Schaffer seeks spot on education board

Berny Morson, Rocky Mountain News

Published September 4, 2006 at midnight

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Bob Schaffer had a radical question as the Colorado Board of Education launched into a discussion of preschools in April.

The former congressman and state senator from Fort Collins wanted to know why most of the state's preschool funding goes to public schools, instead of to private providers.

"Government may be part of the solution (to early childhood education), but we ought to not make the same mistake we've made with the K-12 system by relying exclusively on a government-owned, unionized, bureaucratized monopoly," said Schaffer, who had been appointed to fill a board vacancy just four month earlier.

The statement was classic Schaffer, known for strong rhetorical skills and an ability to anticipate exactly what other conservatives on the board say they were thinking.

"He asks the next question," said state Sen. John Evans, R-Parker, a member of the Senate education committee and himself a former state Board of Education member.

"He's not an ordinary member of that board," Evans adds. "He has a different vision, he has a different feel. He has a different set of experiences."

"I think from Congress, he picked up a lot of the debating skills, being able to phrase an issue in the public debate in a way that you would stop and think, 'Oh, I didn't look at it that way,' " said Randy DeHoff, who serves with Schaffer on the board.

Schaffer, a Republican, is a candidate in the Nov. 7 election for a full term on the board representing the 4th Congressional District, which includes Greeley, Fort Collins and most of the plains counties - the same district he represented in Congress from 1996 to 2002. Schaffer faces Democrat Tom Griggs, an education professor at the University of Northern Colorado.

Because the district is heavily gerrymandered to favor Republicans, Griggs has been given little chance of success, even by Democrats.

"Unless there's some miracle," said Sen. Sue Windels, D-Arvada, the chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, for whom Schaffer is like squeaky chalk on a blackboard.

The state board of education plays a key role in setting academic standards, which in turn are the basis for annual tests under the Colorado Student Assessment Program.

The board also hears appeals - often emotional - from proponents of charter schools that were rejected by local school boards.

The state board's work occurs mostly in obscurity. Most of the people who attend the meetings are school administrators, education policy wonks or state education department staffers.

But Democrats and Republicans alike say Schaffer may change that if he chooses to use the board as a platform to press his vision of education.

Schaffer has drawn attention to the board - and himself - several times since he was appointed in December to replace Clair Orr, of Greeley, who stepped down.

In March, Schaffer offered a resolution condemning Cherry Creek geography teacher Jay Bennish, who denounced President Bush in class.

Discussion between equally divided Republicans and Democrats on the board became so heated that members could not even agree on a motion to adjourn. Chairwoman Pam Suckla finally gaveled the meeting to a close.

Schaffer routinely sides with parents who want to open charter schools, angering local school board members and administrators who believe charters are a drain on their budgets.

Griggs, the Democrat, said, "Schaffer is famous for lobbing bombs at things."

Griggs would bring a different perspective to the board.

A one-time high school teacher, he has also been a natural foods wholesaler in San Francisco. He trained as a clown and an actor in California, and has played Shakespearean roles that range from Hamlet to Bottom, the rustic who is partly transformed into a donkey in A Midsummer's Night Dream.

"I love Shakespeare. I love good theater, period," Griggs said.

Among Grigg's areas of expertise at UNC is English as a second language, one of the major challenges Colorado educators face.

As a board member, Griggs says, he could address the frustrations faced by real teachers, such as the ones he meets in his graduate-level courses on teaching English.

"When was the last time Bob Schaffer was in a public school?" Griggs asks. "When was the last time almost any of these state board members was in a public school? I don't know for sure."

Griggs concedes he's battling uphill against Schaffer in the 4th District.

But, he adds, "I think I have a snowball's chance in hell because as I go around the district, I hear they're (voters are) fed up with bomb-lobbing, divisive tactics and the extremist politics represented by people like Bob Schaffer."

Schaffer dismisses that description of himself.

"I've never heard anybody characterize standing up for parents as bomb-throwing," Schaffer said of his support for charter school proponents over school district officials. "If that's what bomb throwing is, then bombs away."

Schaffer stepped down from a safe congressional seat in 2002, citing his pledge to serve only three terms, a pledge abandoned by two other Colorado lawmakers.

Although clearly in the conservative camp, his views take some twists that are all his own.

As a congressman, he opposed President Bush's No Child Left Behind program, saying the national school improvement effort interferes with local control of schools.

He believes the CSAP tests, strongly supported by other Republicans, stifle the competition that would occur if schools were allowed to set their own priorities.

Schaffer is widely expected to run for board chairman after the election when, because of the combination of seats up this year, Republicans will hold a majority.

Candidates for the state board of education

4TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT:

• Tom Griggs: Democrat

• Occupation: Education professor, University of Northern Colorado

• Family: Single parent; two children in Poudre Valley Public Schools.

• Bob Schaffer: Republican (Incumbent)

• Occupation: Vice president for business development, Aspect Energy Inc., Denver

• Family: Wife, Maureen; five children.

7TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

• Lee Kunz: Republican

• Occupation: President, Lee Kunz Construction, Lee Kunz Development

• Family: Wife, Maria; three children