Voters in the Mars School District on May 21 will pick a Republican and Democratic nominee for a 2-year seat on the school board.

The candidates are J. Dayle Ferguson, Rebecca Brown and Steven Boggs.

The Eagle asked the candidates three questions.

QUESTION: When it comes to protecting students, how far should school boards go in spending on security measures? For instance, would you consider replacing all glass with bulletproof glass?

FERGUSON: Even within budget constraints, districts must find the financial resources to address security vulnerabilities. Mars, working closely with our regional police agencies, has identified areas for improvement and made targeted, effective modifications to its security protocol, including a full-time local police presence on campus and infrastructure upgrades. Equally important, some investments have been in the form of dedicated time to update crisis plans, practice emergency drills with students, tighten building security procedures and expand training opportunities for staff.

BROWN: When it comes to protecting our students and spending on security measures, I believe a common-sense approach is applicable. School security begins with having effective policies and procedures in place and implementing them consistently throughout the district. Mars has implemented many effective safety measures and security checks. The district has also partnered with local police to patrol our school grounds and recently participated in a state police risk assessment to further improve our security plan.

BOGGS: Unfortunately in today’s world we cannot make any security system 100 percent safe. However, I believe in preparing our staff, students and parents about our commitment toward securing our schools by continuing police presence and increasing security patrolling. The best money spent will be spent on training our entire staff with professional in-school security on how to detect, how to protect and how to prevent.

QUESTION: What can the school board do to help students score higher on standardized tests? For example, more tutors? Focusing the curriculum toward better scoring on these tests?

FERGUSON: Standardized test scores are just one part of a well-rounded education. Yet, for government scorekeeping purposes, we must prepare our students to be successful on these high-stakes exams, some of which are now state-mandated graduation requirements. At the board level, we identify, prioritize and commit the necessary resources — human, fiscal and capital — that support our administrators and staff as they align curriculum to standards, analyze student data and deliver effective classroom instruction, including enrichment/remediation, to promote student achievement.

BROWN: Pennsylvania adopted the Common Core Standards and new state-mandated graduation requirements tied to the Keystone Exams. While it’s important to align our curriculum to these standards, I believe that the curriculum must exceed these basic benchmarks. Providing a rigorous curriculum and the appropriate professional staff development will result in successful students and commendable test scores. We must provide an opportunity for students who have not passed the required tests to receive focused instruction with tutoring/remediation classes in those subject areas.

BOGGS: The school board can increase standardized tests, like the Keystone exams, by getting parents more involved with tutoring the students, offer after-school tutoring classes before the May and August test dates and, if a large group is failing, open the school for summer classes, focusing on improving exam scores.

QUESTION: With school districts facing deficits, are you more likely to cut spending or to raise taxes to balance the budget? Should districts think harder about closing schools?

FERGUSON: A fiscally stable school district is the foundation of a quality educational program. The Mars Board has a proven history of balancing its educational mission within its financial means. We consistently adopt budgets with operational expenses in line with revenue expectations, fully understanding that overextending creates incrementally more difficult challenges. It’s wise to make the modest, yet responsible, adjustments to maintain that important balance, thus ensuring long-term program sustainability and allowing for educational enhancements that positively impact our growing student population.

BROWN: With school districts facing deficits, I do not believe the answer to balancing the budget is the knee-jerk reaction to raise taxes. There needs to be a balance between fiscal responsibility to the taxpayers and educational responsibility to our students. I would not support a tax increase unless I felt confident that, as a board, we had considered all possible cost control options while still maintaining a high quality educational program.

BOGGS: Our students pay $150 for parking, $100 for all sports, band, chorus, the musical, not to mention fees for the arts and material processing programs. How much higher can these fees go before we lose participation? I would support tax increases to offer programs, keep schools open and balance the budget. One cost savings option for schools would be to institute a three-year moratorium on new construction spending.