COUNTY VOTERS FACE SCHOOL BOARD CHOICES

Five Cape Girardeau County school districts will fill vacancies on local boards of education when voters go to the polls April 7. But only two school districts -- Cape Girardeau and Jackson -- will have contested races.

Voters will elect two candidates to serve three-year terms on local school boards. Decision-making will be easy for voters in Delta, Nell Holcomb and Oak Ridge, because only two candidates are competing in each race, meaning there are no contests.

Three candidates, including board president Dr. R. Ferrell Ervin, are competing for seats on the Cape Girardeau Board of Education. Ervin, who is completing his first term on the board, will go against Mark S. Carver and Billy G. Benefield for an opportunity to serve as a school board member.

Ervin is chairman of the mass communications department at Southeast Missouri State University, Carver works in the insurance industry, and Benefield worked for the school district for 17 years.

Voters should disregard a fourth name that appears on the ballot. Former school district technology coordinator Chris Cook resigned her position just before announcing her candidacy in January. However, ballots already had been printed when she was forced to withdraw from the race after she was forced to relocate to Indiana because of her new job.

All of the candidates said they wanted to serve on the Cape Girardeau school board to help the district out of its budget crunch. The Cape Girardeau School District has deficit spent for the past three years and must make decisions to correct the trend in the next school budget.

Benefield stresses overall funding cuts -- including implementing a budget freeze or smaller-than-planned salary increases to improve the deficit. Carver suggests district staff and teachers receive salary increases while the budget is being corrected. Both he and Ervin want to increase lobbying efforts with the Missouri Legislature to improve the school district's state funding.

Two of seven candidates will be elected to fill positions currently occupied on the Jackson Board of Education by incumbents Marvin Adams and Jeanette Bollinger. Adams is not seeking re-election.

Candidates for the Jackson school board: Bollinger, who worked for the Department of Agriculture until her retirement; Connie Wilson, a housewife who works as a substitute teacher in neighboring districts; Kay Hendrix, a high-school teacher in Scott City; Chris Weiss, a lawyer; Rhonda Faye McClanahan, a college student and substitute teacher; Charla Myers, an outreach coordinator for child development at Southeast Missouri State University; and Gerald L. Adams, a press operator.

Candidates all expressed pride in the financial and educational well-being of Jackson schools. Students are performing well in all areas, and supports should be put in place to ensure the excellence continues, they said.

Each of the candidates expressed concerns regarding the school district's rapid growth in enrollment in the past decade. The school district has doubled its enrollment in the past 30 years; average school growth is currently about 200 students each year.

Candidates said long-term planning needs to be initiated and consistently revisited to ensure there is adequate building construction and renovation to meet increased needs. Building projects must be placed on a schedule that will keep pace with the district's growth, and outlying schools need to be evaluated each year to verify they are meeting the district's needs, they said.

Incumbents Karen Fornhahl and Debra Followell will reclaim their seats on the Nell Holcomb Board of Education due to lack of competition, while Bob Eisenhauer, a 21-year school board member, and newcomer Roger Thomas are running unopposed for two Oak Ridge Board of Education seats.

School board incumbent Dan Seabaugh of Oak Ridge did not seek re-election to an eighth term but will continue to serve the school district in other, nonofficial roles.

Incumbent Keith Cook and first-time candidate Mike Reiminger also lack any competition for in the Delta school board election.

Although candidates in the smaller districts need only to vote for themselves to win their elections, competition is fierce for the Cape Girardeau and Jackson school board races.

Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. The voter registration deadline has already passed, although voters may register to vote in future elections. Absentee ballots may be returned in person up to the day before the election.