Current Hays CISD board president Willie Tenorio is being challenged by Kyle resident Miguel Zuniga for the District 2 seat on the board of trustees. Early voting for this race and others in the city of Kyle and San Marcos CISD takes place April 28–May 6. Election day is May 10. For more information about voting times and locations, look for the election guide in the next issue of Community Impact Newspaper, out on April 17. 1. What will you do to improve technology access and make access more equitable across the district? Tenorio: As school board president, I led the process to create the transparent Growth Impact Committee, which created the current bond package that will greatly improve technology throughout the district. Plans include updating campus workstations and improving bandwidth and wireless access to allow students and teachers to take advantage of electronic resources district-wide. Zuniga: I believe to bridge the technical divide, teachers need to be invested in professional development so they can better understand technology applications and use it to improve classroom learning. Lesson plans should integrate in class and at home assignments, and educators should use case studies to teach children to create web pages, videos, budgets, charts and computer networking applications. This should be documented to ensure an equitable amount of time is maintained per classroom. Proper allocation of funds should be managed so that students are not excluded from learning development and opportunities to use technological tools. 2. What makes you qualified for this position? Tenorio: The majority of the school board's decisions depend on strong financial analysis and my education and job experience give me the tools needed for the challenge. After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in finance, I worked as an accountant and program auditor. Currently, as a software business analyst, I work with staff and programmers to produce software solutions to lower costs, reduce workload and make the workplace more efficient. Second, I've demonstrated my commitment to the district by a long history of service. I am a two-term president of the board of trustees, former vice-president, PTA and Booster Club volunteer, and former board member of the Hays CISD Education Foundation, and former Hays CISD District Leadership Team parent representative. Zuniga: I am a qualified candidate because I have a broad background as a scientist, entrepreneur and educator. I have worked in higher education for over 15 years and have served as advisor and instructor. I understand what approaches are useful in helping students learn and also what doesn't work in the classroom. I am an independent thinker and I review both sides of policies before making a decision, and I am not afraid to say no whenever necessary. I have the best interests of the students and taxpayers in mind, and I want to help make Hays CISD one of the best districts for our children. 3. What is the biggest challenge facing the district? Tenorio: The greatest challenge facing the district is handling the tremendous growth rate of 700–900 students a year. Even during the height of the recession, we never stopped growing. Since the average elementary school is 700–800 students, we are essentially growing at the rate of an elementary school a year. This means we are constantly hiring more teachers, and adding bus routes. Thanks to strong fiscal management, the maintenance and operations tax rate has remained constant for seven years and even though between 2003 and 2011, our square footage increased by 96.5 percent, our electricity consumption only grew by 4.5 percent due to energy efficiency measures. Zuniga: We are a rapidly growing district with more than 16,000 students and we will need to invest in resources to maintain sufficient productivity in the coming years. The median income in our district is about $69,000, and we as taxpayers are feeling stretched each year that our property taxes increase. We need to do a better job in spending and hiring priorities, and we need to attract good paying jobs to Kyle. This starts with closing education gaps and graduating students that are ready for the technical, advanced workplace.