The Badger Herald

NEWS

Favorites win state superintendent race

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Also by Kira Sparks:

'Wisconsin Works' gets mixed marks (April 11, 2005)
Representative introduces TABOR (April 18, 2005)
House passes energy bill, drilling for oil in arctic refuge (April 25, 2005)
Budget sparks debate (March 29, 2005)
Doyle proposes veteran funding (March 14, 2005)

by Kira Sparks

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Incumbent Elizabeth Burmaster took 61 percent of the statewide vote in Tuesday night’s primary for the position of State School Superintendent. State Rep. Gregg Underheim finished second with 25 percent of the vote and will proceed with Burmaster to the general election in April.

Paul Yvarra and Todd Stetzel, the other two candidates vying for the position, will not advance to the general election.

The winner will run the Department of Public Instruction for a four-year term and will be responsible for making decisions regarding Wisconsin’s public schools, annual budget requests and educator problems.

“I’m very humbled by this showing of widespread support throughout our state and very invigorated by tonight’s results,” Burmaster said. “I think that it shows the people of Wisconsin believe that the state superintendent should be an educational leader and they believe in the opportunity of a quality education throughout our state.”

Burmaster is noted for her New Wisconsin Promise program. According to her campaign website, the program seeks to raise achievement levels for students of all races and economic levels. In hopes of meeting these goals, Burmaster bolstered state ventures such as Healthy Start, a meal service for students, along with career and technical-assessment programs.

Although Burmaster took the majority of the vote, Underheim is still very enthusiastic about his chances in the April election.

“[Although] we spent virtually no money, we came through the primaries,” Underheim said Tuesday night. “I think our message resonated very well.”

Whether Wisconsin should impose limits on local property taxes has been among the most prominent issues in the campaigns. Burmaster said she believes that though freezing the property taxes will create a massive budget problem for public schools, she supports Gov. Jim Doyle’s plan to freeze the property tax for two years while giving financial support to the education system.

“What I support is the additional state money,” Burmaster said. “I would not support a property-tax freeze unless it provides the state-provided two-thirds funding for local school districts.”

Underheim supports stronger spending limits on property taxes but asserts that costs need to be cut in order to keep school systems stable if a freeze is put into effect.

“[Our message] is providing a quality education while still controlling property taxes,” Underheim said. “I support the property-tax freeze.”

Both candidates have strong teaching experience. Underheim, a state representative since 1987, previously taught at a high school, and Burmaster taught for 30 years before becoming state superintendent.

While Burmaster is reassured by her majority victory in Tuesday’s primary, she said she has plans to continue campaigning in the coming weeks.

“We will be working very hard for the next six weeks [to ensure] that people come together around our shared values of responsibility through the state budget to fund quality education and to ease the tension between the local property taxes and our schools,” Burmaster said.

Underheim also plans to continue the fight in the coming weeks. He says he intends to travel the state of Wisconsin and spread his message.

The candidates will go head to head again in the general election April 5.