PROSSER -- The two candidates vying for Prosser's School Board District 1 position have different backgrounds and priorities, but agree on one thing: The district needs to look at options besides an expensive new building to address the aging high school.

The general election is Nov. 8. Ballots in Benton and Klickitat counties will be mailed this week.

Gayle Wheeler, 68, a lifelong resident of Prosser, says the district has been too narrowly focused on something "new." The issue is broader than just the high school building, she said.

"It includes a capital facilities plan for the entire district," she said.

Wheeler is a cattle rancher and retired director of the Prosser Economic Development Association.

Robert "RJ" Blahut, 62, her opponent, believes the district should "exhaust" all other alternative plans before asking voters to back a bond like the $41.3-million, 20-year proposal that failed to pass earlier this year.

He is an aviation consultant and instructor and owner of Westwind Aviation Services.

The two candidates say the bond is not the most important issue facing the board.

Wheeler, who garnered 60 percent of the vote in the August primary, says the board will need to focus on handling whatever budget cuts might come out of Olympia this year.

As for addressing those cuts, Wheeler said she doesn't have a specific solution at this time, but she will do her best to provide what insight she can.

"I think anybody who would try to (give a specific answer) would be foolish," she said. "I don't think any of us ... know what we've got ahead of us."

Blahut who got 29 percent of the vote, thinks the budget issues are a big problem, too, but his priority would be to make sure the school board takes a personal interest in how those cuts will affect individual schools.

"The school board is just going to have to be more assertive in how the school administration goes through this (budget cut) process," he said. "We're not just going to be able to sit back and rubber stamp what they're sending us."

Blahut said he attended the school board meetings when directors were working on the budget for the 2011-12 school year, and had concerns.

"Two of the five board members specifically asked that the vote on this budget proposal be delayed until they had time to review in detail the ramifications of the budget, and that was essentially dismissed out of hand," he said.