After four grueling years on the Lawrence school board — years that saw the closing of three schools and painful budget debates about sacrificing school programs — Linda Robinson contemplated ending her service after one term.

The problem: There were few candidates to replace her.

“If there had been a number of qualified, willing candidates to step up to this opportunity, I would have been willing” to walk away, Robinson said recently.

Instead, only four candidates filed for the three open seats — and the fourth, David Holroyd, recently dropped out. Unless a challenger mounts a write-in campaign, then Robinson seems assured a second term on the board after the April election.

And the issues that have dogged Lawrence schools in recent years will still be there. The Kansas Legislature, for example, has still not responded to the Kansas Supreme Court’s January ruling that the public school finance system has been underfunded.

“The district’s most pressing problem is the funding crisis,” she said. “We have cut $7 million from the budget in the past four years. If we, once again, receive no new money from the state, the next round of cuts will be the ‘pound of flesh.'”

Robinson, 54, didn’t specify what bits of flesh would be on the chopping block, but she did name her funding priorities: “core” curriculum classes, extracurricular activities and teacher salary increases.

“I shudder to think what we’ll do if we don’t get the money,” Robinson said.

Lawrence schools also are seeking money in the form of $63 million in bonds — $54 million to renovate existing schools and $8.9 million to improve technology across the district. Voters will have their say on the bonds in the April election.

Robinson supports the bond issue, saying the school district mill levy has been stable in recent years, the district’s debt load is low, and interest rates on new debt are minuscule.

The classrooms are in need of repair, she said, and new computers are needed to keep up with trends and mandates in education.

“At some point it will impact every child,” she said. “Fiscally, it’s a prudent time to do it.”

Robinson said she supported Supt. Randy Weseman’s decision to replace the Alternative High School with programs for struggling students at Lawrence and Free State high schools. She said she also believed in the separation of church and state in the classroom.

Money to fund schools, however, remains the most pressing concern.

“If the district has to cut the budget yet again, the cuts will be painful and deep,” Robinson said. “There are no longer any easy cuts or simple solutions left.”