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Joe Paterno thinks the Collier County School Board needs to get back to basics.

That means providing a quality education for every student in the district.

“The curriculum must challenge students at all levels, from advanced placement to career focus,” he said. “Quite simply, each child needs to be nurtured and developed.”

For that reason, Paterno is running for the Collier County School Board for the District 4 seat.

Paterno will face four other community members in the Aug. 26 primary election for the seat, which is currently held by School Board Chairwoman Linda Abbott.

Abbott, who has not yet filed to run for re-election, has until June 20 to file.

District 4 encompasses the city of Naples.

Board members, who run in nonpartisan races, are paid more than $33,000 a year and serve four-year terms.

Paterno, the executive director of the Southwest Florida Workforce Development Board, said he believes it is his time to run for the board. Paterno has more than 30 years of business experience and currently creates partnerships between business, labor, education, community and governmental services. On the Workforce Development Board, Paterno has oversight over federal and state dollars in excess of $11 million annually.

He said he believes he has the leadership skills to work with the administration and his fellow School Board members to get the district “back on track.”

The district will be facing serious budget crunches and the district needs to develop a plan to prioritize and pay for those priorities as far as the money will go, Paterno said.

“The things that we cannot fund, we should look at alternative sources of funding or put them on the back burner until we have the ability to fund them in the future,” he said. “We are going to have to make decisions to do what we can for the benefit of the students.”

Paterno is no stranger to helping the district make policy. He said he co-chaired a group that developed a five-year, career education plan for the district. The group brought together teachers, administrators, business people and parents.

Paterno said he believes in community involvement. He is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Naples and Junior Achievement, and was a former board member for the partners in Education Council and a steering committee member of the Lorenzo Walker Institute of Technology. He also was a board member and past president of the Collier County American Red Cross.

He said he believes in taking input and getting involvement from all of the stakeholders and said he would want to hear from the public as to what priorities the district could establish.

Paterno said his number one concern is the well-being of students and making sure they are challenged and engaged. He said the district has an obligation to ensure that those who want to be challenged have the most rigorous curriculum the district can offer while those who are struggling have the resources they need to ensure they don’t drop out or fall through the cracks.

He said he also believes the board needs to become more proactive.

“We need to set priorities and every meeting, we need to talk about where we’re at and what changes can be made,” he said. “The School Board will function better if it becomes more proactive.”

Paterno, 55, has been married to his wife, Karen, a teacher at St. Ann School in Naples, for 33 years. The couple has lived in Naples since 1984, and has two daughters who live in Orlando.