Palm Beach County voters narrowed a crowded field of school board candidates Tuesday but chose no outright winner in the Boca Raton-area and Jupiter-area seats, according to preliminary results.
Matthew Lane and Page Lewis will be on the ballot Nov. 5 for Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens. Mindy Koch and Gloria Branch will face off for the school board seat representing Boca Raton.
In the Jupiter-area race, attorney Lane received 40.6% of the vote and literacy coach Lewis got 37.3%. Francesca Wernisch trailed the other two with 22.1%.
In the Boca-area race, former head of Palm Beach County's Democratic Party Koch and public relations consultant Branch came within 120 votes of each other, both winning about 27% of the vote.
No single candidate in either race won more than 50% of the vote, which would have sent the top two vote-getters to the general election.
Of seven school board seats, three were up for grabs this year — seats representing districts 1, 2 and 5, although Virginia Savietto has clinched the District 2 seat being vacated by Alexandria Ayala after Savietto was the only candidate to qualify in that race.
Palm Beach County school board members serve four-year terms and are elected on a rotating basis. They are paid $53,406 per year.
2024 Palm Beach County Elections:Live Results
More:Palm Beach County primary election results
Candidates for Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens area
Matthew Lane, 69, is a family and divorce lawyer and former City of Palm Beach Gardens council member. His priorities include improving reading in young students, recruiting and keeping teachers and providing strong career programs for students who do not attend college. Lane said that he hopes to put more police officers in schools, and that Florida's per-student spending is a "disgrace." He said members of the school board should push harder for more money for education at the local level.
Page Lewis, 57, is a literacy coach at Urban Youth Impact in West Palm Beach. Her priorities include improving literacy in students of all grade levels, boosting test scores, budget accountability and hiring more high-quality teachers. Lewis said that increasing teacher pay and creating meaningful merit raises for veteran teachers will help keep more educators working for the district. Lewis says on her campaign website that she also wants to give parents more choice and control in their child's education.
More:The Palm Beach Post endorsem*nts in the Aug. 20 primary
Candidates for Boca Raton school board seat
Gloria Branch, 56, is a public relations consultant and daughter of former Palm Beach County Superintendent Art Johnson. Her priorities include improving academic achievement by paying teachers more money. She wants to "re-balance the budget toward teacher recruitment, training and performance" and address the teacher housing shortage through intergovernmental initiatives. Her website says she hopes to prioritize reading, writing and math fundamentals.
Reached Tuesday night, Branch called the results "fantastic," and said, "We're looking forward to winning (the general election). We're really excited."
Mindy Koch, 71, is a retired teacher and immediate past chair of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party. Her priorities include refocusing money away from student testing and funneling it into hiring more teachers, improving mental-health resources for students at school and reducing administrative duties for teachers. Koch said that teaching students anti-communism, "not being able to say 'gay' in school and teacher training requirements" have "changed everything for teachers and students."
Also reached Tuesday, Koch said: "I'm very excited to do this. This has been a dream of a lifetime. I'm really looking forward to winning this half of the election and going to work for the people of Palm Beach County, the children and the teachers."
Palm Springs, Greenacres school board race decided: Savietto wins unopposed
One position on the school board was decided June 14 when no candidates qualified to oppose Virginia Savietto for the seat being vacated by Alexandria Ayala. Savietto will be sworn in after the November election and represent District 2, including the Greenacres and Palm Springs areas.
Ayala was elected in 2020. Born in Puerto Rico, Ayala was the board's first Hispanic member and the youngest elected school board member in recent memory.
Savietto, 50, previously ran against Ayala for school board in 2020 and for Florida House in 2015. A native of Argentina, Savietto is a member of the Hispanic Education Coalition and works as a senior administrative assistant to County Commissioner Gregg Weiss. She lives near Forest Hill Boulevard in West Palm Beach and has a son who attends Palm Springs Middle School.
Savietto said her priorities on the school board include increasing graduation rates and improving school safety. She said she hopes to guarantee all children get a quality education and to improve parental involvement.
2024 Palm Beach County Primary Elections live results
See who is winning in the August 20, 2024, local elections in Palm Beach County with real-time results:2024 PBC Primary Election results
2024 Florida Primary Elections results live results
See who is winning in the August 20, 2024, local elections in Florida with real-time results:2024 Florida Primary Election results
Katherine Kokal is a journalist covering education at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at kkokal@pbpost.com. Help support our work; subscribe today!
