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Former Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education member Gregory Gabriel Jr., Kenai, learned something Tuesday night.

"It just goes to show you that being an incumbent doesn't guarantee you a seat," he said.

Gabriel lost his write-in campaign for his seat to challenger Tim Navarre, who had 80.94 percent of the vote Tuesday night as the Clarion went to press.

Gabriel conducted a write-in campaign after missing the candidate-filing deadline.

Navarre said he was looking forward to joining the school board and was eager to tackle funding issues.

"I think the challenge is to get adequate funding from state," he said. "With my history of being on the borough assembly and working with the legislature, I think I can hit the ground running."

He said he also felt equipped to work with the borough administration and assembly to secure local funding for the district.

In the race for the Sterling/Funny River seat, incumbent Marty Anderson lead challenger Marilynn Pawluk 54.42 percent to 44.22 percent.

Pawluk was reluctant to throw in the towel just yet though, saying she'd wait to see the results of absentee votes first.

"It's not over until it's over," she said.

Anderson said he and Pawluk spoke several times during the election and he appreciated having her as a competitor.

"She has great input," he said. "I feel privileged to have her as a fellow community member."

Anderson said one of his concerns going into the next three years is the apparent push for more federal control of the public school system from Washington, D.C.

"There's a real movement from the federal level to dominate more of our public decisions," he said. "It will take a lot of work with our state and federal elected officials to try and parry that down and keep our decisions local."

Anderson said he was specifically referencing the recent announcement from the Obama administration to play a larger role in public schools and potentially lengthen the school year among other changes.

"I think there's evidence in the national press that there's a real move to take over a lot of things and nationalize them," he said. "I think we on the Kenai Peninsula know what our students need more than someone in D.C. and I think that will be a real battle."

He said he also wanted to focus attention on charter school and home-school options in the district.

"I have a deep appreciation for the work our teachers at the brick and mortar schools do," he said, "That being said, charter schools and home-schools play an important role in education, and as American citizens we've earned the right to have options and freedoms and I don't think everyone needs to be forced into cookie cutter molds."

Dante Petri can be reached at dante.petri@peninsulaclarion.com.