Lisa Macfarlane

Lisa likes challenges.  In 1978, she started work as VISTA volunteer in a maximum security juvenile correctional facility in Columbia, South Carolina, armed with an art history degree from a small liberal arts college in Maine.  She then spent 3 years working for VISIONQUEST (Bonanza meets Outward Bound for very troubled, court referred kids).  She rode a mule across the country while staffing a wagon train.  After a very cold winter sleeping outside in a wilderness camp in western Pennsylvania, Lisa decided it was time for a career change and some indoor living amenities. She left the tepee behind and took her dog to law school in Chicago.   After graduating (not with distinction), she moved to Seattle to work at the Public Defender's office.  She really did meet her husband Ross unloading the moving van.   Lisa loved working as a public defender, especially when posted in juvenile court, but the second child put a hole in her lawyer career boat.  After spending a few years working part time as a training coordinator for an AmeriCorps program in Seattle, Lisa found her next calling in the politics of school funding and school reform.  Twelve years, 6 Seattle school levy/ bond campaigns, and several statewide education ballot measures later, Lisa is proud of what she and the LEV team have been able to accomplish.  Twenty something years later, she and Ross still crave outdoor adventures.  They have 2 teenagers and their former exchange student from Uzbekistan is back living with them and going to college here.   Needing another challenge, Lisa starts training a Guide Dog for the Blind mid-May.   Contact Lisa at lisa@educationvoters.org