Two longtime critics of the Carroll school system who ran unsuccessfully as a team for the school board six years ago have filed to run for another shot at winning seats on the board.

William M. Bowen Jr. and Jerry L. Brunst accused the school board during the 1996 election of wasting a generously funded budget on high administrative salaries and excessive spending.

Despite an aggressive and well-funded campaign, the challengers were beaten by a nearly 2-1 margin by the two incumbents. Bowen, 72, of Westminster, is a retired Baltimore social studies teacher and one-term Harford County Council member.

He got involved in the school system about nine years ago to oppose outcomes-based education, a widely accepted teaching philosophy that sets clear goals for what students should learn by the end of a unit, course or school year.

Bowen also has criticized public schools for what he considers their attempts at socially engineering students to be liberals.

Brunst, 45, who lives outside Westminster, is a self-employed landscaper. He and his wife chose to homeschool their three children in opposition to outcomes-based education.

Neither Bowen nor Brunst returned phone messages at their homes Friday, and it was unclear whether they intend to run as a team again this year.

They join four candidates who have filed to run for the three open seats: incumbents Gary W. Bauer, a Baltimore firefighter who lives in Hampstead; C. Scott Stone, a systems and programmer analyst at Goucher College who also lives in Hampstead; PTA activist Laura K. Rhodes of Mount Airy; and John F. Murray Jr., a software compliance officer with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration who lives in Mount Airy.

The deadline to enter the school board race is 9 p.m. tomorrow.