Seven challengers and three incumbents are vying for five school board seats in the general election, with the possibility the Board of Education will see at least two and maybe more new faces in the coming term.

Those elected will face a series of difficult issues confronting public education in the state, including the equitable division of school funding under the new Weighted Student Formula, the demands of federal No Child Left Behind legislation pushing states to raise academic standards, along with continuing concerns over bullying and violence that plague Hawai'i schools.

As well, the board must wrestle with the thorny question of managing the charter schools, which are demanding bigger budgets than the board wants to offer, and greater support for facilities funding.

In the Sept. 23 primary election, Windward O'ahu board member Paul Vierling lost his chance for re-election to challengers John Penebacker and Kris DeRego, who are competing for the single seat in the general election. Meanwhile, incumbent Darwin Ching trailed the field of six winners who go on to compete for the three O'ahu at-large seats in the general.

Don Young, interim dean of the College of Education at the University of Hawai'i, said the kind of people needed to lead public education in the state, with all the challenges it faces today, are those with a full commitment as advocates for public education.

"You should have a candidate that has the background to understand the complex issues, who is objective and willing to listen to different perspectives," said Young. "That means not someone running on a single-issue agenda.

"And clearly, they need to be people willing not to micro-manage," he said. "The board has to give the superintendent policy direction but needs to stay out of the day-to-day management. She (superintendent Pat Hamamoto) has a tough enough job without people second-guessing how she's doing her job."

Young said he doesn't believe it's necessary that board members actually have experience working within the school system. But he did say if they haven't had such experience, they need to be willing to invest time learning the issues, and that can take extensive reading and study beyond the meetings.

"They have to be willing to invest the time in researching the information," he said. "And that takes time outside board meetings."

Finally, Young said, board members ought to be people who are good at collaborating with others.

"They need to be respectful of different perspectives," he said. "And ultimately, they need to work together and not be divisive."

The Hawai'i State Teachers Association has made its own list of endorsements for the board, basing them largely on candidates' knowledge about the issues schools face.

One issue that looms large for the new board is the federal mandate to increase academic success in the schools by 2014, but without the financial resources in the system to do so, said HSTA president Roger Takabayashi.

"They are trying to be in compliance (with federal law) without the resources to stay in compliance," he said. "There's just not enough money in the system to adequately fund schools."

Takabayashi said finding an equitable balance of funding large and small schools, city and rural schools, and those isolated by their geography, will continue to be a daunting task for the new board.

"There's no one formula that's going to work because of the geographic disparity in our state," he said of continuing debate over the weighted student formula. "Smallness and isolation are both going to need subsidies. And that doesn't even talk about ESL (English as a Second Language students) and economic disadvantage.

"We need to find out what is adequate funding first in all schools," Takabayashi said. "That's the first step. Then you add additional funds. And you really have to look at each school individually to find out what would be adequate funding."

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com.