When residents of the Mineola School District go to the polls on May 15 to vote on the proposed budget for the 2007-2008 school year, they will also be electing a trustee for the school board. Incumbent Donna Strein will be running for re-election against challenger Laraine Salvatore. It is for a three-year term on the board of education. Here is a look at the candidates:

Donna Strein is a 27-year resident of Mineola. She was first elected to the school board in 2001 and has served two consecutive terms. Strein has three children who all gradutated from the Mineola Schools.

She is seeking re-election to the school board because, she said, she has a passion about quality education. "This passion has driven me to be concerned about how decisions impact the district as a whole instead of how they impact just one person, one school or one program. In order to make the most out of the school district, one has to get information about the pros and cons of an issue and then determine what will benefit the district the most," she said.

Over the last six years during Strein's tenure on the board, she is proud of the accomplishments the school district has made. She lists district-wide math and reading programs, a K-12 scientific research program, increased test scores on the fourth grade New York State assessments and high school Regents exams, the formation of finance, communications and capital projects committees, the reduction of $10.3 million in expenses, the reduction of 63 full-time equivalent positions, an annually $500,000 line in the budget dedicated to capital improvements and maintenance and the negotiation of a revenue stream through a lease agreement with Nextel as some of the district's proudest accomplishments. In addition, over the past four years, the district has made an effort to make information more readily available to the public such as a more detailed and comprehensive educational plan and budget.

If re-elected to the board, Strein vows to continue to deliver quality education that is both educationally sound and fiscally prudent. She said she would continue to ask the questions concerning how to meet the district's needs, how to enable the district to maximize student learning and achievement as well as maximize efficiencies and how to reduce expenses and/or increase revenues.

Strein also wants to constantly re-evaluate programs to make sure they are still delivering desired outcomes as they relate to curriculum development, professional development and internal financial controls. She also wants to continue the direction of five-year planning as it relates to capital maintenance and facilities upgrades, fiscal accountability, bus and equipment replacement and technology upgrades.

Strein believes moving forward with student achievement is the most important goal for any school district. "Striving for excellence in the quality, delivery and evaluation of programs designed to improve student achievement is the difference between a good school district and a great school district. These goals of district excellence and student achievement can only be achieved if we all work together," she said.

After being involved with many of the school district's organizations including the Meadow Drive PTA and Music Parents, Laraine Salvatore has decided to run for the board of education. A resident of Albertson, Salvatore has two children who are currently both attending Mineola High School.

Salvatore is concerned with district spending and wants to bring fiscal responsibility to the district. She points out that the school district has two administrators (the superintendent and deputy superintendent) whose salaries and benefits add up to over $500,000. "I just feel that in a school district of 2,800 kids, I think that money could be [better] spent than having a deputy superintendent," she said.

In recent years, efforts have been made to reduce costs in the budget through the reduction of teaching and teaching aide positions. However, Salvatore believes that is not the way to reduce the budget. Salvatore said that each line should be scrutinized to see what the district could do without. She alluded to a trip to Canada planned for professional development. "Instead of excessing teachers, we need to get rid of things like that," she said. "There's a lot of funds that we could take from other places. I would really like to do that - get to the heart of every single line and see if we really need it in this day and age."

Salvatore said she is in favor of preserving student programs so she is not in favor of cutting the budget when it comes to what is for the students. "We pay taxes for the kids. My biggest thing is the administrative costs and all the other little incidentals that go along with the budget like chairs and tables. Can we make do without that for a couple of years? We have tables. Do you really need kidney-shaped tables? We didn't have that when we were children," she said, also alluding to an executive high back chair that is in the budget for $409.88. "Sometimes we need to be innovative and go back to the way some things were. Wouldn't it be lovely if we could all spend millions of dollars and get everything we want, but we can't," she said.

She believes that the district has too many administrators and believes the board should scrutinize its expenses related to administrators. "I really think we can tighten up the budget a little bit. I'm not saying it's going to be easy but they're getting 4 percent raises every year," she said.

Salvatore believes the board needs someone new to scrutinize expenses, which is why she said she is running.