Marilyn Ruffin
Marilyn Ruffin was an at-large member of the Sun Prairie Area Board of Education in Wisconsin. Ruffin assumed office in 2015. Ruffin left office on April 26, 2021.
Ruffin ran for re-election for an at-large seat of the Sun Prairie Area Board of Education in Wisconsin. Ruffin won in the general election on April 3, 2018.
Ruffin participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates.
Biography
Ruffin earned her degree in electrical engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology. Her professional experience includes working in cellular communications and network engineering and serving as a substitute teacher in the district. She received her short-term substitute permit in July 2014.[1] Ruffin is married and has two children who attend district schools.[2]
Elections
2018
Two of the seven seats on the Sun Prairie Area School District school board in Wisconsin were up for at-large general election on April 3, 2018. Incumbent Marta Hansen did not file for re-election, leaving one open seat. Incumbent Marilyn Ruffin and newcomer Bryn Horton defeated candidate Paul Kudrle.[3][4]
General election
General election for Sun Prairie Area School District Board of Education At-large (2 seats)
Incumbent Marilyn Ruffin and Bryn Horton defeated Paul Kudrle in the general election for Sun Prairie Area School District Board of Education At-large on April 3, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Marilyn Ruffin (Nonpartisan) | 41.3 | 4,460 |
| ✔ |  | Bryn Horton (Nonpartisan) | 35.7 | 3,858 |
 | Paul Kudrle (Nonpartisan) | 22.2 | 2,401 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.8 | 85 | ||
| Total votes: 10,804 | |||
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2015
Three at-large seats were up for election on April 7, 2015. Incumbent Mike Krachey ran to retain his seat against candidates Marta Hansen, David Hoekstra and Marilyn Ruffin. The incumbent, however, was defeated, and the three challengers each won their first terms on the board. As Hoekstra was the third-highest vote recipient, he was elected to the unexpired one-year term up for election, while Hansen and Ruffin won regular three-year terms.
Results
| Sun Prairie Area School District, At-Large General Election, 3-year & 1-year terms, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan |  Marta Hansen (3-year) |
26.8% | 3,420 | |
| Nonpartisan | Marilyn Ruffin (3-year) |
25.5% | 3,259 | |
| Nonpartisan | David Hoekstra (1-year) |
24.4% | 3,112 | |
| Nonpartisan | Mike Krachey Incumbent | 22.8% | 2,911 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in votes | 0.4% | 57 | |
| Total Votes | 12,759 | |||
| Source: Dane County Clerk's Office, "2015 Spring Election: Official Canvass," accessed April 7, 2015 | ||||
Funding
Ruffin reported no contributions or expenditures to the Sun Prairie Area School District in this election. She filed as "Exempt from Filing Campaign Finance Records" on her campaign registration statement.[5]
Endorsements
Ruffin was endorsed by the following:[6][7][8]
- Wisconsin Progress
- South Central Federation of Labor AFL-CIO
- Timothy P. Schubkegel, Principal, Holy Cross Lutheran School, Madison, Wis.
- Kaleem Caire, founder and CEO, One City Early Learning Centers, Madison
- Milele Chikasa Anana, publisher, UMOJA Magaizne
- First African American school board member in Wisconsin
Campaign themes
2015
Ballotpedia survey responses
Ruffin participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display her responses to the survey questions. When asked what her top priority would be if elected, the candidate made the following statement:
| “ | No matter the pressing issue my top priority will be to LISTEN to all stakeholders before making a decision.[9] | ” |
| —Marilyn Ruffin (2015)[10] | ||
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues by importance in the school district, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. This table displays this candidate's rankings from most to least important:
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in Wisconsin. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving college readiness | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Expanding career-technical education | |
| Expanding arts education | |
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer 10 questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are in the left column and the candidate's responses are in the right column of the following table:
| Question | Response |
|---|---|
| "Modifications are required before they are implemented." | |
| "Yes, but with stipulations." | |
| "Yes, but with stipulations." | |
| "No." | |
| "We must dismantle 'olskool thinking and embrace technology to bring NEW ways for the educational scale to balance." | |
| "Expulsion should be used for serious offenses to ensure the safety of other students as well as the integrity of education at district schools." | |
| "In order to answer that question, I would have to know more info. For example, are the students thriving or falling behind in the 'failing' school? Is it one teacher or a combination of many teachers that is pulling the school down into 'failing' status? The Board should review a matrix before making immediate steps. In other words, it's too 'easy' to just send students to a different school deemed 'not failing'." | |
| "Yes." | |
| "Everything should be tried before termination." | |
| "I would institute informal 'coffee chats' with community members. In order to improve relations, the community has to see Board Members 'off the pedestal' and more approachable." |
Campaign website
Ruffin provided the following list of reasons why she ran for the school board on her campaign website:
| “ |
|
” |
| —Marilyn Ruffin's campaign website (2015)[2] | ||
LWV candidate questionnaire
Ruffin participated in a candidate questionnaire administered by the League of Women Voters of Dane County. The questions and her answers are below:
| “ | 1. What in your professional and community background qualifies you for this elective office?
