining student enrollment in Orange County, reliance on the status quo or reactively addressing why students are leaving, I believe OCPS should out-innovate the competition by transforming underutilized campus space into district-run micro-schools—small, specialized, interest-driven learning environments tailored to what families actually want. By pioneering models like our new baseball and softball micro-school at Cheney Elementary, gifted magnet programs, upskilling and advertising technical program offerings, OCPS can combine the safety and resources of a large public district with the highly personalized, niche curriculum that will attract students and parents back to our public schools.
How should the district handle teacher shortages? We cannot solve the teacher shortage by just asking educators to continue to do more with less. In Orange County, our challenges are not distinct from larger urban school districts in Florida. OCPS is facing enrollment dips that threaten the budget, yet the affordability continues to be a larger factor for teacher shortages. I believe we should work collaboratively within the school board to implement a fiscally responsible strategy that maximizes our resources. By streamlining administrative overhead and reducing district-level operational costs, we can direct more funding straight into our classrooms where it matters most. This approach will allow us to maintain a balanced budget while prioritizing competitive compensation for our educators and directly addressing teacher pay compression and shortages.
Florida ranked last for academic growth in reading. How would you improve that? First point: Build Focus with Great Books: OCPS students need interesting, age-appropriate books to build up their attention spans and reading stamina. Getting lost in a great story teaches them how to concentrate, which helps them move past the short distractions of cell phones and social media and increase focus on reading.
Expanding the usage of Poetry: Poetry is a fun and powerful tool for teaching rhythm, rhyming, and vocabulary. Because poems are short, they help struggling readers practice tricky words and catch on to deeper meanings without feeling overwhelmed.
Have more frequent intervention for reading gaps by increasing curriculum with Short Stories: Short stories are perfect for building confidence because a student can read and finish one in a single class period. They still get to learn about plot and characters, but they get a quick win that makes them want to keep reading.
All in all, academic growth comes from using different mediums to increase access and sustained academic growth in reading.
What changes, if any, would you make to school safety policies? When we talk about school safety in Orange County, it isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. True safety means our OCPS schools and structures are physically secure, our students have the mental health support they need so they don’t look to harm themselves or others, and our daily logistics—like traffic corridors and the rise of microbility safety that carry over to the schools—are actively managed. As a board member, my priority is ensuring our policies evolve as quickly as the challenges our students face
How should book challenges and library removals be handled? Accountability demands that book challenges and district decisions be completely transparent and publicly accessible on the district webpage. When materials such as a book challenge or library removals are formally questioned or removed from Orange County Public Schools, parents, taxpayers, and educators have a fundamental right to know what changes are being made to the local curriculum and library collections via online publication on the district’s website.
What outside organizations or endorsements are supporting your campaign? Endorsement Organizations: Orange County CTA, Orlando Regional Realtors Association; Equality Florida Action PAC, NOW PAC. Endorsements: Victor Torres. Dr. Anna Eskamani, Rep. Rita Harris, Senator Carlos Guillermo Smith. City of Orlando Commissioner Tom Keen. Additional endorsements are pending finalization.
If elected, what policy would you try to pass in your first year? OCPS Assessment of vacant land/ schools for adaptive reuse for affordable housing with a strategic implementation plan.