Improving literacy rates, preparing students to compete globally, and combating teacher shortages are among the top challenges facing Memphis-Shelby County schools, candidates for the school board said at a forum Monday night.

Three Memphians have thrown their hat in the ring to fill the District 7 seat on the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board vacated by Miska Clay Bibbs.Clay Bibbs had represented District 7’s southeast Memphis neighborhoods such as Parkway Village and Oakhaven since 2014, but she left the board in August after winning election to the Shelby County Commission, which will appoint her replacement.