In a surprise move, the Santa Barbara Unified School District Board of Education on Wednesday night selected Sunita Beall to be the fifth member of the board.

Beall, a medical doctor who works for the UCSB Student Health Service, won over the board with her knowledge of the budget and willingness to dive into the debate over teacher pay.

The school board voted 4-0 to appoint her to the seat, to fill a vacancy.

“I am very excited,” Beall said shortly after her appointment. “I feel honored that you chose me. Thank you for this.”

In a nod to the other candidates, she added that a little bit of all the candidates would have made the perfect school board member.

Fourteen people applied to the seat and were interviewed over 10 hours on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Beall joins other board members Gabe Escobedo, Bill Banning, Rose Munoz and Wendy Sims-Moten. Two positions are up in November — those of Banning and Sims-Moten.

Beall joins the board at a time when the district is involved in tense negotiations over a new contract with the Santa Barbara Teachers Association.

Beall and candidate Kate Parker each received two nominations. Sims-Moten and Escobedo nominated Beal, and Munoz and Banning picked Parker. In the end, Banning moved toward Beall, citing her knowledge, and deferring to the wisdom of Sims-Moten and Escobedo, the vice chair and the chair.

Beall is a parent of a Santa Barbara High School student, and her son graduated from Dos Pueblos High School.

She was born in India and came to the United States when she was 3 months old. During her interviews, she said she planned to run for the position and a four-year term in November.

Beall said she can bring knowledge to the discussion over teacher pay.

“Teachers need to have a living wage,” Beall said. “They need to be able to stay and have a future. That is a big deal, and trying to figure out what that living wage is for them is complicated.”

She also said it doesn’t all have to be about money.

“I know there are people trying to create housing,” she said.

She said the community needs to be part of the solution.

Beall said during her interview that key priorities include “really looking at the budget in every way possible to see how money can be carved out, and having as open communication as you can have with not just teachers but the community to understand how hard it is to balance those things.”

She said the district does not want to lose good teachers, “and that is a real concern, and so we have to address that.”

Beall served on the Board of Santa Barbara Middle School and participates in the SBUSD Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) Parent Advisory Committee.