![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Black-Caucus-Daniela-Simic-Dave-Decker.jpg\")
Daniela Simic at C. Blythe Andrews Jr. Public Library in Tampa, Florida on July 9, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker \/ Creative Loafing Tampa Bay<\/p>\nDaniela Simic at C. Blythe Andrews Jr. Public Library in Tampa, Florida on July 9, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker \/ Creative Loafing Tampa Bay<\/p>\n
For now, Hillsborough County\u2019s School Board races are non-partisan. Party lines may play into voters\u2019 decision-making this fall when it comes to the school board\u2019s District 2 seat.<\/p>\n
Daniela Simic<\/a> earned 39% of the vote in Tuesday\u2019s election while Brittany Lyssy<\/a> got 37%. The showing was good enough to earn both a spot in the runoff which wraps on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3.<\/p>\n Simic is a registered Democrat while Lyssy is the former president of the Tampa Bay Young Republicans.<\/p>\n Lyssy, a graduate of Stetson University College of Law and member of the Florida Bar, reported nearly $77,760 in contributions for her school board race. Simic had $47,748.47 while the third-place finisher in the race, Chris Taylor, reported $62,230.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reached by phone on Wednesday afternoon, Simic\u2014who\u2019s been an educator for 25 years including time as a county assistant superintendent\u2014stayed on the message she\u2019s shared since filing in February.<\/p>\n \u201cI have spent my entire life in the field of education,\u201d she told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, mentioning her work across the state from Miami to Duval County where she\u2019s navigated budgets for both government and for-profit entities.<\/p>\n Heavily involved in the education of a 10-year-old that attends Hillsborough public school, Simic said that her son has access to so many resources, which was not the case in many of the schools she worked in. She is the vice president of advocacy at her son\u2019s PTA, teaching parents to advocate for themselves, but told CL that the concept of \u201cparental choice\u201d often leaves out an important population.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are so many kids in our schools who have no one advocating for them, who were not born into a life of privilege, who do not have support systems in place, and the only place, the only hope for them, is their schools, and that\u2019s what public school is supposed to be about,\u201d Simic added. \u201cIt\u2019s supposed to be giving every child that chance at being successful in life.\u201d<\/p>\n State legislators, she said, are busy preempting what local school boards can do. \u201cThat\u2019s why I decided to run for school board, to be that last line of defense before it hits our teachers in our district and our kids,\u201d she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n In March, Simic and other school board members were asked about a bill that would ask voters if Hillsborough superintendent should be an elected position rather than one appointed by the school board.<\/p>\n Simic disagreed with the idea.<\/p>\n \u201cYou need someone who understands what it\u2019s like to go through that, to be an educator, to be a school leader, to be a district leader. And having a politician \u2013 someone that may not have experienced that \u2013 would likely not be a good decision for the school district,\u201d Simic told Tampa Tiger Bay Club<\/a>.<\/p>\n That sentiment was shared by every other candidate at the March forum, which Lyssy did not attend. Divya Kumar<\/a> reports that Lyssy, who has three young sons, supports the amendment that will ask voters to make Hillsborough\u2019s superintendent an elected position.<\/a><\/p>\n Lyssy could not be reached for comment on that issue and another one that plagued her candidacy.<\/p>\n Election paperwork filed by Lyssy shows her registered to vote at a 684-square-foot downtown Tampa apartment registered to her husband, Douglas Lyssy. He is registered to vote as an NPA in Manatee County where one of his Longboat Key properties is homesteaded, according to the tax collector\u2019s office.<\/p>\n A 2022 wedding announcement<\/a> said, \u201cDoug and Brittany intend to remain full time residents of the island and look forward to many more celebrations with the Longboat Key community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The couple has its name on another Manatee County property just two miles away.<\/p>\n