Prior to joining the Madison School Board, she served as president of the board of the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County and was a major donor to its AVID/TOPS program, aimed at increasing the odds that low-income, minority students will graduate high school and attend college.

She also pledged $2.5 million for a proposed charter school run by the Urban League of Greater Madison for low-income students that ultimately was voted down by the School Board after intense debate.

Burke said her work creating AVID/TOPS is a good example of her approach to education. That experience was even more valuable, she said, than her tenure on the school board, where she oversees a 27,000-student district with a $400 million budget.

As governor, Burke said she would seek to improve the high school experience for students to decrease the number of students who drop out or leave without much direction.

“I see too much — we have either students who are not graduating or not engaged in their learning along with students who graduate but have no clear direction about their next step, and it doesn’t serve them well and it doesn’t serve the economy well,” she said.