Election Matters: Hot DPI race sparks primary fight on education issues

John Nichols  —  1/28/2009 9:42 am

CALENDAR: Spring election filing deadline is Tuesday

PRIMARY ELECTION: Feb. 19

GENERAL ELECTION: April 7

THE RETURN OF ELECTION MATTERS: The deadline for filing petitions for nonpartisan offices is 5 p.m. Tuesday, and Wisconsin looks to be set for the most intense off-year spring election season in decades. Intense races for the state Supreme Court, state superintendent of public instruction, county judgeships, county and local government and school board positions are in the offering.

These contests are the bread-and-butter races of the democratic process, and Election Matters would not miss them for the world. Sure, a new president and Congress will be wrestling with big questions in Washington, but Wisconsin voters will be making decisions in February and April that will go a long way toward defining the character of our courts, our approach to education and how our communities respond to tough economic times.

THE WILDEST STATEWIDE RACE: At least five seek superintendent of public instruction job

Yes, yes, of course the focus of most of the media will be on the contest between Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson and her challenger, Jefferson County Circuit Judge Randy R. Koschnick. But it is the other statewide contest that has attracted the widest field and that promises the most energetic clash of opinions.

When state Superintendent of Public Instruction Elizabeth Burmaster decided not to seek a third term, it looked as if the race might be defined by a slightly too obvious handoff to Deputy Superintendent Tony Evers -- the man Burmaster beat for the job in 2001 and then almost immediately hired as her assistant. Evers announced his candidacy on the same day the incumbent announced her noncandidacy.

Evers is running hard, and he is arguably the front-runner. (If he gets the endorsement of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, as is likely, that status will be confirmed.) But Evers will have plenty of opposition.

So far, there are four other announced contenders.

National-Louis University professor Todd Price, the former director of Madison community television station WYOU who has drawn significant support from Green Party activists around the state, will compete with Evers for progressive support, as may Beloit Schools Superintendent Lowell Holtz. Price has outlined a smart activist agenda, which recognizes the role the DPI chief can and should play as the only elected member of the state Board of Regents.

Evers, Price and Holtz all want to repeal the "qualified economic offer" (QEO), a cap on teacher pay raises much despised by WEAC and other teachers unions.

Concordia University professor Van Mobley, who has long been active in Republican circles, is against repealing the QEO.

Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School Families president Rose Fernandez has not taken a stand on the QEO, but she has drawn support from conservative operatives and will likely compete with Mobley for Republican votes. Fernandez is already highlighting her fights with WEAC on the virtual schools issue.

This is going to be a rockin' race.

Here are links to the candidate Web sites:

Todd Price

Van Mobley

Lowell Holtz

Rose Fernandez

Tony Evers

BURMASTER TO D.C.?: Outgoing superintendent is not a retiring sort

Elizabeth Burmaster may not be running for reelection as Wisconsin's top schools officer, but that does not mean that she has stepped to the sidelines of the education debate. In her very good DPI blog, Burmaster recently wrote: "We approach 2009 with hope and expectations for positive change for our nation. Public education has been and must continue to be the foundation of our American democracy. Our federal education laws must be a guide for high standards and allow states and local school districts to move beyond "no child left behind," to every child a graduate with the knowledge and skills needed for the global economy of the 21st century. The next Congress and administration can strengthen public education by moving away from overly prescriptive compliance and move toward a more collaborative approach that promotes community-based innovation and accountability for America's diverse PK-12 educational system. The vitality of our nation depends on developing creativity and entrepreneurship in our public schools as parents and educators build our future, one child at a time."

That sounds like an agenda for entering into the national debate on how to repair or replace No Child Left Behind. And Burmaster is very much a part of that discussion. The former president of the national Council of Chief State School Officers (2006-07) attended the council's Presidential Transition Task Force meeting in Washington at the start of last month. Burmaster, who has conducted input sessions throughout Wisconsin on needed changes to NCLB and has testified before Congress on this issue, is uniquely qualified for a role in Barack Obama's Department of Education. And after the April 7 election, she will be free to fill it.

MADISON COUNCIL CONTESTS: No laughing matter 

Today's filing deadline will tell us who is running for council seats across the city of Madison. The most crowded contest is likely to be in District 2, where incumbent Brenda Konkel will face several challengers in the primary. A number of incumbents are likely to be re-elected without opposition, including two of the powerhouses on the current council, District 10's Brian Solomon and District 13's Julia Kerr.

Solomon and Kerr, both elected in 2007, are close allies. So it was no laughing matter when Solomon told Kerr in a phone conversation that he had decided not to seek re-election. "I started to tear up before he told me he was just joking," she says.

If Solomon, who has emerged as a bold defender of public services, were to quit, it would be cause for tears. His challenge to the mayor's plans to raise bus fares sparked one of the most important debates of the current council term.

POLITICAL JOURNALISM NOW: How are we covering elections?

Here's a link to a discussion Wisconsin Public Radio host Joy Cardin and I recently had regarding how media covers politics in general and the 2008 presidential race.

John Nichols  —  1/28/2009 9:42 am