GUILDERLAND — Catherine Barber, who is seeking a fourth term on the school board, would like to see some of the tasks underway to completion.

“So much is going on in education right now,” she said. “There’s a lot of news.”

One undertaking Barber mentioned was a taskforce currently looking at how excess classroom space might be used. “I would like to see what the taskforce recommends for the extra space,” she said. “One component is preschool, a big thing coming down the road. In New York City, they’re talking about universal pre-K. That’s something the board will have to address in the next three years.”

Barber went on, “We’re always having budget issues, maintaining educational standards while dealing with funding and the cap on spending.”

Since she was first elected to the board in 2005, she said, “Our job is tougher. We have to make lots of choices now. You have to be prepared for anything.”

Barber, 50, who works both as a musician and a lawyer, is particularly interested in “maintaining not just heavily tested subjects but other things in education,” she said, naming music, sports, art, clubs, and the school newspaper.

She and her husband, Peter, an attorney who last week expressed interest in running for town supervisor, have two children who are both Guilderland graduates. Their daughter is a reporter working for Reuters; based in Boston, she has recently been covering the trial of the marathon bomber. Their son will graduate from Columbia University and, with a double major in English and computer science, is also interested in a career in journalism.

One of the things Barber said she is most proud of in her last three years on the board is the response to a consultant’s report, which recommended closing a school. “I believed, as others did, the conclusions were not justified by the report itself,” said Barber. “That started the whole conversation on alternative uses.”

Asked where her primary allegiance lies, Barber responded, “It’s the same as always: Everything is done for the benefit of the student. Taxpayer money is spent for the benefit of the students...

“When I vote for budgets, I make sure the benefits are justified for student education. Education is an expensive endeavor. People pay substantial school taxes. I want to make sure that money is well spent.”

Barber concluded, “It’s important to have a good working relationship with administrators and teachers. We all have the same goal. We all have a common goal.”

Barber supports the proposed $93.7 million budget. She said that, at the board’s budget workshop, she “got to ask a lot of questions and quiz people,” and concluded, “I was satisfied the budget reflects the best interests of the students.”

On the fund balance, she said, “We received a substantial amount of state aid that enabled us to add some things back in” as well as adding $740,000 to the fund balance. Referring to the district’s assistant superintendent for business, Barber went on, “Neil Sanders advised us it was a prudent thing to do, and we still had enough to do some valuable things.” She named the addition of a teacher of English as a second language and money for music equipment.

“Neil said that would end the fiscal-stress designation,” she said, referring to a designation for two years of state comptroller’s reports, “and give us a cushion for future needs. I tend to support spending money on educational needs.”

After reviewing former Guilderland budgets, Barber noticed “core class sizes creeping up” and brought up large class sizes at the high school as an issue during the board’s budget workshop. After the high school principal verified the numbers, the budget the board adopted included extra high-school teacher hours.

If the budget were to be defeated, Barber would recommend modifying it before a revote. “Hopefully,” she said, “that won’t come to pass.”

On whether the board should ever consider going over the state-set levy limit, Barber said, “We’ve managed to weather some dire scenarios without doing that. I think we’d be reluctant to do that. Several budgets passed with more than 60 percent. I don’t know if we could count on that.”

She said part of the reason for recent staff cuts has to do with declining enrollment. “We don’t want to lose any more positions,” she said.

On the Common Core standards, Barber said, “The goal is to make sure all students across the state are being held to the same standards. I would think Guilderland would exceed the standards. It’s more of a minimum standard.”

Barber went on, “The testing seems to have caused a huge problem.”

She went to an April 15 meeting, attended by about 300 people, mostly teachers, where Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy and a representative from Senator George Amedore’s office, Kaitlyn MacLeod, listened to concerns. “Most of the complaints had to do with very young students, how long and difficult tests are for third-graders.”

Barber suggested coming up with alternate assessments for young students, like portfolios. “I don’t think assessment has to be a standardized exam,” she said.

Barber went on, “I’m not sure if the problem is the amount of testing or how it is presented to the youngest students....The opt-out movement has different components,” she said, naming “the political component that has to do with teacher evaluation” and “parental concern.”

Barber said, “I’d be unlikely to opt out my own children.” She said, when her children were younger and had complained about tasks at school, she would respond, “I’m not going to tell you you don’t have to do the work.”

Barber went on, “I don’t think anyone would say teaching to the test is a good idea. Surely, there is test prep,” she said, citing the industry that has grown up around college entrance exams. “That shouldn’t be part of the curriculum. That would be a poor use of time in a classroom.”

She concluded, “I’m hoping teachers don’t feel constrained to have to teach test stuff. They still should be creative with their teaching.”

On using excess space, Barber said, “I have high hopes something will be feasible....I’m pretty confident these groups will find some answers,” she said of the taskforce, noting it is looking at what other districts are doing. “There’s no point in reinventing the wheel,” said Barber.

On raises, she said, “Negotiations are ongoing. I don’t want to be on the record saying anything specific. Negotiations are always back and forth. The teachers’ union has a large membership,” she said, noting any decisions are “a significant financial piece.”

Barber concluded, “We value our employees. We want to compensate them to the best of our abilities.”