Pedro Alvarez admits he's not qualified to sit on the Dallas school board. The 36-year-old nurse reports he never has attended a meeting of the panel. And the political novice claims he actually never thought about becoming a Dallas Independent School District trustee until friends asked him to run.

This alone is enough to recommend that District 8 voters return incumbent Adam Medrano to the Dallas school board. Although Mr. Alvarez says his opponent isn't qualified either, Mr. Medrano, 32, shows more potential.

After two years on the DISD board, he certainly knows much more about the district's challenges. That includes how it can hold principals accountable and become America's best urban district by 2010.

That latter goal is one of the main reasons we support Mr. Medrano, who works for the city's parks department. Parents and educators deserve trustees who are ready to build on the strategies presented by Superintendent Michael Hinojosa, not trustees who are trying to figure out who Dr. Hinojosa is. Mr. Alvarez tells us he's never met the superintendent.

We were disappointed to hear Mr. Medrano claim that he is responsible for trustees finding common ground on a proposal to require some administrators to speak Spanish. While he may have been involved in the discussion, he wasn't the driving force behind the compromise.

Still, Mr. Medrano starts this race way ahead of Mr. Alvarez. He's attended board meetings and briefings regularly, gone to conferences to familiarize himself with education challenges and speaks in detail about such new DISD approaches as giving teachers more time to plan.

We hope Mr. Medrano shows more leadership with a second term; he clearly deserves District 8 voters' support over this challenger.