With two incumbents and four challengers vying for three seats on the Auburn Enlarged City School District Board of Education, we had hoped to hear over the past few weeks more from the candidates about how the district might have been better managed in the past and how the board might tackle the most pressing issues of the present and future.

The Citizen is endorsing the three people we believe have the best chance of learning from the missteps - and successes - of the past and leading the district into the future.

We were quite disappointed, during endorsement interviews with The Citizen, to hear current board president David Lansford and vice president Charlie Cator attempt to justify the process that led to the hiring of superintendent J.D. Pabis. As we've said before, we were not particularly distressed that Pabis got the job, but we were dismayed that he was the only candidate given any serious consideration.

Former Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES Superintendent Gary Gilchrist was given the task of overseeing the candidate search - or lack thereof - and later advised the board that it needn't interview anyone else because Pabis was far and above the best of the bunch.

The fact that neither Lansford nor Cator demanded that one or two possible candidates be brought to Auburn for a job interview demonstrates, in our view, a misguided “hands-off” approach to the management of the school district.

And we seem to be seeing more of the same with regard to the upcoming negotiations over a new contract for district teachers. Neither Lansford nor Cator appear to be taking an active role in following this important issue, but are rather waiting for a negotiator hired by the district to let them know when what the recommendations might be going forward.

First-time school board candidate Karol Soules stands out as the top candidate. She seems to be motivated only by a passion to support education. She has a history of involvement in local schools as a parent and has been a coach for Odyssey of the Mind competitions, among other things. She understands the need for better technology in the classroom to help students become competitive academically. She would like to see more done to help gifted students thrive and also sees the benefits that a strong BOCES program can offer and would like to see that option promoted to more students early in their academic careers.

We're a bit concerned that Soules might become such a strong advocate for the student body that she will be less concerned about keeping tabs on spending. She would need to find a balance as a member of the school board, because fighting for new facilities or better teachers' pay could mean overlooking the concerns of the average homeowner struggling to keep up with increasing taxes.

Cator has long been an advocate for children through his work with youth athletics, among other endeavors. He claims to understand that the board could better communicate with the public and he proposes the possibility of monthly dialogues that would rotate from school to school as a means of getting feedback. Cator also seems to have increasingly become actively engaged in the key decisions this board makes, and we see a second term as a deserved opportunity to step up even more.

Lansford brings valuable insight into the process of education funding, with his background as a school administrator. He led a school board this year that produced a reasonable spending plan with no frivolous add-ons. He says he understands the need to negotiate firmly with the teachers' union - his call for health-care cost concessions may be his strongest position this campaign season.

Ernest Hyde III is making his second run for the Auburn school board. He advocates for a more strict attendance policy to make students more accountable for their own education. He says he's very concerned about the dropout rate - and may be correct in pointing out that many students need more intervention/tutoring - but he also seems to think that lowering academic standards is a good way to keep children in school.

Hyde is certainly energetic and seems sincere about his desire to improve education, but he talks too much in generalities rather than offering concrete plans or potential solutions. We appreciate Hyde's assertion that he would shake things up because we believe there is too little debate on this board. On the other hand, having someone on the board who will say “no” just for the sake of debate isn't helpful either. This board needs people who can actively advance the cause of education and Hyde simply doesn't seem to have a firm grasp of the most important issues.

Abdur-Rahim Muhammad says he wants to bring a different perspective to the board. He serves on the advisory board of Community-Wide Dialogues, a program dedicated to ending racism. Merritt Fletcher said he believes that members of the current board have the best interests of the students at heart. He says that as a lifelong Auburn resident he understands the issues of concern to local school children and believes he can make the school experience better for students.

But both the Muhammad and Fletcher campaigns have been largely silent, so it's hard to know where they stand on specific issues. If you want to run for any office, it's important to reach out to the community with your specific ideas. Unlike the other four candidates, Muhammad and Fletcher both failed to attend agreed-upon endorsement interviews with The Citizen, a crucial part of how we arrive at these decisions.

The Citizen endorses Karol Soules, Charlie Cator and David Lansford for the three vacant seats on the Auburn school board.

Auburn's proposed budget worth your ‘yes' vote

School district budgets, it can be argued, are the toughest of any local government spending plan to keep in check because of the rigorous mandates imposed on public education.

But too often we hear school leaders use that excuse as justification for spending that they do have control over, and the results are unacceptable tax levy increases near or above 10 percent.

We're glad to see that the proposed Auburn Enlarged City School District budget for 2008-2009 is not one of those runaway spending plans.

This year's budget proposal carries a 3.28 percent tax levy increase. (Your budget proposal mailings may have a slightly larger number, but the district was able to bring the figure down after it adopted its “official” proposed budget.)

It's important voters understand this budget proposal is separate from the capital improvement project vote, which takes place in June.

In the regular budget proposal, there's no wild spending increases or major additions. It's essentially a hold-the-line budget that preserves solid education funding.

In today's environment, that's exactly what taxpayers deserve.

The Citizen endorses a “yes” vote on the Auburn school budget.