The nonpartisan election for Polk County School Board District 6 pits the incumbent, Justin Sharpless, against a youthful challenger, Kasen Hampton.
Sharpless, the current School Board chair, is pursuing a second four-year term. School Board members receive annual salaries of $48,450.
District 6 includes schools in Dundee, Fort Meade, Frostproof, Lake Wales and Poinciana. Members must live in their districts, but voting for all seats takes place countywide.
The traditional election day is Aug. 18, and early voting begins Aug. 8.
Here are overviews of the candidates in alphabetical order.
Kasen Hampton
Hampton, a Lake Wales resident, is a student at Polk State College studying public administration. He graduated in 2025 from Candlelight Christian Academy in Lake Wales.
At age 19, Hampton is by far the youngest candidate in the three School Board races and if elected would be possibly the youngest member ever. Current School Board member Sara Beth Wyatt was elected in 2016 at age 24.
Hampton addressed the issue of his age in response to a question from The Ledger.
“I recently graduated, so I’ve been in the school system,” Hampton said. “My main reason for running for this seat is because I don’t like what my opponent is doing, and I’m running to change that. And I’m also running because I want to influence our young people to give them a message that no matter how young you are, no matter how inexperienced you are, you can run for this seat, and you can represent people to the best of your ability.”
Hampton draws motivation for his campaign from his experiences in Polk County schools. He attended Janie Howard Wilson Elementary and said he sought to enroll at Bok Academy North Middle School, also part of the Lake Wales Charter Schools system.
He said the school denied him entry, and he suspects it was because he had been given an Individualized Education Plan, or IEP. Those are documents required by the Florida Department of Education that describe services the district will provide for students with disabilities or unique learning needs.
Hampton said his application to Bok Academy North was rejected even though he was on the AP honor roll and had recommendations from teachers.
“I was denied because they didn’t want to have to deal with me as an academic student,” he said. “They didn’t make available the amount of resources they would need to actually support me as a student, I think that’s wrong. I think that a school shouldn’t get to pick and choose who they serve or who they who they teach.”
Lake Wales Charter Schools had not responded by July 28 to a voicemail left the previous day.
Asked about the issues he considers high priorities, Hampton mentioned teacher and staff pay, mental-health services for students and general support for public schools.
“I believe that teachers don’t get enough for the work that they do,” he said. “As many have said, teachers don’t only work in the classroom, but they also work at home. They take their work home with them. So I just want to fight to get a better salary and also ensure that teachers have the resources that they need.”
Hampton said he would advocate for changes to the formula in state statutes that determines teacher pay. He said that support staff is also “overworked and underpaid.”
On mental health, he gave the example of a friend who was unable to get the resources they needed from a local school. He described the approach toward mental health in Florida’s schools as “reactive” rather than proactive.
“I want to work to expand student-based mental health services by partnering with telehealth providers, strengthening community partnerships and ensuring that schools are equipped to connect students with timely, quality care,” he said.
On the issue of teacher shortages and staff retention, Hampton said that employees need not only better pay but also attention from district leadership.
“We need to support our teachers overall, ensuring that they have the ability to come to a School Board member who actually cares,” he said. “I mean, I’ve received reports that my opponent has honestly ignored our teachers, left (emails) unread.”
Sharpless denied that claim. He said he has chosen not to respond to one individual for personal reasons but otherwise has met with teachers to hear their concerns.
At a recent School Board retreat, district staff described a long-range shortage of classroom space in northeast Polk, where population growth is surging. The district is building a new high school in Poinciana and plans two other schools in the coming years.
Hampton said the district must build more schools but acknowledged other factors, such as the need for affordable housing.
Hampton strongly opposes “co-location,” the idea of allowing charter schools to claim space in public schools through the state’s Schools of Hope program. Last year, PCPS received demands from three charter companies to operate within 27 schools deemed to have unused capacity.
Polk Superintendent of Schools Fred Heid denied all the requests.
“I think that the reason why our public schools are so unprepared is because our School Board is answering to charter schools and private schools, and I think it’s wrong,” he said. “If you’re in a run for a position to represent the public schools, then you should represent the public schools. You shouldn’t take money from people who want to develop or profit off of private and charter school development.”
Polk County voters will have the chance in November to approve a proposed property tax designated for the school district. The referendum will direct 80% of the revenue toward increasing pay to teachers and other staff members.
Surrounding counties have adopted similar taxes for their school districts.
“I support the millage property tax that will appear on the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot,” Hampton said. “I think that it is important that we provide the necessary resources in salary increases for our teachers.”
Justin Sharpless
Sharpless, 42, is chair of the Department of Agriculture Studies at Warner University in Lake Wales, his city of residence. He is the married father of three young boys.
A former public-school teacher, Sharpless said he comes from a family of educators. He serves as vice president of the Florida School Boards Association.
“I would say experience matters,” Sharpless said. “I’ve been on the School Board now for four years, so I’ve shown through my actions on the School Board what kind of School Board member I would be. I’ll also say that my colleagues on the School Board must appreciate my leadership or value it, because they did elect me as chair this past year.”
