Bob Schaffer

Robert Warren Schaffer (born July 24, 1962) is an American businessman and a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from the State of Colorado in the 105th Congress and the two succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2003).

Schaffer was co-chairman of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus, and an outspoken leader in promoting American interests and human rights in Eastern Europe.

Schaffer is currently Headmaster of Liberty Common High School in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Under Schaffer's leadership, two classes have broken the state's all-time record composite ACT and SAT scores, respectively.

In 1984, he graduated from the University of Dayton with a B.A. in Political Science.

He was later awarded an honorary doctorate in Management from Colorado Technical University.

Schaffer served for nine years as a Colorado State Senator in the Colorado General Assembly.

Schaffer was only 25 years old in 1987 when he was appointed to finish Colorado State Senator Jim Beatty's term, making Schaffer the youngest to serve in Colorado's Senate.

As a Colorado Senator, he was Chairman of the Finance Committee, the State Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, and the Local Government Committee.

Schaffer also was the Vice-Chairman of the Senate Education Committee.

In 1993, Schaffer made headlines when he removed a display from the Capitol—that was in clear view of visiting children—that contained pamphlets describing "unsafe sexual practices."

He has received multiple recognitions for his advocacy of Ukraine–United States relations, and for defense of Ukraine's territorial integrity under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum.

Schaffer was co-founder and co-chair of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus.

Schaffer was awarded the "National Republican Legislator of the Year for 1995" by the National Republican Legislators Association.

Schaffer was first elected to the U.S. Congress in November 1996 representing Colorado's 4th congressional district, succeeding Wayne Allard and Hank Brown.

Schaffer served three terms in Congress, fulfilling the three-term pledge he made during his first Congressional campaign.

Schaffer upheld his pledge in spite of pleas from national Republicans and President George W. Bush to run for another term.

Schaffer led no fewer than four congressional delegations to Ukraine, and offered an ultimately unsuccessful balanced budget resolution and amendment.

He was described as fiscally and socially conservative and to the right of the center of the party.

His education policy work focused on school-choice and local control, and Schaffer was remembered for being able to help his Republican colleagues form their arguments when debating this issue.

The American Conservative Union gave him a 100% evaluation in 2001.

Schaffer served as an election observer in Ukraine during parliamentary election 2002 and presidential election 2004 (“Orange Revolution”).

He was succeeded by Marilyn Musgrave in January 2003.

His congressional colleagues recount his tenure in congress as an education-policy expert.

Schaffer is of Ukrainian heritage, the son of a Ukrainian immigrant to the United States.

In 2004, Schaffer lost in the primary election to be the Republican nominee for a U.S. Senate seat.

He was the Republican nominee for Colorado's other Senate seat in the 2008 election, which he lost to Democratic nominee Mark Udall.

Schaffer was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised Catholic.

He attended Archbishop Moeller High School.

The son of public-school teachers, Schaffer worked his way through college as a farm hand.

He was also a board member on the National Alternative Fuels Foundation, but environmental groups released attack ads during the 2008 U.S. Senate race highlighting Shcaffer's congressional vote which gave $2.5 billion to alternative energy research and a much larger amount to traditional energy research and tax credits.

In 2010, Schaffer was appointed principal of Liberty Common High School, a college-preparatory charter school in the Poudre School District in Fort Collins, Colorado.

During his time at Liberty Common, the first four graduating classes posted the highest average composite ACT score in Colorado, with the class of 2015 breaking the state record.

In 2017, Schaffer was appointed headmaster of both Liberty Common High School and Liberty Common School, its elementary counterpart.

In May 2019, Liberty Common High School banned four seniors from attending graduation.

The seniors had bought condoms and distributed them in lockers across the school; they claimed this action was a statement against Schaffer's criticism of Colorado House Bill 19-1032, which would mandate comprehensive sex education in Colorado schools.

Schaffer condemned the distribution of condoms as "sexual bullying."

The incident was covered in statewide news and generated minor controversy in the school community.

In 2019, Liberty Common High School was granted a waiver from the sex education bill.

Schaffer was vice-president for business development at Aspect Energy, LLC., where he was involved in a variety of energy, mining and education projects, working primarily in wind energy.