(The Center Square) – As voters get ready to cast their votes in Wisconsin’s April election, there is a reminder about just what’s on the ballot.
Brittany Kinser, who ran for Wisconsin State Superintendent last year, has a new op-ed that explains how important local school board elections are.
“School board members and school board candidates are the largest elected official body in our entire country,” Kinser said during an interview Monday on News Talk 1130 WISN. “And they are the ones deciding so many important things for our schools.”
Kinser said the main job of a school board is to make sure that students are reading, writing, and doing math proficiently.
But in Wisconsin, most school students are not.
“Only one in three kids in Wisconsin are,” Kinser explained. “That means two out of three kids are not [reading proficiently.]”
Kinser said one of the biggest challenges for voters is that many voters don’t know who the candidates are or what those candidates want for local schools. But she suggested some questions voters could ask.
“I would ask, especially coming from Kids Win, where we’re focusing on literacy, ‘Do you know the current third grade literacy rate in our district?’” Kinser said. “Then I would ask ‘What systems will you put in place to monitor progress, celebrate growth, and move us towards 95% of students reading proficiently?’ So right there they’re going to be able to tell you whether or not they’re aware of academic results, are they focused on the kids, and then what are they going to do.”
Kinser’s website, KidsWin.org has reading proficiency scores for every school district in the state.
She also said parents should look into the science of reading and ask if their school board candidates are familiar with it.
Early voting for Wisconsin’s spring election begins Tuesday. Election Day is April 7.
