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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[ELECTION 2026: Make sure you’re eligible to vote|How to vote by mail|Election Myths]
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.
Osceola County School Board District 1
All school board races are nonpartisan elections, which means all voters can vote in the election, regardless of party affiliation.
There are five school board districts in Osceola County, with a board member representing each one. District 1 covers West Osceola County, as well as the Celebration area. 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 News Collaborative partners at Osceola News Gazette compiled the candidate responses for Osceola County School Board District 1. Below is an excerpt of each candidate’s profile.
You can see the full Osceola News Gazette Voting Guide HERE.
Greg Filak
WEBSITE: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557358152399
Why do you deserve to be elected to the open seat in this race? I have a 30-year record of public service going back to 17 years as a volunteer fireman and EMT starting in high school, as a police officer for 5 years, as a supervisor and Chairman of Celebration’s town board, as the Vice Chair of Osceola County school district’s Business Advisory Board and as a community volunteer for the past 15 years in Osceola County as a youth sports coach and Cub Scout leader. Osceola deserves a school board member who is a demonstrated community leader who can build consensus without controversy nor ethics violations. I have endorsements from Osceola’s teachers’ union, current District 1 Vice Chair Terry Castillo and other community leaders. I have shown that I can bring together different people from varying viewpoints to focus on what is most important: our students and our children.
What do you feel are the Osceola School District’s three most pressing problems and give a brief explanation of how you’d advocate they’d be solved:
Osceola’s massive growth, levying more needs on the school district with higher student populations, diverse languages and student needs: The board needs leaders who can tackle tomorrow’s challenges, set strategic visions and organizational accountability for the realities of where Osceola is today and is headed tomorrow, and who have the trust of the community based on demonstrated level-headed leadership. I’m that future-looking leader. As a young parent, I’m living today’s challenges and opportunities in Osceola’s public education system.
Safety and security in our schools: I understand the vital importance of School Resource Officers (SRO) in each school and was requested to be a part of Osceola’s SRO Task Force in 2021 to retain our deputies when the prior sheriff was planning to remove SROs from Osceola’s schools. We need to guarantee our SRO partnerships and expand their capabilities with the use of technology around our campuses.
Rapidly-changing requirements for joining the workforce: Osceola must continue to expand its Career Technical Education programs for hands-on training, industry certifications, mentorships, networking, and pathways to employment for our students who want to enter the workforce immediately after graduation. Local partnerships in hospitality and the trades are a good start, but we must expand to other regions and opportunities for our students outside of Central Florida. We must also measure objective feedback after graduation to ensure the education and training provided is meaningful and aligned to the needs of employers.
Please vote yes or no on the constitutional amendment to slash property taxes and explain your position: As a homeowner who pays property taxes, and as a current board member of a government taxing authority in a Development District where
I voted “no” on two years of increases, I understand the burden that the multiple layers of government impose on all of us as residents and citizens. As a business executive, I recognize a government is not a business and does not exist to make money, but also I recognize budgets need to be responsible and instill confidence with taxpayers to know that necessary services will be provided. I believe in Florida’s long history of Home Rule, which bestows important decisions on local services down to local governments, where elected leaders have the best awareness of the community’s needs. I cannot support sweeping changes to local tax rules implemented exclusively by a few officials in Tallahassee from all over Florida who do not know Osceola’s needs, challenges, and opportunities. Osceola’s voters are smart enough, vocal enough, and strong enough to make our own decisions on what our funding priorities should be.
Should you be elected, what would your initial message to students’ parents and guardians from the dais? Osceola’s students and schools have new challenges and new opportunities from where we have been in the past years. As a current town board leader in Celebration and the Vice Chairman of the Osceola School District’s Business Advisory Board, I have established relationships within and around the school district, and the knowledge to lead our school board on behalf of the larger West Osceola community. I live the “highs” and the “lows” of what is happening inside Osceola’s classrooms every day. As I do on my various community boards, as well as in my daily job as an executive at a Fortune 500 company, I will ensure accountability for the District’s actions, strategic vision, use of tax dollars, and how we spend each day to ensure every one of our students is receiving the best education we can provide. I will govern with humility and maturity, not as past District 1 board members who have disgraced their office with ethics violations and combative showmanship. Our students, our teachers, and our communities deserve better.
Jay Wheeler
WEBSITE: www.jaywheelerosceola.com/
Why do you deserve to be elected to the open seat in this race? I do not need on-the-job training and can hit the ground running with a proven track record of accomplishments. I am dialed into student, employee, and community needs laid out below, with specific challenges along with how to turn those challenges into successes.
When first elected in 2002, Osceola only had two schools with an A or B grade; when I left all our schools were an A or a B School. I held charter schools accountable for performance or cancelled their charter. New HS Arts and Athletics programs were started and expanded.
In 2002, we had just under 40,000 students. When I left in 2018, we had just over 60,000 students. I 100% understand growth management; 11 new schools opened while I served on the school board.
What do you feel are the Osceola School District’s three most pressing problems and give a brief explanation of how you’d advocate they’d be solved:
Expanding career and technical education: The only way to expand these opportunities is to develop a public-private partnership with businesses to provide instructors who are on that business’s payroll to develop a pipeline of skilled workers they can hire into an apprenticeship. I have engaged Trane Corporation and Osceola Schools’ CTE director to look at starting a pilot program. As a school district, we would provide the students and the space. Public school districts cannot pay market rate to get these instructors, who would have to take at least a 50% pay cut to be a public-school employee.
Max out VPK enrollments and expand VPK capacity: The lowest hanging fruit to improve public education the fastest: students who start Kindergarten having already attended VPK are exponentially better prepared. Engage local pediatrician/family practice physicians who see all these students and get them to advocate for VPK just like they advocate for healthy diet/lifestyle. I am 100% certain I can get to the doctors and get this done.
Increase student participation in after-school activities: Students involved with after-school activities do better in school and are happier. The problem for most is transportation. When I was on the School Board, I worked with Lynx to change some bus routes for a 5:30 p.m. detour on school days to Celebration and Poinciana High Schools. Sadly, this “activity bus” program is no longer in place. I’d get on this right away.
Please vote yes or no on the constitutional amendment to slash property taxes and explain your position: No.
This is a bait-and-switch PR move by the Governor. Currently, homeowners with homestead exemptions have protections from jumbo tax increases. If property taxes go away, it will surely spawn new programs with fees that will have no protections from increases similar to homestead. Plus, the state will place new restrictions on money it gives out, and many municipal agencies will lose local control. In Osceola, it will force the county to cut the Osceola Prosper college scholarship program, that will result in a double- digit college matriculation rate declines. The School Resource Officer program will be scaled back and probably have very severe cuts.
Should you be elected, what would your initial message to students’ parents and guardians from the dais? To employees, thank you for choosing a career helping our kids succeed. I know how hard you all work; from bus drivers and cafeteria workers all the way up to the District
Administrative team. My primary mission on your behalf is to get you a break on what you spend for benefits. We are all in this together. A lot will be expected from you; in return you can count on me to give both students and employees my best effort every day. Fortunately, I am not easily discouraged, especially when I know I am right.