Polk County School Board, District 3 (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 LkldNow and The Ledger/Yahoo. Nonpartisan.
Candidates
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Kate Wallace
Appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in November 2025 to fill the vacancy created by the death of board member Rick Nolte.
Victor Sims
Sims, 30, is a senior program officer whose career has been in child and family advocacy and social work. He is a former foster youth from Polk County who says he attended 12 schools, and he is the parent of a child with an individualized education plan. He holds degrees from Polk State College, the University of Sout…
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 | Kate Wallace Nonpartisan | Victor Sims Nonpartisan |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes & spendingCutting taxes should be a top priority, even if it means less government spending on services. | No public position found | Leans disagree· stated position Supports the district's 1-mill property-tax referendum on the Nov. 3 ballot, which would raise money mostly for employee pay. |
| 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). | Strongly agrees· stated position Wallace says she has been open about her support for robust school choice, and her campaign site says she worked in Tallahassee for statewide public school choice and for expanded scholarships for students with unique abilities, and helped bring IDEA Public Schools charter schools to Lakeland. She lists empowering parents with more quality options among her top three priorities. | Leans disagree· stated position Has called the voucher system a primary threat to public education because of the transfer of state funds, though he says he would accept a voucher to home-school his own daughter. |
| 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. | Leans disagree· stated position Wallace says she is a firm believer in parental rights and in transparency about a child's own access, but that one family's preferences should not automatically decide for every other family; she frames her role as applying state law and the district's review process. | Strongly disagrees· stated position Says a parent may keep their own child from a challenged book, but other parents should be able to choose to opt in; one family's objection should not decide for all. |
| 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 Wallace says Polk County should increase and modernize teacher compensation to reward effectiveness rather than tenure, and pay more in the hardest schools and roles, moving away from outdated pay scales. She did not say pay should come ahead of other spending. | Leans agree· stated position Sims made "Backing Our Teachers & School Staff" one of three campaign messages, calling for better pay, stronger retention efforts and working conditions that keep teachers in the profession, and said the same applies to bus drivers, cafeteria workers and aides. His campaign website calls for competitive salaries for staff. |
| School safety approachCampus safety depends more on police officers and firm discipline than on counselors and mental-health staff. | No public position found | Leans disagree· stated position Sims said student mental health resources, along with IEP and ESE services, should be consistently reachable across the district, and he tied school success to support systems for children inside and outside the classroom. His website lists school safety as a responsibility but he framed his approach around student supports rather than policing or discipline. |
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.
Kate WallaceVictor SimsHow 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Kate Wallace | not enough data | not enough data |
| Victor Sims | not enough data | -1.33 (3 statements) |
Other issues the candidates have raised
Priorities each candidate has brought up on their own, beyond the major-issue list above.
Kate Wallace
- Reading instruction and screen time — Wallace says schools must commit fully to the science of reading and adopt only evidence-based, high-quality instructional materials, with intensive reading intervention. She also says screen time for the youngest learners should be little to none.
- Fundraising and outside mailers — More than $78,000 raised through Sept. 18. In early October, mailers repeating claims about Sims and styled like her campaign's ads were paid for by the political committee Celebrate Achievement.
Victor Sims
- Early literacy — Sims calls for strong early literacy instruction grounded in phonics, early screening, tutoring and other timely interventions, and engaging families early.
- School safety — Sims lists safety as one of four campaign priorities, describing himself as 'Dedicated to Safety,' but his campaign site does not set out specific safety or discipline proposals.
- Early literacy — Sims calls for strong early literacy instruction grounded in phonics, early screening, tutoring and other timely interventions, and engaging families early.
- School safety — Sims lists safety as one of four campaign priorities, describing himself as 'Dedicated to Safety,' but his campaign site does not set out specific safety or discipline proposals.
- Special education and student services — Sims said families should not have to fight to get the IEP and ESE services their children are entitled to, and that those services should be consistent across the district.
- Foster care and child welfare — Sims, a former foster youth and social worker, said he is passionate about strengthening foster care and child welfare systems because stability at home shapes success at school.
- Career pathways and transparency — Sims called for stronger parent engagement and transparency in district decision-making, and for preparing students for college, trades, military service or local careers.
- Fundraising — Just under $45,000 raised through Sept. 18 (vs. more than $78,000 for Wallace).