Thanks to a voter-approved amendment to the State Constitution, School Board races are no longer partisan. That means voters can focus on education credentials and not political parties and that all voters will get the chance to pick School Board members on Sept. 5.

This year, in Pinellas, the task is especially important. A federal judge has just lifted a 29-year court order that governed school desegregation, and board members are considering a new system of student assignment that relies on parental choice rather than neighborhood zones. This is the most significant change in student assignment policy since the court order was first enacted, and the board will need members who understand the history and complexity of the issue and appreciate the role of racial diversity in public education.

Three of the board's seven seats are being contested this year, and voters face a commendable slate of candidates from which to choose. Here are our recommendations:

Lee Benjamin

District 1 (voted countywide)

Some of Lee Benjamin's challengers say that he has had his turn, that 10 years on the School Board is enough, that Pinellas needs someone with new ideas. Notice what they're not saying: that he has done a bad job.

Benjamin is something of an education institution in Pinellas, having spent 34 years working for the school system -- as a teacher, a coach, a principal, an area superintendent -- and the past 10 years on its School Board. His five children graduated from Pinellas schools, and some now work in them as well.

Three people are challenging Benjamin. Two of them -- Mike Guju, a real estate attorney who says he might run for County Commission some day and offers few concrete educational ideas, and Arlene Lopes, a retired teacher who has offered a limited campaign -- are weak alternatives. The third, Ronald Ogden, a former aide to state Sen. Jack Latvala, is an impressive candidate who speaks with passion about the role of public schools and the need for racial diversity in them. We encourage Ogden to stay involved in school activities.

In this race, though, the incumbent has been repeatedly returned to office for a reason. He has served the schools well. He is still fairly criticized for his tendency to be at times too eager to accept administrative recommendations, but Benjamin has his tough side as well. This past year, he showed he could duel with Gov. Jeb Bush over a reform plan that brings private school vouchers and an ill-considered grading system for public schools.

We recommend that voters give Lee Benjamin another term. He has earned it.

David Archie

District 3 (voted countywide)

This seat is open because the incumbent, Susan Latvala, is running for the County Commission, and all three candidates are capable.

David Archie, 46, is a Tarpon Springs city commissioner who has a history of community work. Carol Cook, 48, is a fourth-grade teacher who is a former president of the Pinellas County Council of PTAs and has a long record of education activism. Peter Nehr, 47, is a Tarpon Springs flag shop owner who has an engaging style and a solid understanding of school issues.

Cook has seen education from many vantage points, including as a parent and a PTA activist who has lobbied legislators and fought to make changes. But she is at her best when she is describing her experiences as a classroom teacher, about the importance of connecting with families and making parents a partner in the learning process.

Archie also brings valuable experience to the job. He has been elected twice to the Tarpon Springs City Commission and has spent much of his adult life in community causes. For the past six years, he has served as executive director of Citizens Alliance for Progress, a neighborhood-based, non-profit foundation that seeks to help disadvantaged children succeed academically. He mentors students himself and has served on a variety of school district advisory committees, including the District Monitoring Committee for desegregation. His list of past and present civic involvement is exhaustive, including the Pinellas Workforce Board, Hospice of North Pinellas, Tarpon Springs Rotary Club, Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, Habitat for Humanity.

Archie has a well-defined approach to education: "Student achievement should be paramount." He also happens to be black, a fact that does not drive his candidacy (he says it "just happened to be a fact of life") but is relevant to the current work of the School Board. Pinellas has never elected a black candidate to the board, and it is now considering a new student assignment plan that would take the place of 29 years of court-ordered desegregation. The views of Archie, who grew up in Pinellas and attended both a segregated middle school and a desegregated high school, are both reasoned and relevant.

This is a close call for voters, but Archie brings a broader community and work background and some political experience that his opponents lack. We recommend Archie.

Kenneth Fullerton

At-large

Few School Board members work as hard at their jobs as Jane Gallucci, and she has demonstrated in her first term that she will fight for what she believes in. But in this contest, voters have an impressive alternative: Kenneth Fullerton, a first-time political candidate, a St. Petersburg High School graduate who went to Harvard College and became an expert in government finance and now wants to use his expertise to help schoolchildren.

Fullerton, 46, runs his own municipal finance firm, Fullerton & Friar Inc., is a member of the Suncoasters, serves on the board of Suncoast Manor, and has a son at Seminole High School. Though he has limited experience on school committees and boards, he has approached the campaign with extraordinary vigor. His campaign white papers are among the most informed and detailed of any candidate in any race.

Fullerton is challenging Gallucci, a former middle school guidance counselor who is now president of the Florida School Boards Association. Gallucci has consistently raised tough and necessary questions about school policy over the past four years, but her willingness to dig into the details has at times caused her to nitpick, to get personal and to be combative. Though he doesn't mention Gallucci by name, Fullerton raises the point in his own campaign platform: "Being an effective member of a seven-person board takes some special skills. One must learn to work together well with people with whom he may also often disagree."

The third candidate in this race, Dwight "Chimurenga" Waller, a leader in the National People's Democratic Uhuru Movement, is making some valid arguments about the extent to which black students are alienated. But Waller has been an angry political combatant for so long he needs to first show he is willing to be a constructive participant.

The choice in this race is an unusual one, but we believe Fullerton would bring the greatest strengths to the board. We are persuaded by one of the arguments Fullerton advances, that any elected board needs a broad range of experiences. He brings an experience the current board lacks -- one of government finance -- and a thoughtful approach to education issues. This man does his homework. We recommend Fullerton.

Opportunity to reply

The Times offers candidates not recommended by its editorial board an opportunity to reply. Candidates in the races discussed today should send in their replies no later than 5 p.m. Tuesday to: Philip Gailey, editor of editorials, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731. (E-mail: letters@sptimes.com; Fax: 893-8675). Replies are limited to 250 words.

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