SPACE COAST, FLORIDA.The Space Coast Rocket invited candidates for the Brevard School Board to answer a questionnaire in their own words. Below are the responses from Kyle Savage, candidate for Brevard School Board, District 2. His answers are published verbatim.
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About the Candidate
Name on ballot
Kyle Savage
Office
School Board, District 2
Party affiliation
No Party Affiliation (NPA)
Incumbent
No
Held elected office before
No
Residence
Merritt Island
Years in Brevard
11 to 20 years
Occupation / employer
Remote IT professional, database support, Florida Education Association
Military veteran
Yes, U.S. Army
Education
Bachelor of Science in Biology, Drury University, earned through the GI Bill after Army service. Graduate Certificate in Initial Teacher Professional Preparation, University of Central Florida. Florida K-6 teaching certification.
Political, Civic, or Community Experience
I served as Treasurer for the Brevard Federation of Teachers and sat on the Superintendent’s Insurance Advisory Committee, working directly on issues that affect teachers and families. Outside of that, I was an Assistant Scoutmaster with the Boy Scouts, I’ve coached T-ball, and I’m a member of VFW Post 10148 in Cocoa Beach. Most of my community involvement has been the kind that doesn’t show up on a resume, showing up for my neighbors because it needed doing, not because I was running for anything.
1. Why are you running?
I came to Brevard County after my time in the Army, and this community has been my home for over a decade since. I taught 5th and 6th grade math and science here, and now I’m a dad with three sons going through these same schools. I’ve seen this district from every angle, as a teacher, as a parent, and as someone who served this country before either of those.
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Right now, families are leaving our public schools, and the board’s answer has been a school closure instead of asking why. I’m running because our students deserve a school board that’s honest about the problems, transparent about how decisions get made, and focused on growing enrollment by making our schools better, not just managing the decline. Common Sense Leadership. Savage 4 Students.
2. What are your top three priorities if elected?
First, growing enrollment so we stop losing schools to closure. Families need reasons to choose their neighborhood public school, and that starts with investing in strong programs and strong teachers, not just reacting after enrollment has already dropped.
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Second, preparing students for the real world. That means expanding access to Career and Technical Education programs across every part of District 2, not just the schools that already have them, so every student graduates with real skills and real options, not just a diploma.
Third, teacher retention. Brevard’s average teacher pay lags the state average, and we keep losing experienced educators to other districts. Strong enrollment and strong programs both depend on keeping good teachers in the classroom.
3. What is the single biggest problem facing the people this office serves, and specifically how would you address it?
The single biggest problem is declining student enrollment, and it’s being driven by more than one thing. We’re losing experienced teachers to better pay elsewhere and a culture where classroom decisions get second-guessed from the top down. We’re also losing family trust, families watched a rushed, closed-door process shut down an A-rated school like Cape View, and they’re not confident the same thing won’t happen to their school next. We’re not investing enough in the programs, like VPK and CTE access, that give families a real reason to choose their neighborhood public school in the first place.
Fixing it means all three: paying teachers competitively so we keep our best ones, running the board with real transparency so families trust the process again, and investing in VPK and CTE so students actually want to stay.
4. How will you keep constituents informed and involved in your decisions?
Transparency is the foundation of this campaign, and it will be the foundation of how I serve on the board. I’ll push for a real-time public financial dashboard so families can see exactly where their tax dollars go, and hold regular updates on what the board is voting on and why. I’ll keep showing up in the community, at cookouts, in Facebook comments, and at your kitchen table if that’s what it takes. Show Your Work isn’t just a slogan, it’s how I plan to govern.
5. Why are you a better choice than your opponents?
I’m the only candidate who has taught in a Brevard classroom and worn the uniform in service to this country. Outside of that, I work a normal IT job to help put food on the table, same as most people in this district. I’m not a career politician, and I’m not trying to be one.
I’ve also seen what happens when the board loses a community’s trust, like the process that closed Cape View Elementary, an A-rated school families fought to keep open. My focus is forward-looking: restoring trust and transparency at the board level, implementing VPK in every Brevard elementary school, strengthening CTE programs across the district, and growing enrollment because families are choosing us, not because we talked them out of leaving.
District 2 needs someone who builds enrollment by making schools worth choosing, not someone managing decline after the damage is done.
Anything else you’d like voters to know?
Teaching is one of the greatest honors of my life, and it shaped everything about how I see this campaign. My family has been part of this community for over a decade. My wife Megan and I are raising three sons who go through this same school system, and every position I take, I take as a parent first. I’m not funded by big-money insiders, this campaign runs on parents, teachers, and neighbors who are ready for a school board that actually listens. Common Sense Leadership. Savage 4 Students.
