KARNS CITY — Voters in the Karns City District will cast ballots on six school board candidates running for five seats. Here are the candidates who responded to questions posed by the Butler Eagle.

<B>Address</B>: 110 Mossy Oak Drive, Karns City<B>Occupation</B>: Transportation manager, Sonneborn<B>Family</B>: Spouse, Tracy; daughters Cori and Cristen

<B>Address</B>: 102 Apple Road, Petrolia<B>Occupation</B>: Maintenance, AK Steel — Butler works<B>Family</B>: Wife, Alisa; daughters, Marissa and Cailyn; and son, Logan

<B>Address</B>: 179 Crisswell Road, Karns CIty<B>Occupation</B>: Utility worker<B>Family</B>: Married with five children<B>Experience</B>: Karns City School Board member for 5.5 years<B>Brenda EaleyAddress</B>: Route 268, Chicora<B>Occupation</B>: Physician assistant<B>Family</B>: Sean, Jillian and Cecelia Morrow

<B>No response</B>Henry Crawford Jr., and Lory Ellenberger are also running for the five open seats. They did not respond to the Butler Eagle.

<B>Why are you running for school board?FUTCHER</B>: The education of our children is and should be a major concern of every parent. I have an education degree and value the importance of the education process, but due to professional and family commitments, I did not have the time to dedicate to a position such as a school board member. My commitments are not as demanding, which is allowing me the opportunity to hopefully serve on the school board.<B>FLEEGER</B>: Both my wife and I have been involved with local youth sports and community church programs for several years. As a resident of the district with three children enrolled, Ifeel this is the right time for me to get involved with their education and the operation of the district in general. I believe that Karns City is a good school district with many positive programs, and I would like to do my part to see that this continues in the future.<B>EALEY</B>: I am a working mom of two children who soon will be entering our school system. I have a genuine interest in ensuring each of our children continue to receive a quality education which will be the foundation of who they become as adults.I also recognize all aspects of our children's well being need to be represented on a successful school board. This includes our children's medical well being. I hope to use my background in pediatric medicine to serve as a medical representative on the board.<B>EVANKOVICH</B>: Being a Karns City graduate and having five children who attended the school, I am interested in the quality of the education they receive. I believe Karns City technology is more advanced than other school districts its size and hope to plan to continue that.<B>What are the top three actions facing your school district, and what actions would you propose?FUTCHER</B>: One issue facing not only Karns City, but all schools, is keeping our children safe. This should be an ongoing concern of everyone in our district. Karns Cityrecently reinstated its safe school committee. I would want to be involved in it.Increasing costs is another major issue. Government funding does not cover the costs associated with such programs as special education and cyber school. I served on the tax study committee for the school district. It was alarming to see the costs absorbed by the district related to these programs and others. These programs are important, however we need to make sure funds are available and accessible to meet the needs.We need to make sure that our curriculum and instruction in our schools enable our students to meet or exceed the standards determined by the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment. We need to identify and assist those students in need and provide additional educational opportunities, curriculum and instruction for improvement.<B>FLEEGER</B>: Uncontrolled budget costs is a significant concern for all schools in Pennsylvania. Examples are ever-increasing cyber school costs, escalating special education requirements and rising state retirement system obligations. My plan would be to ensure the burden of these programs passed on to local tax payers is minimized by working hard to see that Karns City gets all of the state funding it is entitled to get.Ever-increasing threat of terrorism: I want to make sure that our school is doing everything possible to provide a safe place for our kids to learn. I would participate in the newly formed safe schools committee and communicate with other schools in our area to make sure that we have evaluated all possible options and programs to prepare.State assessment testing or PSSA under the No Child Left Behind state and federal program, state assessment of student performance is determined through state testing. A student's performance on these tests not only takes that student's future out of the hands of the local schools, but is used to evaluate the entire district's performance and ultimately state funding. All students are tested with the same questions regardless of academic ability and learning skills and disabilities. I believe in standards of performance but this system is unfair and needs to be adjusted to reflect local needs.<B>EALEY</B>: We need to work with our government to restructure the No Child Left Behind initiative. Rather than expecting each child to perform at the same standard, we need to encourage children to excel at the areas which pertain to them while also attaining competency in the basics.As we all face economic challenges it is important to monitor the wise use of our tax dollars and spend where it will enrich our students the most.Lastly, we need good communication between the school board, administration, teachers, taxpayers and parents. We are all partners in the process and we need to work together to meet our children's educational needs.<B>EVANKOVICH</B>: Cyber school. If students want to attend cyber school, there needs to be a fairer monetary standard.Technology. We need to make sure the staff and students keep up with the latest technology.Budget. Act 1. Every year the school district has to have its tentative budget done earlier.