Brittany Lyssy’s School-Board Training Network Deserves a Closer Look
Brittany Lyssy highlights her experience with the Leadership Institute’s School Board Leaders Program as part of her background in education policy. This experience deserves attention since the program is part of a broader conservative school-board network.
The Leadership Institute openly states that it trains conservatives to run for office, manage campaigns, and influence public policy. Its school-board program teaches candidates how to win elections and govern after they are elected. The public course materials include topics like campaign strategy, communications, fundraising, board policy, budgeting, legal issues, and district oversight.
This is also where another well-known Florida figure comes in: Bridget Ziegler.
While Lyssy worked with the School Board Leaders Program, Ziegler also held a leadership position there. Ziegler also helped lead Moms for Liberty in its early days. This Florida group became known across the country for its involvement in debates over school curricula, books, LGBTQ issues, and parental rights in education.
The link between Moms for Liberty and the Leadership Institute is significant. Moms for Liberty now sends potential school-board candidates to Leadership Institute campaign training. Its school-board resource page also connects members to Leadership Institute activism and basic school-board courses. In 2023, Ziegler and Moms for Liberty executive Marie Rogerson led a Leadership Institute workshop teaching conservatives how to build school-board campaigns and advance their principles once elected.
Then there is Hillsdale College.
The Leadership Institute’s school-board resource library specifically recommends Hillsdale’s 1776 Curriculum and encourages candidates to take Hillsdale courses on public policy and K-12 education. It also points them to the Heritage Foundation’s Critical Race Theory legislation tracker.
Taken together, the connections are clear. Lyssy worked in a conservative school-board program partly led by Bridget Ziegler. That program worked directly with Moms for Liberty leaders and still recommends them to its candidates. The Leadership Institute also guides school-board candidates to use Hillsdale and Heritage resources.
Lyssy’s campaign has received at least $8,500 from conservative or Republican-linked political committees, including those connected to Blaise Ingoglia and Josh Wostal. The 1776 Project PAC, a national group focused on school-board races, also endorses her.
I have not found evidence that Lyssy is a member of Moms for Liberty, has written any of its policies, or has personally adopted every position promoted by Ziegler, Hillsdale, Heritage, or the Leadership Institute. Given recent events with that organization, it is understandable if someone would not admit it. I also have not found any policy documents with Lyssy’s name as the author.
What is clear is that Lyssy says her work with the Leadership Institute involved policy analysis, ethics, and governance for school-board members. This makes the organization’s philosophy and policy environment important for understanding the experience she lists as a qualification.
Even if she does not have the same controversies as Ziegler, does the Hillsborough School Board really need someone with a philosophy similar to “Moms for Liberty”? In some places, that approach has not worked out well.
So, for District 2 voters, the real question is not just whether Lyssy is a Moms for Liberty candidate. It is which parts of this school-board philosophy she supports, what advice she gave while working in that network, and which ideas she would bring to the Hillsborough County School Board.
These are reasonable questions to ask based on her résumé.
Sources
Leadership Institute, School Board Leaders Program / Florida training information
https://leadershipinstitute.org/state/florida/
Leadership Institute, School Board Leaders Program and initiatives
https://leadershipinstitute.org/initiatives
Leadership Institute, School Board Resources
https://teachable.leadershipinstitute.org/p/schoolboardresources
Moms for Liberty, Candidate Information and School Board Training Resources
https://portal.momsforliberty.org/resources/additional-resources/candidate-information/
Leadership Institute, “Reclaim Your School Board”
https://leadershipinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/ReclaimYourSchoolBoard_Booklet2024.pdf
Hillsdale College, 1776 Curriculum
https://k12historyandcivics.hillsdale.edu/
Hillsdale College, 1776 Curriculum and responses to common questions about its K-12 work
https://www.hillsdale.edu/news-and-media/press-releases/hillsdale-college-releases-answers-to-common-misconceptions-about-its-work-in-k-12-education/
Leadership Institute, 2023 IRS Form 990
https://leadershipinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/2023-Form-990.pdf
Florida Politics, Brittany Lyssy campaign profile and Leadership Institute background
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/784433-brittany-lyssy-becomes-third-candidate-to-seek-stacy-hahns-hillsborough-school-board-seat/
Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections, Brittany Lyssy campaign-finance reports
https://www.voterfocus.com/CampaignFinance/candidate_pr.php?c=hillsborough&ca=2677&committee=N&e=27&op=cv&rellevel=4
