Hillsborough County School Board, District 2 (runoff)
School board members set the district budget and school millage, hire and evaluate the superintendent, approve curriculum materials, and set district policy. 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
Runoff per Tampa Bay Times/WUSF snippets (three-way Aug. 18 race; Chris Taylor eliminated). Nonpartisan.
Candidates
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Daniela Simic
Simic spent about 25 years in Florida public education as a teacher, district administrator and state-level leader, most recently as a Hillsborough County assistant superintendent for curriculum. She finished first in the Aug. 18, 2026 primary with 39% and advanced to the Nov. 3 runoff for the District 2 seat being va…
Brittany Lyssy
Lyssy is a Tampa attorney and mother of three, with a bachelor's degree from the University of Florida and a law degree from Stetson University College of Law; she is pursuing a Ph.D. in public policy with an education-policy focus. She has served on the City of Tampa Citizens Advisory Budget and Finance Committee and…
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 | Daniela Simic Nonpartisan | Brittany Lyssy Nonpartisan |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes & spendingCutting taxes should be a top priority, even if it means less government spending on services. | No public position found | Mixed / neutral· stated position Lyssy's campaign centers on fiscal stewardship and transparency, saying tax dollars should be used transparently with classrooms first, but she has not called for cutting taxes or the school millage. |
| 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). | No public position found | Leans agree· stated position A July 2026 Osprey Observer candidate profile reported that Lyssy supports a range of high-quality educational options so parents can choose the setting that best fits their child. Her campaign site says parents, not politics, should guide their children's education. |
| 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. | Strongly disagrees· stated position In a Keep Florida Reading candidate questionnaire, Simic said parents have the right to guide what their own child reads and to raise concerns, but that one family should not decide for every other family. She said she supports Hillsborough's existing review committee process, in which trained educators and community members consider the whole work, and that challenges and outcomes should be posted publicly. | 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. | Leans agree· stated position At a July 2026 WUSF/Florida Trib candidate forum Simic named teacher retention the district's main challenge and tied it to compensation, workloads and restrictive policies, pointing to Florida's national ranking on teacher pay. | Leans agree· stated position In her Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey Lyssy says teachers deserve competitive compensation along with consistent discipline policies and fewer administrative burdens. She also says the district should direct resources toward classrooms and teachers, but does not name pay as the single top budget priority. |
| School safety approachCampus safety depends more on police officers and firm discipline than on counselors and mental-health staff. | Mixed / neutral· stated position In her Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey Simic says students should have access to mental health resources when they need them. Her campaign website also says strong leadership and clear expectations create schools where students learn accountability and respect. She does not address school policing. | Leans agree· stated position Lyssy's survey emphasizes consistent discipline policies and maintaining safe, orderly classrooms, and lists safe schools among her priorities. She does not mention counselors or mental-health staffing. |
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.
Daniela SimicBrittany LyssyHow 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Daniela Simic | not enough data | not enough data |
| Brittany Lyssy | 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.
Daniela Simic
- Elected superintendent — Simic opposes the November 2026 ballot measure that would make Hillsborough's superintendent an elected position, saying the job requires someone with classroom experience.
- Student testing — At a July 2026 candidate forum she said students are being assessed too frequently during the school year.
- District testing — Simic says it is time to take a hard look at how much district-level testing is required so that teachers can spend more time teaching and students more time learning.
- Staff workload and support — Simic says the district should reduce unnecessary workload, protect instructional time and build a culture where teachers, paraprofessionals, counselors, bus drivers and cafeteria staff feel respected and supported.
- Transparency and communication — Simic says major district decisions should never come as a surprise and that families, employees and students deserve clear, timely communication and a chance to weigh in before decisions are made.
- Fundraising and outside ads — Had raised more than $79,000. She has been the target of mailers from unnamed 'concerned taxpayers' and the Leading For Our Future PAC and of anonymous push-poll calls; she called the claims untrue.
Brittany Lyssy
- Elected superintendent — Lyssy supports the ballot amendment that would make Hillsborough's superintendent an elected position; the other candidates in the 2026 field opposed it.
- Academic focus — Her campaign site says schools must prioritize reading, math, science and civics 'not politics,' and lists literacy, fiscal oversight, transparency and parental involvement as priorities.Sources: Vote Brittany Lyssy (2026-09)
- Parental rights and transparency — Lyssy says parents have a right to know what their children are learning and to take part in educational decisions, and that she is running to defend parental rights.
- Academics and career education — Lyssy says she would prioritize reading, writing, math, science and civics with measurable academic progress and early support for struggling students, and would expand career and technical education and apprenticeships.
- Budget oversight — Lyssy says Hillsborough County Public Schools must be transparent and accountable with every taxpayer dollar, and that she would evaluate contracts, strengthen oversight of major expenditures and demand measurable results from district programs.
- Fundraising — Had raised more than $99,000; said neither she nor her campaign commissioned the phone polls about Simic.