State Superintendent Candidates Discuss Top Education Issues At Forum

The candidates in Wisconsin’s state superintendent race expressed their differing viewpoints on the impacts Act 10 has had on teaching and other hot-button issues at a WisPolitics forum held Monday in Milwaukee.

Less than a week after advancing past the primary, incumbent Tony Evers and challenger Lowell Holtz discussed the controversial act passed in 2011 and other top education issues facing the state.

Evers said Act 10, which required public sector employees to contribute to their health care and retirement benefits and eliminated most collective bargaining, is contributing to the state’s teacher shortage.

“It’s law of the land,” Evers said. “I opposed it. Life goes on. But the fact of the matter is, we have turned off a generation of people that want to become teachers.”

Holtz, former superintendent of the Whitnall and Beloit school districts, said after meeting with teachers he discovered Act 10 wasn’t the top reason they were stressed. Instead, it was the state’s teacher evaluation system.

Both candidates also discussed the expansion of the voucher program, which gives state money to families to cover tuition at some private schools. Holtz said vouchers increase competition among schools but help students.

“I’m not afraid of competition,” Holtz said. “I think it’s good for us. Our businesses are all about competition, and I don’t want to take the opportunity away from a parent to find a school that’s best for their kid.”

Evers said he believes expanding the program would mean less money for public schools. He also said he thinks there needs to be more accountability for schools in the program.

The two candidates did agree on some issues such as the need to change the state’s school start date law. The law was enacted in the early 2000s and makes it illegal for schools to start before Sept. 1 unless they are a year-round school or given special permission.

Holtz said a lot has changed since the law was passed and not being able to start school prior to the beginning of September is counterintuitive to being able to help kids in the summer time.

Evers said he believes the start date should be determined at the local level. Milwaukee Public Schools recently proposed a calendar change that will send kids back to school beginning in August.

The general election for the superintendent office is April 4.