Candidate Profile: Alicia Farrant

School Board Member Alicia K. Farrant describes herself as a “mom with a servant’s heart,” fighting for a return to “classical, common-sense education” and dedicated to bringing Orange County Public Schools back to basics.

Long associated with Moms For Liberty, the Orlando-based Farrant, 45, who has represented District 3 since 2022, is running to succeed School Board Chair Teresa Jacobs who is not seeking re-election. She faces District 1 School Board Member Angie Gallo, in the nonpartisan Aug. 18 election. School board members serve four-year terms and earn $50,000 annually.

“I’ve seen the urgent need for accountability, transparency, and a chair who will put students and families first. I’m ready to restore trust and refocus our schools on academic excellence,” she told VoxPopuli in November. 

The missionary and mom of five favors school choice, blaming a “lack of high expectations and standards” for declining public school enrollment — the Orlando Sentinel reported that Farrant refused to say whether her three youngest children are enrolled in the public school system she hopes to lead. She has, however, expressed reservations about allowing charter schools to operate within low-performing public schools. She told podcaster David Lindsey her “number one” focus is raising the literacy rate and supports the Science of Reading approach Orange County is implementing. She also supports raising teacher pay — but not increasing taxes to pay for it.  

Farrant came to prominence by advocating for the removal of books she described as "filth" from school libraries and for the Parental Rights in Education legislation, colloquially known as “Don’t Say Gay.” [Editor's Note: Much of that law was rolled back in 2024 as part of a settlement with LGBTQ groups.] She also attempted to reverse OCPS's trans student bathroom policy and helped shut down an after-school Drag & Donuts discussion with a well-known drag performer at Boone High School. 

“I said, Not on my watch. We are not doing this. We are not allowing men dressed up provocatively like women to come in and mentor kids in our schools. You want to do that on your own time, that’s on you. But in our schools, not on my watch. So within hours, we had that thing shut down,” Farrant said in February at the Christian conference, Unleashed 2026.

Outside of her school board responsibilities, Farrant is the founder of Wigs of Hope, which provides wigs for children undergoing cancer treatment in El Salvador. She is also the vice president of Impact Nations, the Central American ministry founded by her husband Jonathan. 

Farrant was a no-show to the July 16 School Board Candidate Forum, sponsored by the Orange County Council PTA and League of Women Voters, where she was scheduled to be a panelist. She did not submit responses to the News Collaborative of Central Florida’s questionnaire. She declined VoxPopuli’s request for an interview, saying “You can find everything you need on my website.”