This story is part of a statewide partnership of 27 nonpartisan newsrooms and universities working to help Florida voters make informed decisions in the 2026 school board elections. Learn more about the Florida Elections Reporting Partnership.

Challenger David Farrow and incumbent Linda Sanborn disagree on budget and transparency policies, but share a common consensus on teacher pay.

Two-term incumbent Linda Sanborn worked as a teacher for 35 years, the last 28 at Milton High School, and holds a master’s degree in education. Challenger David Farrow has owned and operated businesses for over four decades.

Across budget, teacher support and board transparency policies, they have the same goal of improving Santa Rosa County schools.

Farrow opened David Farrow Service, an appliance repair store in Milton, in 2017, according to public records. He previously ran a similar business in Woodstock, Georgia. He closed the business in April, welcoming retirement.

“The school system needs fixing and a total overhaul,” Farrow said. He said he plans to bring his experience as a business owner and handyman to the table if elected. 

He also served in the Army, according to his campaign website. He does not have any children currently enrolled in Santa Rosa County schools. 

Farrow and his wife, Marilynn — who serves on Milton City Council — teach a biblical citizenship class at Immanuel Baptist Church. He has felt the support of his church, former customers and community throughout his campaign run, he said. 

His bid for a District 1 seat is not his first venture into politics; in 2020, Farrow was elected as Florida’s Republican state committeeman by voters. 

Farrow’s School Board campaign has raised over $11,000 in contributions, including over $2,000 of his own funds. Notable contributions include a $1,000 contribution from former Escambia County Commissioner turned podcaster Gene M. Valentino. He has also received an endorsement from the Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida Emerald Coast/Santa Rosa County Chapter, according to his campaign website.

Sanborn has served on the School Board since 2018 and is running for a third term. A resident of Santa Rosa County for the past 43 years, she currently has six grandchildren enrolled in Milton schools. 

Her perspective as an educator extends to her time as a Sunday school teacher; she is also an active member of Christ United Methodist Church.

Like Farrow, Sanborn has forayed into the business world as co-owner and vice president of Adventures Unlimited Outdoor Center — which comes in handy when dealing with the board’s financial decisions, she said. 

Sanborn founded the nonprofit Do Unto Others in 2023, which raises tens of thousands of dollars each year for students in need. Her reelection campaign is largely self-funded, with her own contributions totaling over $23,000.

Budget Policy

Santa Rosa County School District is projecting $3 million in budget cuts for the upcoming 2026-27 school year, according to WUWF. Declining enrollment in response to Family Empowerment Scholarships and the district’s losses in state funding are two of the biggest factors trimming the budget line. 

Farrow’s campaign hones in on not just the amount being spent, but how the district uses its money.

“We don’t have a money issue,” he said. “We have a spending issue.”

He criticized the district’s spending to open new schools like Soundside High School, set to open in August, in the face of declining enrollment — a project with an initial cost of $110 million and a final price tag of $132 million, funded in part by half-cent sales tax proceeds, according to WEAR-TV. 

Farrow pointed to the fact that the 250,000-square-foot building, capable of holding over 1,800 students, will only hold 600 to 800 students — a 33% to 44% occupancy rate — as part of its gradual phase-in plan to admit only ninth and 10th graders for the 2026-27 school year. 

“As a businessman, I would not build a million-square-foot warehouse to house stuff I could do in 100 or 1,000 square feet,” he said. “The expenses for heating and cooling … we’re wasting money.”

If elected, Farrow would encourage a more thorough review of the budget, including how government grants are spent. He’s in favor of a more no-frills, function-over-form approach to current policy, he said.

Sanborn maintains the district is already doing the most when it comes to penny-pinching.

“It’s easy to say the district is spending too much,” Sanborn said. “The district is spending what it needs to in order to give our students the best possible education.”

She and other board members, led by Superintendent Karen Barber, have gone through expenditures with “a fine-tooth comb” and cut as much as possible, she said. Some of those cuts have been to teachers and faculty in response to lower enrollment; other cuts mean that the district won’t pay for club travel expenses to competitions, she said.

“We do have a funding shortfall,” she said. “My priority would be to figure out a way to keep our education at an equally high level as we’ve had it previously.”

Teacher Support

Both candidates agree that teachers should be paid more.

“The teacher is the backbone of the school district,” Farrow said. “That’s one reason why I’m running.”

He still remembers the teachers who encouraged him in his school days — encouragement he never got at home, he said. Farrow expressed increasing support for teachers, especially in their ability to handle disruptive students.

“I think unless you’ve been in the classroom and dealt with the issues, you cannot imagine how challenging the job is,” Sanborn said. “We need to  reward our teachers appropriately as far as their paychecks.”

If reelected, she wants to start negotiating teacher pay starting earlier in the year. In April, Sanborn was the deciding vote on a 3-2 motion that secured a 2% recurring raise for teachers.

Increased support for teachers often extends into support for students. Although Santa Rosa County received an A grade for the 2025-26 school year, literacy and mathematics proficiency rates hover around the mid-60s, according to state test scores — leaving room for improvement, said both candidates.

Farrow’s biggest concern in the classroom is pace, he said, and that there is no one-size-fits-all model for student learning.

“We need to let them go at the speed they need,” he said. “They need to know that learning can be difficult, but [they] can do this.”

Sanborn also emphasized proper teacher support but said she would leave inner-classroom policy for teachers to address. 

“We could have every fancy computer program, every latest technological device, and none of that would compare to a caring, well-educated, well-prepared teacher,” she said.

Transparency

The ability to not only see but understand the School Board’s decision making has been a major concern among parents and voters. 

Farrow is pushing for a reform of the school board meeting structure. His main criticism was how agenda items for new projects are handled by Superintendent Barber, often approved by motion without a mention of cost. 

“We need to be able to speak our minds and speak our hearts at these meetings,” he said, adding he’s willing to challenge how things are currently run.

For Sanborn, transparency is already here. She pointed to the district’s monthly newsletter, Leaps & Bounds, which informs readers about district calendars, student accomplishments, resource apps and back-to-school guidelines.

“I hear from parents that it’s too long and they don’t read it,” Sanborn said. “That’s an option, an offering; if they don’t take the time to read it, then that’s their loss.”

She also cited the thousands of volunteer hours that Santa Rosa schools employ every year, time spent inside the school system by parents, grandparents and everyday residents. 

“You can’t have a volunteer in the classroom working and say, ‘Oh, close your ears!’” she said. 

Concerning town hall meetings, Sanborn would like the board to start hosting them on a regular basis if the attendance is there — which it hasn’t always been in the past. 

“To ask staff, administrators, teachers, etc. to come out in the evening for a town hall meeting … [low attendance] gets kind of discouraging,” she said. “But I think I would like to see us try that again next year.”

If implemented, town hall meetings would be held at rotating locations, Sanborn said, to make it fair to traveling parents. 

The vote to decide between Farrow, an experienced businessman calling for change in the classroom, and Sanborn, a lifelong educator committed to wrangling the district’s finances, will open to early voters on Aug. 3. 

Early voting runs until the 15; voting times are scheduled between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Election Day times on Aug. 18 are between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.

Chloe Santiago is a journalism student at the University of Florida who can be reached at santiago.c@ufl.edu.