Unofficial counts give District 3 to Susanne Peña and keep the one mill school tax through June 30, 2031. The tax decision touches nearly 2,000 school jobs, and the new board member can be reached before the first vote she casts.
Susanne Peña won the most votes for Orange County School Board District 3 on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, and Orange County voters renewed the one mill school operating tax, according to unofficial results from the Orange County Supervisor of Elections. Peña had 34,380 votes to Diana Moore's 24,745, with all 40 District 3 precincts reporting, on the Supervisor's election night results, checked November 7, 2026. That is 58.15 percent of votes cast for a candidate. The one mill question passed with 351,476 yes votes to 95,353 no votes, or 78.66 percent of yes and no votes. Both percentages match the Supervisor's race detail page; the summary page shows lower figures because it counts blank and overvoted ballots.
None of that is final yet. The county canvassing board met Friday, November 6, 2026, at 9 a.m. to certify unofficial results, according to the Supervisor's event notice, and that page now says the meeting has passed. Official certification is scheduled for Monday, November 16, 2026, at 9 a.m. at 119 West Kaley Street, unless the canvassing board changes the notice.
Peña won early voting by 5,655 votes
Early voting carried her. Peña led on Election Day by only 247 votes, 9,443 to 9,196, but she won early voting 16,633 to 10,978 and mail ballots 8,304 to 4,571, the Supervisor's race detail shows.
That is a bigger margin than the August 18, 2026, primary suggested. Peña had 46.67 percent in a three way primary then, short of the majority she needed, and Moore had 29.45 percent, according to the Supervisor's primary results. Our District 3 runoff explainer covers both candidates' backgrounds and issues.
The same results page counts 6,845 undervotes in District 3, meaning ballots from inside the district that skipped the school board race entirely.
School board races in Florida are nonpartisan. OCPS Insider does not endorse candidates.
The new District 3 term begins November 17, 2026
Tuesday, November 17, 2026. Under section 100.041, Florida Statutes, a school board member's term "shall begin on the second Tuesday following the general election in which such member or superintendent is elected." The term runs four years.
The board's own schedule lines up with that. The OCPS Meetings, Agendas and Minutes page lists the Annual Reorganization Meeting on November 17, 2026, and says its agenda posts seven days ahead. The page also says that meeting is ministerial, so "there will be no opportunity for the public to provide input."
Until then, Alicia Farrant is still the District 3 member. She is listed that way on the OCPS School Board page and on the notice for the Tuesday, November 10, 2026, regular meeting, checked November 4, 2026. The district has also posted a notice of a reception for outgoing board members at 2:30 p.m. that day.
Peña is not the only new face. In the August 18, 2026, primary, Angie Gallo beat Alicia Farrant for the countywide chair seat, 59.63 percent to 40.37 percent, Melissa Lopez Marantes won District 1 with 60.36 percent and Gloria Reina O'Neal won District 2 with 57.96 percent, according to the Supervisor's official primary results. The OCPS School Board page lists Gallo as the District 1 member, Teresa Jacobs as chair and Maria Salamanca in District 2, so Gallo stays on the board in a new role while Jacobs, Farrant and Salamanca leave.
The new board inherits a big job right away. Superintendent Maria Vazquez announced July 27, 2026, that she will retire at the end of the 2026 to 2027 school year, according to an OCPS statement, and the board appoints her replacement.
The one mill renewal mostly pays for people
Mostly people. The one mill is a voter approved property tax of $1 for every $1,000 of taxable value, and the ballot summary on the OCPS You Decide (One Mill) page lists "compensation for teachers and educational support employees, preserving academic programs, arts, athletics, and student activities." The money is "shared proportionately with charter schools as legally required."
The renewal runs from July 1, 2027, through June 30, 2031. It continues the current tax rather than adding a new one, the district page says, so the levy voters approved in 2022 keeps running until then.
The board's May 19, 2026, BoardDocs item that put the question on the ballot estimated "a positive fiscal impact on the school district of approximately $261 million per year" over a four year period. Voters first approved the tax in 2010 and renewed it in 2014, 2018 and 2022, the item says. The board voted 5 to 3 to send it to voters, with Teresa Jacobs, Maria Salamanca, Alicia Farrant, Vicki-Elaine Felder and Melissa Byrd voting yes and Angie Gallo, Anne Douglas and Stephanie Vanos voting no, according to the motion record on that item.
The district's campaign flyer labels its spending chart "Annual: ~$242M." That is this year's money, not the renewal's. The One Mill Overview presented with the same May 19, 2026, board item lists one mill operating revenue of $242,347,050 for the year it labels FY26. The $261 million is the board item's estimate for each year of the renewal, which starts July 1, 2027. The flyer's chart splits the money among school staffing, salary increases, arts and athletic supplements, field trips and the charter school share.
How does the one mill show up at your child's school?
In specific jobs. The district's one mill positions per school report, counted as of April 22, 2026, projects 1,978 positions paid by the tax across the district. That includes 1,187 teachers the report labels highly qualified, 295 art teachers, 236 music teachers, 130 instrumental music teachers, 59 drama teachers, 21 dance teachers, 27 athletic trainers and 23 athletic directors.
The report sorts schools by board member, and the District 3 list, still under Farrant's name, totals 294 positions. Boone High and Cypress Creek High are each listed at 30, Freedom High at 27 and Lake Buena Vista High at 20. The report calls these projected counts, prorated by each school's weighted enrollment, so treat them as an estimate of what the tax supports, not a staff roster.
To find your school, open the PDF, look under your board member's name and read across the row.
The ballot language promises "annual reporting." The district's One Mill Reports page, checked November 4, 2026, shows how the tax was spent in 2024 to 2025, $230,468,968 in all, and lists PDF reports from 2012 through 2024 plus the per school positions file. Read together with the flyer and the board item, the yearly amount has grown from about $230 million to an estimated $261 million.
How can parents reach the board or watch meetings?
Start with School Board Services at 407 317 3236. The mailing address on board notices is P.O. Box 271, Orlando, Florida 32802, and meetings are held at the Ronald Blocker Educational Leadership Center, 445 West Amelia Street, Orlando.
You can speak at regular meetings. Open public comment begins at 4 p.m. before the 5 p.m. meeting on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, according to the district's meeting notice. If you cannot go, email publiccomment@ocps.net by 5 p.m. the day before a meeting with your name, address, agenda item and comment. The meetings page says emails received by then go to every board member by 10 a.m. the day of the meeting.
You can also watch from home. Board meetings stream live and tape delayed on the OCPS board meetings YouTube channel and Orange TV, and agendas and presentations are posted in BoardDocs, the School Board page says.
Not sure which member represents you? Board districts do not follow school zones. The Supervisor's What's on My Ballot tool shows your districts from your home address, and OCPS posts a board district map for 2026 to 2027.
The next regular meeting is Tuesday, November 10, 2026, still with Farrant in the District 3 seat. If you live in District 3 and want Peña to hear from you before her first vote, ask School Board Services how to reach the incoming member.