SET is not dead.

A group of Board of Education trustees is running under the banner Surrey Education Team for the civic election Nov. 16, which will appear as SET on the ballot.

The original SET (Surrey Electors Team) was a long-standing civic party that ruled council and school board for more than a decade, however, it dissolved amid high-profile departures and the defeat of SET Mayor Doug McCallum in 2005.

Former SET council member Marvin Hunt is running this year as an independent, and Judy Higginbotham has said she won't run in the coming civic campaign.

This left four former Surrey Electors Team school trustees looking for a team name for the upcoming civic election.

Several monikers were considered, including Team Surrey.

However, registrations filed into city hall Friday, and the new name will look just like the old.

The Surrey Education Team will appear on the civic ballot as SET.

The team consists of incumbent Trustees Reni Masi, Shawn Wilson, Wayne Jefferson and Pam Glass. Lawyer Alex Dantzer is also joining the team.

Masi told The Leader Friday keeping the SET name was an intentional move.

"SET has a brand, and a lot of people out there supported us last time, and we hope they'll support us this time," Masi said.

He said the group decided not to run as Surrey Electors Team because it wanted to stress its educational focus.

"People will see Surrey Education Team on our literature and our signs, they'll have to figure it out," Masi said. "We are running for school board, so we want the word education involved."

Jefferson told The Leader earlier this year the reasoning behind creating a new team is to give voters a choice.

"What we're trying to do is ensure the voice that we have is a common voice for right of centre... I'm not sure what's going to happen with (Mayor) Dianne Watts' Surrey First down the road," Jefferson said. "She's not interested in a party. It's no different than a real estate office, they share the moniker (like) ReMax, but they're all independent realtors."

Masi is happy to run on his record with the old SET, which had a reputation as fiscally tough.

"I think we have a record of financial management in our district that we're very proud of," Masi said. "We're proud of what we've done over the past three years. We've moved ahead."

kdiakiw@surreyleader.com