Seat 5: Detective challenges School Board's budget hawk
8:13 PM 3/09/04
Doug Erickson Wisconsin State Journal

Ruth Robarts is pretty sure she drives the oldest vehicle among Madison School Board members - a 1982 Pontiac T-1000 purchased a couple years ago for $600. <

"I'm really cheap," she says, laughing. <

Robarts has emerged in the last two years as the board's budget hawk, a role that has gained her newfound conservative allies but alienated some past supporters, including the teachers union. Her intense questioning of last year's school referendum sent some people scurrying for a candidate to replace her. <

Now seeking a third three-year term, Robarts, 57, faces Madison police Detective Alix Olson for Seat 5 in the April 6 general election. Madison board members are elected by a districtwide vote, but must run for specific seats. <

Olson, 56, makes no secret of the fact that referendum supporters drafted her to challenge Robarts, but she rarely criticizes her opponent directly. She emphasizes her credentials and goals instead. <

While generally complimentary of the district, Olson said she has become frustrated with the level of violence and drug activity in Madison schools and with the lack of a firm response by some administrators. She wants to use her background in crime prevention and conflict resolution to tackle student discipline and classroom behavior. <

"No one else on the board has that kind of knowledge or expertise," Olson said. She sees herself bringing fresh ideas to the board on these issues, as well as educating board members and parents about harassment and bullying issues and helping to make the district's discipline policies more consistent across schools. <

Olson said she has worked most of her adult life to ensure human rights and to end hate crimes and homophobia. Serving on the School Board, "is the next logical step in my trying to make Madison a better place." <

Olson said that while she can't match Robarts' seven years of intimate board work on budget issues, she's a quick learner who has dealt with budgets many times as a board member of several nonprofit organizations. <

"And being a board member isn't just about dollars," she said. "There's the human side, too. I want to speak for students who traditionally have not had a voice - minority students, homeless students, low-income students, LGBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) students. " <

Olson said she supported last year's successful referendum for more district operating money, but she said she's sensitive to taxpayer anger and would support a referendum this year only if massive teacher layoffs and program cuts were the only alternative. <

Robarts, a law school assistant dean, said she, too, voted for last year's referendum as a private citizen, despite her public opposition to the board's budget process. If the referendum had failed, the district would have been forced to lay off and reassign teachers well into the school year, which would have disrupted learning, she said. <

The board hasn't clearly articulated spending priorities, and it approved a two-year teacher contract last spring that was too expensive for the times, Robarts said. She was the only board member to vote against it. <

Teachers have reacted to her "very negatively and very viscerally," Robarts said. "I think they think I've been very unfair to them." But given the poor economy and widespread layoffs in other job sectors, granting teachers an average salary increase of about 3 percent was "a major mistake," she said. <

Robarts said she would support a referendum this year "only if we really have cut all of the non-classroom things that we always say that we have." She clearly doesn't think that's the case. <

She offers specific cuts. The district can't afford both a full-time lobbyist and a full-time public relations coordinator, she said, and the Parent Community Relations Department, which mediates disputes between families and schools, has become a luxury. Also, there are too many non-classroom "resource teachers" based Downtown at a time when school staffs are spread too thin, she said. <

Her focus on the budget is based on wanting to strengthen public schools, Robarts said. If residents don't trust the board's ability to manage money, community support for schools will slide, she said. <

She rejects the notion that she concentrates too much on the budget, noting that she received a distinguished service award in 2002 from the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for her advocacy on behalf of minority students. <

Contact Doug Erickson at derickson@madison.com or 252-6149. Ruth Robarts Age: 57 Personal: Divorced; one daughter, an English teacher in Tokyo. Address: 3726 Gregory St. Job: Assistant dean for student and academic affairs at UW Law School. Political experience: Elected to School Board in 1997 to fill the last 11 months of a vacant term. Elected to three-year terms in 1998 and 2001. Other public service: Former chairwoman of Madison Board of Ethics; former citizen member of School Board committees. Education: Master's degree in political science from the University of Illinois-Chicago; master's degree in educational administration from UW-Madison; law degree from UW Law School. Top priorities: Direct every possible dollar to academic achievement; develop new community partnerships; prepare all children for citizenship, good jobs and higher education. Little known fact: She's been a vegetarian for about 20 years. Web address: anlex.com/robarts/index.php