Photo: Montes-Bradley / iStock / Getty Images
The race for the Palm Beach County School Board District 1 seat is in our Election Spotlight.
The seat is being vacated by Barbara McQuinn and after the primary in August, two candidates are in a run-off.
One of them is Matthew Jay Lane a former Palm Beach Gardens city council member who works as a family attorney. But Lane says he also has other experience that will come in handy.
"Our school district has an annual budget of $5.6 billion. We have 23,000 employees, 170,000 students and 182 schools. And before I started my law firm I was Vice President/General Counsel for Financial Corporation for over 15 years. So I understand finance, I understand management and I understand law."
He also says he comes from a family of teachers and he once taught math and English in the public school system to underprivileged children.
Lane faces Page Lewis, a reading intervention teacher serving inner-city kids through a nonprofit.
"I'm very well-rounded whether it's for making business decisions or educational decisions and also decisions with substance abuse and mental health. So I'm the only candidate in the race that has that well-rounded background that you need to make decisions on the school board."
Lewis says she has also worked as a realtor, as well as in the substance abuse industry and as the president of a nonprofit animal rescue that taught children to ride horses.
Hear more from both candidates in the audio players above.
This is one of two races for PBC School Board on the Nov. 5 ballot.