Pasco County School Board member Megan Harding won a third and final term Tuesday, Aug. 18, defeating challenger Michelle Mandarin by 44 percentage points in the District 5 primary. Two other races failed to produce a majority winner, sending Districts 1 and 3 to the Tuesday, Nov. 3, general election.
Harding, a Pasco classroom teacher turned board member, received 72.13% of the vote (54,866 votes) to Mandarin’s 27.87% (21,202 votes) with all precincts reporting, according to OurTownFLA. She was endorsed by Superintendent John Legg and represents Northwest Pasco.
Harding called the result “a strong affirmation of the work we have done together” and said it showed that “putting students, teachers and families ahead of politics matters,” according to Tampa Bay Beacons.
Two races with local ties head to November
In District 1, covering east Pasco, Kimberly Coward led with 35.34% (27,208 votes) and Gino Collura placed second with 30.99% (23,859 votes) in a four-candidate field. They advance to the Nov. 3 general election to replace retiring board member Al Hernandez.
Coward, a lawyer and former U.S. Air Force JAG officer, previously worked as a guidance counselor at Land O’ Lakes High School. Collura, a business consultant who serves on the Pasco-Hernando State College Board of Trustees, formerly taught at Sunlake High School in Land O’ Lakes.
In District 3, covering south-central Pasco including Odessa, Matt Geiger finished first with 28.83% (22,109 votes) and Mollyana Ward placed second with 21.12% (16,193 votes) in a five-candidate field. They will compete Nov. 3 to replace Cynthia Armstrong, who held the seat for 16 years. Geiger is a private school administrator who previously ran for the seat in 2022, receiving 42% against Armstrong. Ward, a real estate agent endorsed by Superintendent Legg, co-founded a Wesley Chapel development firm.
What the new board faces
Whoever wins in November joins a board confronting budget pressure from declining enrollment. Pasco County Schools projects enrollment will decline by 1,500 to 2,000 students in 2026-27, driven by shrinking birth rates and rising participation in private schools, homeschooling and charter schools.
The district has already eliminated nearly 500 positions for the fall, including jobs tied to school closures and mergers, while reporting that no current employees were expected to lose their jobs because of retirements, resignations and reassignments.
A property tax referendum that supplements teacher and staff salaries is also on the November ballot. If it fails, the district would need to address the loss of that locally funded salary supplement.
The Nov. 3 elections for Districts 1 and 3 will determine two of the five seats shaping those decisions.
