Question: With seven candidates in the February 16 primary election for DPI Superintendent, it’s not going to take a lot of votes for two people to rise to the top as finalists. Which candidate is most friendly to religious and independent schools?
Answer: Yes, the primary race for DPI Superintendent is a very crowded field. Voter turnout in primaries is relatively low so it won’t take many votes for the top two vote-getters to emerge.
For example, in the 2017 primary election for DPI Superintendent, only 360,559 votes were cast. Tony Evers came in first out of four candidates with 251,477 votes. But the second top candidate only won 82,519 votes, which placed him on the general election ballot. Clearly, voter turn-out for each candidate on Feb. 16 will make a huge difference for who makes it to the April 6 general election.
WCRIS is a nonpartisan organization and does not endorse candidates nor engages in electioneering. However, we can and do encourage our members to watch and monitor candidate forums, media interviews, and visit the candidate websites. Here is information about each candidate, summarized from their websites.
The Jan. 11 Wisconsin Examiner reported on an online candidate forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the Wisconsin Public Education Network that identifies all seven candidates’ positions on school choice in one tidy paragraph.
According to that forum, one of the only candidates who supports the state’s parental choice programs is Deb Kerr, an experienced teacher, coach, athletic director and recent Superintendent of the Brown Deer School District, which has over 80% students of color and a 50% economically disadvantaged student body.
All seven candidates have strong experience and impressive credentials. The real test of their leadership, however, will be whether they can motivate voters to cast a ballot in their favor.
