POLK COUNTY, Fla. — All eyes were on the Polk County School Board race, as most of the seats were up for grabs.

In District 3, Rick Nolte led in votes against incumbent Sarah Fortney. He earned nearly 51% of the vote in unofficial results from the Polk County Supervisor of Elections.

Kay Fields remained the longest serving School Board member, winning a 6th term in District 5. In the only race for an open seat, Justin Sharpless defeated Sara Jones for the District 6 seat.

And in District 7, incumbent Lisa Miller will face Jill Sessions in November for a runoff.

Among the goals candidates have set are boosting salaries for veteran teachers, workforce development, school safety, recruiting staff and student achievement.

“I like the phonics system. Let’s get these kids to be able to read,” Lakeland voter Bonnie Bush said.

One voter said he was looking for School Board members that would challenge book bans.

“We don’t want to see School Board members who want to ban books, simple as that," President of Polk County Voters League Randy Barnes said. "It’s the parent's obligation to say I don’t want my kids to read those books."

Last year, a local political group accused Polk County Public Schools of having pornographic books in school libraries. This prompted the district to create panels to review 16 books.

All the titles were allowed to remain on library shelves but now require parents to opt-out of books they don’t want their students to read.

Results from other races in Polk County