ANDERSON — Roy Herron and Bobby Parnell are both tied to Anderson School District 3. One has children in school there and a wife on the district’s payroll. The other spent most of his career teaching in the district.

They also have similar overall goals for the district. But each, if elected in the non-partisan role, have different ideas on how to achieve those goals.

Herron, 72, worked as a teacher, assistant principal and district superintendent for District 3. Now, in his retirement, Herron is an 8-year veteran on the school board.

He said he decided to run for re-election because he wants to build the district’s instructional program, expanding the pre-kindergarten program so that every 4-year-old in the district – which covers Starr and Iva – starts their school career on equal footing.

“This way you can be sure they are getting reading instruction and socialization skills at an early age,” Herron said.

Right now, the district’s pre-kindergarten program serves about 40 children. Expanding it to include all the 4-year-olds in the area would require hiring eight more staff members.

Another one of Herron’s goals is to move the sixth graders back to the elementary school level because he believes that they would fit in that setting better than they currently do in middle school.

Parnell, 42, a newcomer to politics, said his tax notice is a large reason why he decided to run for Herron’s seat. A native of Abbeville, Parnell has two children attending Starr Elementary and his wife is a nurse at the school. In his spare time, he coaches sports at the school.

His main goal: To help the district find new ways to generate income besides raising the millage.

That can be done, he said, by hiring a full-time grant writer. Through the money that person would bring into the district, their salary could be paid, Parnell said. With added income coming into the district, Parnell would be able to address another goal he has.

He wants to lower the student-teacher ratio, Parnell said.

“Right now, classes have 26 or 27 students. I would love to get that down to 21 or 22 per class,” Parnell said.