Sharpless listed the district’s most pressing issues as responding to population growth, equity in state funding, academic achievement, career-training programs and school safety. He noted that Polk County Public Schools ranks 62nd out of 67 districts in per-pupil funding.
He said he would like to see changes in the Florida Education Finance Program that determines state funding to districts. The Polk district’s allotment remains low because the state still designated the county as rural, despite the urbanization of the Interstate 4 corridor, Sharpless said.
PCPS improved an overall C grade to a B in the state assessment in 2025 and maintained that grade this year. Sharpless said he wants the district to reach an A grade by 2030. The district has also shown improvement on test scores and graduation rates.
“I’m not going to be happy until every single child is reading on grade level, is performing math on grade level, is graduating, 100%,” he said. “I think in education, we’re never going to be content in that. We always want to get better — because it’s our kids, right?”
The challenge of teacher vacancies is not unique to Polk County, Sharpless said.
“We’re seeing teacher shortages all over the country,” he said. “I can tell you from my experience in the Florida School Boards Association, this is not a Polk district issue. But we need to address it locally.”
Sharpless said the district has responded by creating a Department of Recruitment and Engagement, which includes a teacher recruitment team. PCPS also operates an international teacher exchange program.
Student behavior is another factor that affects teacher morale. Sharpless said the creation of a “therapeutic campus” scheduled to open for the coming school year should help. That alternative site will serve students “who require intensive behavioral, therapeutic, and academic support due to high‑risk behaviors, elopement, or significant dysregulation,” according to district staff.
The district has undertaken a thorough rezoning of schools to balance out student populations and relieve some pressure on schools in northeast Polk.
“Rezoning alone is not going to alleviate the issue,” Sharpless said. “We have to build more schools. We’re using a P3 model — private-public partnership — out there right now for the new high school. I would like to see us explore some of that.”
Asked about allowing Schools of Hope to share space, Sharpless first emphasized his support for school choice, the idea of allowing parents to pick the best educational setting.
But Sharpless said he has some concerns about co-location. He said the current legislation seems to force school districts to cover extra costs generated by the shared occupants.
“Basically, they can co-locate, and we’re just left with the bill,” he said. “That’s not fair competition. I’m a free market kind of guy, right? And so, I’m all about competition, but it needs to be fair competition.”
He also wondered about maintaining a single point of entry to schools for safety reasons.
School Board members will not be allowed to campaign for or against the property tax reference on the November ballot, but Sharpless expressed no regrets about joining his colleagues in placing the measure on the ballot.
“I will say that I absolutely voted to put it on the ballot,” he said. “I think the Polk voters — I trust them to make the right decision.”
Of the seven current School Board candidates for three seats, Sharpless has received by far the most in campaign contributions from people and entities associated with charter schools, according to campaign finance reports.
Sharpless has drawn donations from Public School Development Solutions, the Palm Beach Gardens company involved with building the Scenic Terrace school, as well as related firms; from multiple executives and entities tied to Radius Development Group, a Tampa developer of private and charter schools; and from School Development HC Finance, a Miami company linked to Academica, operator of the Mater Academy charter network.
Other contributors include Lauren Hollander, a real estate agent on the board of directors of the Florida Charter School Alliance; SMART Management LLC, a Miami education management company for charter networks; and Anivette Vargas, an executive with Compass Charter Schools.
Sharpless had received at least $26,750 — more than half of his total contributions — from developers and entities affiliated with charter schools, as of July 17.
“Bottom line is, I support school choice,” Sharpless said. “I’ve developed relationships with other school districts. I’ve developed relationships with charter schools. I’ve developed relationships with private schools. I think it’s important as public school board members that we have those relationships, we have those conversations. So, I would just say, you can look at my record and my votes I’ve taken. I’ve been pretty fair.”
Sharpless has been endorsed by Polk County’s four state House members; Polk Sheriff Grady Judd; County Commissioners Martha Santiago and Bill Braswell; Lakeland City Commissioners Ashley Troutman, Guy LaLonde Jr., Mike Musick and Terry Coney; the Polk Education Association Victory PAC; and the Polk County Republican Executive Committee, among others.
Campaign finances
Hampton had reported $2,255 in campaign contributions through July 10. His donors include the Rainbow Ridge LGBTA Democratic Caucus, former Fort Meade Mayor Sam Berrien and Ricky Santiago, a candidate for the Florida House in District 50.
Sharpless had reported $51,250 in contributions through July 17. His local donors include County Commissioner Rick Wilson; Public Defender Blair Allen; Winter Haven City Commissioner Chad Davis; Dundee Mayor Joe Garrison; former state Sen. J.D. Alexander; former state Rep. Seth McKeel; the Winter Haven 9-12 Project; Friends of Grady Judd; Cassidy Holdings Inc.; and philanthropist Ashley Bell Barnett.
Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Collegian challenges Polk County School Board member Justin Sharpless
Reporting by Gary White, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
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By Gary White, Lakeland Ledger | USA TODAY Network
