VISTA – The Vista school district, where six candidates are competing for three seats on the school board, has made gains in academic achievement but still faces big challenges.

Twelve of its 32 campuses are on a federal watch list for underperforming schools, five of them for the fifth year in a row.

Large percentages of district students who are learning English – even those who have been in the United States a year or more – are far behind. At least 90 percent of English learners in middle and high school are failing state exams in English, the latest data show.

In Vista Unified, nearly 7,500 of its 23,200 students are still learning English and more than 10,500 students come from poor families.

During this school board election season, the issues are complicated and contentious.

Vista Unified, no stranger to divisive school politics, faces a Nov. 4 school board election with clearly drawn partisan lines.

Vista Unified School District Budget: $195 million Enrollment: About 23,200 Teachers: About 1,300 Campuses: 32

On one side are incumbent and physician Stephen Guffanti, 57, school activist Eileen Fernandez, 56, and scientist and college educator Patty Anderson, 46.

All of them say attacking illiteracy should be a priority. They are big supporters of Superintendent Joyce Bales, who has championed a controversial and expensive reading program called Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes and a math program called SuccessMaker. The trio is also highly critical of the teachers union, characterizing the employee group as resistant to changes that Bales is promoting.

“Dr. Bales is giving our teachers tools that they've never had before, and the tools are working and the teachers are becoming more and more and more effective,” Guffanti said. “Effective teachers don't need the union, and the union knows this.”

On the other side are incumbent and former college dean Steve Lilly, 64, homemaker and community volunteer Elizabeth Jaka, 52, and regional PTA president Angela Chunka, 45.

They have said that while the focus on students who are still learning English is essential, higher-performing students on the borderline of proficiency and above should not be neglected.

Supportive of the teachers union, these candidates hesitate to endorse Lindamood-Bell and SuccessMaker. Chunka and Jaka in particular have said district administrators should do a better job communicating with parents.

While she's been critical of the money spent on Lindamood-Bell – $3.4 million last fiscal year – Jaka said she aims to work with Bales and other administrators to make sure educational programs show measureable results.

Lilly said pillorying the union is divisive and destructive.

“I absolutely disagree with Stephen (Guffanti) . . . in his belief that the teachers union is some kind of member of the axis of evil here that's doing bad things to kids in the district,” said Lilly, a former dean of education at Cal State San Marcos.

Looking forward, the district faces a few key challenges. Among them:

Moving toward English literacy for all students and taking schools off the federal watch list. The district has focused intensely on improving student performance at two of its lowest-performing elementary schools, Bobier and Crestview. This year, Bobier made significant gains. The district also recently launched a districtwide program for English-language development.

The state's Academic Performance Index this year for special-education students fell at a time when the district has reduced the number of instructional aides for special-ed teachers.

Ensuring that the $98 million Mission Vista High magnet schools are completed by August 2009 without further cost overruns. The campus is expected to reduce overcrowding at Vista and Rancho Buena Vista high schools.

Managing an uncertain state budget outlook and safeguarding crucial educational programs.

Anderson, who studied earth science at UCSD's Scripps Institution of Oceanography and teaches at area colleges and universities, said many incoming freshmen desperately need remedial English.

Fernandez said, “Students have to learn to read and write in English – there's just no other way.”

Lilly, Jaka and Chunka say they agree that learning English must be a priority, but they are skeptical that the district should look to any one program as the answer.

Meanwhile, Lilly said Guffanti's claims that the union is behind a political effort to fire Bales are false.

“Steven brings it up as a wedge issue in this campaign to get some people to vote for them during this campaign,” Lilly said.

Jaka said that “there are some people who have come up and said, 'The first thing you have to do is fire Dr. Bales.' I tell them that wouldn't make any sense.”

Jaka, who has served on a variety of district committees, said she wants better communication between the district and parents. Parents and others in the community should know why principals are changed and certain budget cuts are contemplated, she said.

Jaka also cited a recent controversy over proposed changes to bell schedules, which parents learned about late in the process and vigorously opposed at a board meeting. The district eventually left school schedules alone.

Chunka has also advocated for more parent participation in decision-making. “It just feels that there's not this sense of camaraderie that there was,” Chunka said. “Parents feel like they're not told what's happening until it's too late.”

Other major priorities for Guffanti, Fernandez and Anderson are improvements in math and science education, particularly to prepare eighth-graders for new state requirements for learning and being tested in algebra. They also warn against excessive retirement benefits that would eat into the district budget.

Lilly, Chunka and Jaka have said they support expanding career technical education. Lilly has spoken specifically about transforming Vista, Rancho Buena Vista and the future Mission Vista high schools into magnet schools that would offer students distinct opportunities in career technical education.

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Bruce Lieberman: (760) 476-8205; bruce.lieberman@uniontrib.com