With the Richmond County School System's main source of funding -- state money -- declining, the district needs to look for other revenue sources, Venus Cain said.

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Venus Cain: Incumbent says the district must find new sources of revenue and should share equipment with magnet schools.

The Board of Education's District 9 incumbent is not calling for a local tax increase. Rather, she said the district needs to diligently search for whatever grants and other funding sources might be out there.

"We do that by partnering with businesses in Augusta, particularly with our magnet schools, to buy equipment and other things we need," said Cain, a logistics specialist at Fort Gordon.

The district is already employing solutions to improve the graduation rate, though more improvement is needed, she said.

"The PLATO Learning software is in place to help students who fall behind (with computer-based credit recovery courses)," Cain said. "We are seeking funding to keep that in place and keep identifying other issues."

The district also is effectively addressing declining state and federal money by not filling positions that don't have "any direct correlation to student achievement," she said.

Cain said she is no fan of unpaid furlough days for teachers. She said the state factored in those days, and that board candidates who say they would eliminate furloughs either don't understand that concept or are being disingenuous.

"We can't do anything as a board about furloughing," she said.