HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FL — Voters in the Nov. 3 general election will decide between incumbent Karen Perez and challenger Kenneth "Ken" Gay in the Hillsborough County School Board District 6 seat.
District 6 is an at-large seat, which means all Hillsborough County voters will have a say in the race.
Patch sent a questionnaire to both candidates. Below are Gay's unedited responses.
I want every school to be academically strong, every educator to feel supported, every family to be treated as a partner, and every student to leave us prepared for what comes next.
I bring a perspective developed from seeing public education from multiple sides of the table—as a classroom educator, administrator, mentor, and parent. I understand the difference between governing a school district and managing its daily operations.
A board member's responsibility is to establish sound policy, provide strong budget and contract oversight, hold leadership accountable, and keep decisions focused on students.
My priorities are strong student outcomes, support for educators, safe and orderly schools, and responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars.
We must strengthen literacy, mathematics and workforce readiness; recruit and retain excellent teachers; maintain classrooms where teachers can teach and students can learn; and ensure district resources reach the areas that most directly affect student achievement. I also want stronger transparency and communication with parents and the community.
My strongest evidence is a 39-year career with Hillsborough County Public Schools. I began in the classroom and later moved into school administration, working directly with students, teachers, parents, principals, and district leadership.
I earned advanced degrees in educational leadership, elementary education, and child and youth studies and continue working with educators today as a mentor to teachers pursuing alternative certification. That career taught me how policy, budgets, curriculum, discipline, and leadership ultimately affect what happens in a classroom.
Expect adversity—and learn to persevere through it. Romans 5:3 has long been a guide for me: adversity can produce perseverance, character, and ultimately hope. I try to look for that hope in every challenge.
That philosophy also shaped me as an educator. I learned three fundamentals that work: teach to the expectations, maintain high expectations for every child regardless of where that child begins, and establish clear, concrete expectations for behavior from the first days of school—and model those expectations yourself.
Whether in life, the classroom, or leadership, adversity will come. What matters is how you respond to it.
I believe in the fundamentals: academically strong schools, supported and respected teachers, safe learning environments, meaningful diplomas, transparent communication with families, and responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars. Every decision should ultimately be measured by its impact on students.
I also believe opportunity must extend to every child. Hillsborough offers tremendous academic, career and technical, and extracurricular opportunities. Our responsibility is to remove unnecessary barriers so those opportunities are accessible to all students...not just a few.
After 39 years in public education, I still believe deeply in our public schools and the people working in them. I'm not seeking this position to manage the school district. I'm seeking it to help govern it responsibly, ask the right questions, provide effective oversight, and keep the focus where it belongs...on our students.
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