NEW SCOTLAND — The race is on — again — for the Voorheesville School Board. This week, Michael Canfora submitted a petition to run.

The window for petitions was reopened, as required by state law, after candidate Christine Suits withdrew from the race last week.

Now three candidates — Doreen Saia, Adam Shelmerdine, and Canfora — are running for two seats. Saia, an attorney, was appointed to fill out a term. Shelderdine is making his first run. The candidate with the most votes will serve four years, filling the seat left by retiring Gary Hubert. The candidate who comes in second will serve a three-year term.

Petitions will be accepted through May 12.

“It’s an opportunity to serve the community,” Canfora, 46, told The Enterprise about why he chose to run. “I’ve been on smaller committees, but this is a larger opportunity to help in any way that I can.”

Canfora previously served on the school board’s communication task force, a superintendent’s search committee, and on an allergy policy-writing committee for the district, he said.

He is a certified public accountant with Teal, Becker & Chiaramonte, CPAs, P.C., and he holds graduate degrees in accounting and in public administration.

Canfora has two children in the district, in both the middle and the high schools. He and his wife, Adrienne, have lived in Voorheesville for 15 years.

“She went to Voorheesville. Her parents went to Voorheesville. Her grandparents went to Voorheesville,” he said.

“Board service comes with a great fiduciary responsibility,” Canfora said. “Money is tight. The school district runs always with a limited budget. My skills as a CPA would, at least, help manage that.

“I’m a very conscientious decision maker,” he continued. “I’m very interested in respect and opportunity for the students. I want to make sure the district continues to make the great opportunities it has for its students.”

Asked his thoughts on the $22.8 million school budget, Canfora said, “It’s important that we make good decisions — that we strike a balance for the resources of the community with the needs of the students.”

He said that striking the balance is “always hard” with “unpredictable aid packages.”

“The district needs to hire and retain top talent to educate our children and prepare them for the future, while offering them the opportunities they both need and want,” Canfora wrote in an emailed statement. “The district also needs to keep up facilities. At the same time, the residents have been taxed to the breaking point. It is easy to see why the budget is always a contentious issue. We need to be careful to do as much as possible with the limited funding, and we need to always remember that we, as a community, are paying the bill.”

Asked about recent controversial state English and math testing for students in grades three through eight, Canfora wrote in the statement, “Common Core is in its infancy and because of that, it is difficult to have enough true and unbiased information to comment appropriately. Both of my children participate in the testing. 

“The topic is very polarizing,” he continued. “What I know is that teachers, parents, and students are very worried about the Common Core, and that education is not supposed to be stressful. I do not know what the future holds for Common Core, but I hope, for the sake of all of the stakeholders, that it works itself out soon so we can move forward with giving our children the best possible education with the tools they need to be productive members of society.”