Ms. LaPerch, mother of two high schoolers, lives in Goldens Bridge. Her children have been going to school in the district since kindergarten.

Ms. LaPerch was also on the hiring committee for John Jay High School principal Rich LePrine, and she has been involved in various fund-raising events for the district. She worked on the 2002 Facilities Task Force, a group put together to reduce the construction bond.

"There were about 25 of us on the task force - parents, board members, and administrators, and we lowered the bond from about $50 million to under $30 million before it went to a vote," said Ms. LaPerch, who said she is also concerned with the climbing budget for the next 10 years. "We need to look at about a 10 percent budget-to-budget increase every year for the foreseeable future. I don't see the cost coming down, because we are hiring more teachers every year and need more staff at the buildings. As we near a $100 million budget, I'm concerned that that's a big number for our community. It's a huge challenge."

Making cuts is a complicated process, said Ms. LaPerch. "When the budget is presented, I don't personally know what programs could be eliminated. You can't jeopardize extracurricular activities, which is an important piece of a child's education, and you can't cut after-school sports or the arts. Those are the classes that keep students busy after school and are a relief for them, an outlet."

Ms. LaPerch said that for the next three years board members will be involved in renewing teacher contracts, among other major increases.

"That's what is looming in the forefront, but we have to realize that we do educate a lot of people in our school district," she said.

Wanting to serve on a board some times requires a different approach, she added, saying that incompatibility doesn't mean you can't function as a board.

"Members of the board don't have to be of the same mind to get along, and they are all responsible for getting along with each other," she said. "Some people are asking a lot of tough questions that the past boards weren't asking, and it's not bad to ask questions."

Ms. LaPerch has a degree in psychology, with extra coursework in business. She is knowledgeable in computer training for advertising.

Selby Kiffer, who ran for the Katonah-Lewisboro board last year, said that this year the field isn't as crowded with candidates as it was then. "Some of the candidates held similar views and objectives, so I dropped out of the race last year to prevent splitting the vote," said Mr.Kiffer. "That doesn't seem to be case this year."

Mr. Kiffer said he sees district administrators having too much control. He referred to the recent request by board members Bruce Pavalow and Bob Meyer, who had difficulty obtaining district personnel records.

"The majority of the board blocked Mr. Pavalow and Mr. Meyer from reviewing personal records, and it seemed to me to be emblematic and heavy-handed," said Mr. Kiffer. "There is an authoritative, central control of the district and a willingness to go to lengths to squelch dissent. I want to be an advocate of dissent, and an advocate for hearing numerous and differing opinions before choosing the direction for the district."

Mr. Kiffer said the additional legal fees incurred by the district because of Mr. Pavalow and Mr. Meyer's request were publicized, but other legal fees were not.

"It's this dictatorial method that I object to," said Mr. Kiffer. "There may be nothing to hide, and one of the objections that the board voiced was that the two board members had a particular axe to grind. But my response to that is that teaching is an important - an even noble - profession, and so are nursing, policing, and firefighters, but no one suggests that nurses and cops don't need scme oversight and supervision. Here are two members of the board who were elected by citizens to oversee the district, and they are being prevented by ostensible colleagues from fulfilling their responsibilities."

Mr. Kiffer said that he objected to the way the district extended the contract for superintendent Robert Lichtenfeld for two more years.

"There was a rush to extend the superintendent's contract right before

the board was expanded last spring," he said. "I objected to that because I thought it would be worthwhile to have the input of the new board members. Also, the new contract seemed to me to be unnecessarily lucrative."

Last June, Dr. Lichtenfeld had his contract extended to June 2007, and it

included a 4.5 percent raise for 2005 and 2006 that brought his salary to $213,000.

Of Mr. Kiffer's three children, one is in fourth grade and two are in high school, one as a freshman and one as a sophomore. Mr. Kiffer, also a resident of Golden Bridge, is a senior vice president and senior specialist of the books and manuscripts department for Sotheby's in New York, where, in addition to his administrative duties, he has principal responsibility for natural history books, travel books and atlases, and historical American manuscripts.

Bob Dixon said his reason for running for another three-year term on the board was to "continue what I've already started."

"Although we continue to supply our schoolchildren with a fine education, taxes have become a huge burden for members of our community," said Mr. Dixon. "At some point taxpayers are going to stop supporting the budget, and that will hurt education. We need to look at how our district operates, how it is organized, and how we can do things better."

Mr. Dixon was part of the multiyear expenditure forecast advisory committee, known as "FACE." The committee provided a 65-page draft

that had a five-year history and a five-year forecast to be used in analyzing future budget decisions and expenditures.

"The FACE committee created a great tool," said Mr. Dixon. "This forecast was so successful that the administration adopted a modified version of the forecast to put together this year's budget."

Forecasting the district's needs is synonymous with providing a good education, said Mr. Dixon.

"My feeling is that our district is providing an excellent education to our children, probably one of the finest in the eastern United States," said Mr. Dixon. "But we need a plan for kindergarten children entering our system that will work in 12 years, and work well up until the time they leave high school. They will have different needs because the world is rapidly changing."