The Rio Rancho Public Schools Board of Education will have a new member in March.

Divyesh Patel, an Intel program manager whose sons Shiv and Satyam have distinguished themselves as district spelling bee champions, acquired more votes than all three of his opponents combined in Tuesday's election.

Patel, 47, garnered 274 votes in winning the District 4 seat previously held by Kathy Jackson, who decided not to seek a second term. Steve Dietzel was second in the District 4 race with 80 votes, followed by Wesley Ray Daniels (58) and Richard Gomez (32).

District 2 incumbent Marty Scharfglass, 65, who first won election in 2003, defeated Sabrina Vidaurri 130-101 for that seat.

Patel and Scharfglass agreed that getting the new high school built and opened in time for the 2009-10 school year was the top project to complete.

"I think the first thing would be to work with the rest of the board members, the superintendent and staff at the district and get our new high school going, and the (new) elementaries, because the congestion and overcrowding is the key issue we have to face," Patel said, exhausted Wednesday morning after a busy election day.

"It was a long day - I stood outside the polling place (Rio Rancho Elementary) for like 13 hours," he said.

That district's voters, he said, sent "a clear mandate, basically, in the sense that so many people turned out to vote. People were informed. I was pleasantly surprised by the margin of victory. It was a good race.

"The key, I think, was that my position was pretty well articulated in the newspaper, and my experience in the school system, in the various committees, and people got the idea I was more prepared to hit the ground running," Patel said.

Scharfglass, whose margin of victory wasn't as decisive, said, "I'm very privileged to continue for another four years. I want to be a voice for the people in my district, to bring the issues to the people who want to hear them.

"I'm grateful to work with the board on issues that will be coming to us for the benefit of the children and for our community," he continued.

In addition to the importance of getting the infrastructure -water and sewer lines - in place for the new high school, Scharfglass said he wanted to "make sure the equalization formula (how districts are funded by the state) is equal for all districts. One member can't do that but we can lobby."

Scharfglass said he planned to head to Santa Fe Friday and visit area legislators after familiarizing himself with pertinent legislation that has been introduced so far.

"I'll check out the bills that are being raised and see (which) are beneficial to our district," he said.

District Judge Louis P. McDonald will preside over the swearing-in ceremony for Patel and Scharfglass at the school board's March 12 meeting, which begins at 5:30 p.m. in the boardroom of the district offices, 500 Laser Road.

Results were unofficial as of press time Wednesday and a clerk at the Sandoval County Bureau of Elections said results would be finalized later this week or early next week.

Rio Rancho Public Schools is planning to hold a bond election for a yet-to-be decided amount, next year.

The other school board members, Don Schlichte (District 1), Margaret Terry (District 3) and board president Lisa Cour (District 5) have their seats come up for re-election in February 2009.

All three ran unopposed two years ago.