2. What are the two most important issues facing your school district?
3. What are your ideas for addressing the issues you identified?
|
” |
| —Marilyn Ruffin's questionnaire responses (2015)[11] | ||
What was at stake?
2015
With three seats up for election and just one incumbent seeking re-election against three challengers, SPASD was not guaranteed to see any returning board member after the 2015 election. The district faced other changes leading into the April election, including a superintendent search and modifications to its teacher pay model in light of Wisconsin's Act 10.
Issues in the district
Superintendents write to state government over proposed budget cuts
Sun Prairie Area Superintendent Tim Culver signed a letter with 18 other superintendents across the state, asking the Governor of Wisconsin and the State Legislature for a consistent funding plan. The letter was written in February 2015 in response to the budget proposed by Gov. Scott Walker (R) earlier in the year that called for a reduction in per-student funding by $150 for the 2015-2016 school year and then increase per-student funding by $165 for the 2016-2017 school year.[12]
In the letter, the superintendents discussed their desire for a consistent funding plan. They also shared concerns that the proposed budget cut for the 2015-2016 school year would require cutting staff, salaries or benefits in order for their districts to stay afloat, which they worried would make it nearly impossible to retain talented teachers. They said they believed inflationary growth was necessary to maintain and grow their educational programs.[12]
Walker's call to change the state's assessment system and allow districts to choose their own assessments from a state-approved list was also mentioned in the superintendent's letter. They asked the state government for one assessment system, saying an accountability system consisting of different assessments would create confusion.[12] The full letter can be found here.
Superintendent resigns
In December 2014, Dr. Tim Culver, superintendent of the Sun Prairie Area School District, announced he would retire from the district effective June 30, 2015, after serving for over 17 years. During his time as superintendent, the district grew from an enrollment of 4,000 to nearly 8,000 students. Culver helped launch full-day kindergarten, the city's 4K program and the Sun Prairie Education Foundation. He left the district to become superintendent of the Oak Creek-Franklin Joint School District in July 2015.[13]
Changing teacher pay models after Act 10
The Sun Prairie Area School District instituted new requirement of 60 hours of professional development courses for teachers to step up to the district's next pay level. The district also adjusted salaries for teachers with certification in high-need subject areas to help retain and attract good teachers. This model followed a new trend in changing teacher pay plans after Wisconsin's Act 10 came into effect.[14]
Act 10 prohibited unions from negotiating anything more than base wages up to the rate of inflation, leaving the rest of a teacher's salary up to the school district. This created an atmosphere of competition, as districts could offer signing bonuses, raises and to pay resignation fees for teachers who leave a district mid-year. Prior to Act 10, teachers had many incentives to stay in a district long-term. With Act 10 came a rise in teacher turnover in some districts.[14][15]
Tim Culver, Sun Prairie's superintendent, said it was valuable for a district to be able to reward teachers who have degrees in competitive fields like engineering and agriculture. Under the new plan, the district could offer more money to teachers with multiple degrees.[14]
See also
- Sun Prairie Area School District, Wisconsin
- Sun Prairie Area School District elections (2018)
- Sun Prairie Area School District elections (2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Marilyn Ruffin," accessed February 5, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Marilyn Ruffin for Sun Prairie School Board, "Home," accessed February 13, 2015
- ↑ Sun Prairie Star, "Candidates vie for votes in spring elections," January 3, 2018
- ↑ Dane County Elections, "2018 Spring Election Unofficial Canvass," accessed April 3, 2018
- ↑ Margaret Koenig, "Email correspondence with Victoria Claas, Administrative Assistant to the Sun Prairie Area School District Assistant Superintendent of Operations and Continuous Improvement," August 25, 2015
- ↑ Wisconsin Progress, "OUR ENDORSEMENTS FOR SPRING 2015," accessed February 25, 2015
- ↑ Marilyn Ruffin for Sun Prairie School Board, "Testimonies," accessed March 24, 2015
- ↑ Facebook, "Marilyn Ruffin for Sun Prairie School Board: Cover Photos," March 14, 2015
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Marilyn Ruffin's responses," February 11, 2015
- ↑ League of Women Voters of Dane County, "Sun Prairie School Board," accessed March 24, 2015
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 NBC 15, "Superintendents send letter to lawmakers over budget concerns," February 18, 2015
- ↑ The Sun Prarie Star, "Sun Prairie Area School District superintendent announces retirement," December 17, 2014
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Wisconsin State Journal, "A teacher 'marketplace' emerges in post-Act 10 Wisconsin," September 7, 2014
- ↑ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "In wake of Act 10, school districts changing teacher pay formulas," August 18, 2014
| Sun Prairie Area School District elections in 2018 | |
| Dane County, Wisconsin | |
| Election date: | April 3, 2018 |
| Candidates: | At-Large: Incumbent, Marilyn Ruffin • Bryn Horton • Paul Kudrle |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
| 2015 Sun Prairie Area School District Elections | |
| Dane County, Wisconsin | |
| Election date: | April 7, 2015 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Mike Krachey • Marta Hansen • David Hoekstra • Marilyn Ruffin |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
