Highlands County School Board, District 5
School board members set the district budget and school-tax rate, hire the superintendent (where appointed), approve school boundaries, curriculum policy and construction, and set district policies. Nonpartisan. Term: 4 years.
Partly verified. Either the November opponent could not be confirmed from available sources, or only a few positions are documented. Confirm the full candidate list on your county sample ballot; unknown positions are shown as such.
How we verified who is on the ballot
Candidate list taken from the Florida Division of Elections, 2026 general election candidate list on 2026-09-18 ; both candidates are marked Qualified, which for a nonpartisan seat means the August vote did not produce a majority winner (or the seat is decided only in November). Check the county Supervisor of Elections sample ballot.
Candidates
Report an error ↗Gary Brown
Gary Brown is a retired military member who serves as director of operations and student affairs at Heartland Christian Academy in Sebring. He led the District 5 field in fundraising with about $9,700 and advanced to the November runoff for the seat vacated when Nicole Radonski resigned after moving outside the distri…
Andy Tuck
Andy Tuck is a Highlands County citrus grower who was elected to the District 5 seat on the School Board of Highlands County in 2006. Gov. Rick Scott appointed him to the Florida State Board of Education in 2014 and reappointed him in 2018. He reported about $4,000 in campaign contributions, all from family members, a…
Side-by-side on the major issues
Each row is a statement. The chips show how each candidate's stated positions or record relate to that statement. Expand a row to read the evidence and sources. "No public position found" means we could not find a statement or record on the topic, not that the candidate has none.
| Issue | Gary Brown Nonpartisan | Andy Tuck Nonpartisan |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes & spendingCutting taxes should be a top priority, even if it means less government spending on services. | Leans disagree· stated position Brown names district finances, particularly rising insurance costs, as the biggest challenge but says he would not start with cuts, calling instead for the board to lay the budget out and analyze where money is going. | No public position found |
| Property taxesFlorida should eliminate or sharply reduce homestead property taxes, even if local governments must cut services or find other revenue. | No public position found | No public position found |
| Education & school choicePublic money should follow students to private, charter or home schools (universal school vouchers). | Leans agree· stated position Brown treats state scholarship programs as settled policy, saying vouchers are here to stay and that public schools must respond with strong academic programs; he did not call for expanding or restricting them. | No public position found |
| Gender identity lawsFlorida's laws restricting gender-affirming care for minors and classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity should remain in place. | No public position found | No public position found |
| Library and classroom materialsParents' objections should be enough to pull a book or lesson from a school, even when other families want it kept. | Mixed / neutral· stated position Brown says parents have the primary right to direct their children's upbringing while public schools serve families with a wide range of beliefs, and that balancing those interests means following Florida law, board policy and the established review procedures. | No public position found |
| Teacher and staff payRaising teacher and staff pay should be the district's top budget priority, even if other spending has to be cut. | No public position found | Leans agree· stated position At a July 2026 Highlands County Education Association forum, Tuck called the number of open teaching positions three weeks before school unacceptable and said attracting teachers requires raising teacher pay and respect, which he tied to getting the district budget back on track. |
| School safety approachCampus safety depends more on police officers and firm discipline than on counselors and mental-health staff. | No public position found | No public position found |
Where they sit on the map
Each candidate is placed by the average of their documented stances. It is a summary of the table above, not an extra judgment.
How the axes are computed
Each axis is the average of a candidate's coded stances (+2 to −2) on a fixed set of statements, so it comes straight from the documented positions and nothing else. A candidate needs at least three documented statements on an axis to be placed.
Economic issues (toward "Smaller government (lower taxes, less spending)"): Taxes & spending (agree), Property taxes (agree), Health care (disagree), Housing affordability (disagree), Property insurance (disagree), Energy & utilities (disagree), Social Security & Medicare (disagree), Teacher and staff pay (disagree).
Social & legal issues (toward "Conservative side of the statements"): Immigration (agree), Abortion (disagree), Guns (disagree), Education & school choice (agree), Elections & voting (disagree), Crime & policing (agree), Gender identity laws (agree), Marijuana (disagree), Environment & water (disagree), Trump administration (agree), Library and classroom materials (agree), School safety approach (agree).
| Candidate | Economic issues | Social & legal issues |
|---|---|---|
| Gary Brown | not enough data | not enough data |
| Andy Tuck | not enough data | not enough data |
Other issues the candidates have raised
Priorities each candidate has brought up on their own, beyond the major-issue list above.
Gary Brown
- Trust and communication — Brown says rebuilding trust among parents, staff and the board is central to his campaign: 'People need to have someone they can trust.'
Andy Tuck
- No 2026 positions located — Tuck did not respond to the Florida Trib's interview requests and offered no views on district finances or current policy; no campaign website, questionnaire or forum coverage stating his 2026 positions was found.
- District spending — Announcing his 2026 run, Tuck said he would bring business-style efficiency to the district, criticized end-of-year 'use it or lose it' spending, and pledged to defend parental rights.