Union-Recommended Candidates and Referendums Prevail in Spring Elections

With many results still pending or too close to call, the overwhelming majority of school board candidates and school referendum questions recommended by WEAC education associations won in the April 2 Spring Elections.

More than 70 percent of the union-backed referendums won, including the hard-fought $252 million Milwaukee Public Schools referendum that will stave off deep cuts for the students in Wisconsin’s largest district.

“MPS students will benefit for years to come,” WEAC President Peggy Wirtz-Olsen said after voters approved the state’s largest school referendum in Tuesday’s election. “Districts across Wisconsin must be allowed to focus on learning, not referendums. WEAC will never stop fighting for equitable state funding of public education to stop the referendum roller coaster local schools are forced to endure every year.”

With the final tally pending, among the decided elections the overwhelming majority of pro-public education school board candidates recommended by WEAC local associations also prevailed.

In Evansville, Franklin, Janesville, Middleton-Cross Plains, Monona Grove, Neenah, and Sheboygan, there were three union-backed candidates on each community’s ballot, and all 21 of the candidates won. In Evansville, the Evansville Education Association-recommended school referendum also won.

In Marshfield and Monona Grove, retired teachers and former local union leaders Karen Ott and Janice Stone, respectively, defeated incumbent school board members in their first time running for public office. Ott was recommended by the Marshfield Education Association and Janice Stone was the top votegetter among the three victorious candidates who had earned the recommendations of the Monona Grove Education Association.