It is her turn now. After six terms and 18 years on the board, she will step down following the April 1 elections.

Some say it's too soon; others say it's about time.

A steadfast liberal, Carstensen, 65, can exasperate conservatives. Perhaps no one is more responsible for higher school property taxes in Madison in recent years — she supported all 14 referendum questions during her tenure and instigated several of them.

Yet she never lost a board election, even after enraging some constituents by supposedly disrespecting the Pledge of Allegiance. As she leaves, there is apt symbolism in the years she has served.

"At 18, you get to graduate," she says.

'Quite distressed'

Carstensen was a working mother of four school-aged children when she took on conservative incumbent Earl Kielley in 1990. Her goal wasn't so much to get on the School Board as to get him off it.

"I was quite distressed by his approach," recalls Carstensen, a welfare reform policy analyst for the state Department of Health and Social Services at the time.

Kielley had called for cutting the number of school psychologists and social workers. Carstensen felt social services were critical to educational success. It irritated her that Kielley seemed to suggest the budget was fat-filled.

Carstensen had taught high school social studies on the East Coast and served as the president of parent groups at Madison schools. It didn't help Kielley's campaign that in a city as liberal as Madison, he called homosexuality "aberrant behavior" and appeared on the "The 700 Club" with the Rev. Pat Robertson. Carstensen won 59 percent of the vote.

Today, Kielley calls Carstensen's long tenure self-serving.

"To believe you're that important smacks a little of arrogance," he said. Yet Kielley praises Carstensen as a hard worker, a sentiment almost everyone offers up.

"Nobody can question her preparation," said former board member Ray Allen.

A fiscal conservative, he served with Carstensen for nine years and sometimes clashed with her. "There was never an expenditure Carol didn't like, unless it was athletics," he said.

Allen credits Carstensen with becoming more responsive to the broader community and less reflexively ideological over the years. "We ended up respecting each other, and I'm glad she served," he said.

Making headlines

Carstensen doesn't think she changed dramatically during her tenure, but she agrees she was more willing early on to get into dust-ups with conservatives. Although generally mild-mannered and not a shouter, she could lob a verbal bomb now and then if provoked.

After American Family Insurance, the Wisconsin Realtors and the owners of East Towne and West Towne malls spent big money to help defeat a school referendum in 1997, Carstensen publicly lashed out at them. In a pointed letter to the community as board president, she urged the companies to help fund a school sports program if they, indeed, "have a sense of responsibility to this community and its children."

A mini-firestorm erupted. Today, Carstensen says, "I was angry, and I didn't think what I said was all that much out of line."

Carstensen found herself in the headlines four weeks after terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center in 2001. Along with a slim board majority, she voted to allow only instrumental versions of the national anthem in schools to comply with a state law requiring a daily moment of patriotism.

The vote effectively halted schoolwide recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance. A backlash ensued. One week later, before a crowd of 1,200 people, Carstensen reversed her vote, and the pledge was restored.

Carstensen maintains that the goal behind limiting the pledge was sound — to respect children of various faiths and national origins. Yet she doesn't regret her reversal. "I was worried about the impact the issue was having on the district. We needed to find a way to end it."

Critics toyed with mounting a recall election against her. But she was up for re-election in a few months anyway, so they assumed she'd get the boot. Instead, she withstood a challenge from a moderate opponent.

"She's sincere and honest," said Kris Thommesen, a district parent who said she doesn't know Carstensen personally but voted for her every time. "I just believe she put her all into it."

'An incredible legacy'

Carstensen, who served four years as board president, strongly backed the district's focus on narrowing the racial achievement gap, and she became the board's most vigorous defender of the district's desegregation approach, which included busing.

The latter provoked the only serious death threat against her, Carstensen said. A plain-clothes police officer attended several board meetings in 1996 to protect her. Carstensen credits Caller ID for reducing the number of threats in recent years.

As for those 14 referendum questions she backed — 10 of which voters approved — she makes no apologies. "Nothing we can do is more important than investing in our children's educations. Money isn't the only piece, but it matters a lot when you use it appropriately."

Former board member Barb Arnold said Carstensen worked diligently behind the scenes to educate legislators on the damage state-imposed revenue caps are inflicting on districts. "She leaves an incredible legacy," Arnold said.

Board president Arlene Silveira said she understands why Carstensen wants to step down, but she wishes it wasn't so. "She's a very calming influence and a source of information that I think is really valuable for us now."

Lawyer Ed Hughes is the only candidate running to replace Carstensen April 1.

As for what's next, Carstensen doubts she'll run for another office — she got trounced in her attempt to unseat state Sen. Fred Risser in the Democratic primary in 2000. Having left the workforce in 1996, she devoted much of her free time to school issues. Yet she assures, "I have a life outside of the school district."

She and her husband, Peter, a professor at UW Law School, have seven grandchildren, three of whom attend Madison schools.

She will always advocate for public education in some way, she said. "It's the foundation of a democratic society, and it's the one real hope for children in poverty. Without public education, we become a divided society."