If it isn’t already evident, campaigns for the Wisconsin Spring Elections will soon be in full force. Nomination procedures must be complete on January 6th. For a candidate to be nominated there is paperwork to be completed and submitted. For most offices, a number of nomination signatures must be collected as well. The exception for the signature requirement is some school districts don’t have this requirement. The Spring Election is non-partisan meaning candidates aren’t clearly identified as being associated with a political party and all the candidates are on the same ballot for the particular offices.

These elections must be a dialogue and not a monologue. The candidates shouldn’t be the only ones talking as the voting citizens must ask the candidates questions to fully determine the candidates’ enthusiasm, employment, other experiences, and expectations. Expectations include what the candidate thinks the requirements of the position are and what they want to accomplish on behalf of “we the people”.

The Spring Election can be further divided into three general sections: state judicial races such as the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals; School District Boards of Education; and local municipal contests at the village, town, city, and county levels. If there are more than two candidates for each position, then a Primary Election will be held February 17th and the top two finishers will then be on the April 7th ballot.

As of very late December, there are two candidates for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The critical consideration is if these candidates will follow the Rule of Law meaning they will determine what the law actually says and then apply that to the case in front of them or will they legislate from the bench meaning they will let their personal likes and dislikes influence their judgement. Judicial candidates should not campaign on specific pending cases but instead share what a particular law means. For this reason, related legal or judicial experiences may be a determining factor. Even endorsements sound great at first, but they too should be looked at with a critical eye.

Most of the Coulee Region (except Trempealeau County and north) is in District IV of the Court of Appeals. As of very late December, there are no known candidates. A vacancy due to no Election Day winner would mean another Governor Evers’ appointment and I suggest “we the people” need to do the electing rather than the Governor doing the selecting.

Candidates for Boards of Education should address a variety of issues in their campaigns. Three that come to mind are discipline of students, academic excellence, and discipline of staff. A recent THE EPOCH TIMES front page story titled “How Obama-Era Policy is Fueling School Discipline Crisis” talked about problematic “restorative justice” policies pushed by the Obama and Biden Administrations as opposed to what is considered traditional discipline in American education. Even though a Trump Executive Order was supposed to correct the situation, there are still 14 Wisconsin School Districts using Restorative Practices. In comparison, there are 26 states with more than 10 school districts per state using Restorative Practices. A related article the following week was: “Maine School Swaps Detention for Hikes…” which was equally pertinent.

Academic excellence concerns range from the age-old question “Why Johnny can’t read” and the recent (2024) manipulation of standards by the Department of Public Instruction to more recent discussion that while graduation rates may be up, what some graduates really know is highly unsatisfactory. I heard one District Superintendent explain his job was to teach the graduates basic work place behavior to include timeliness but not a word on reading or arithmetic!

An early November newsletter from Brittany Kinser (former DPI candidate) had a sentence which should raise questions in every citizen’s mind: “This week’s hearings at the State Capitol have raised serious and troubling questions about how the Department of Public Instruction has handled hundreds of teacher sexual misconduct and grooming cases.”

These three educational concerns are in general terms and how specific they may or may not be to local School Districts need to be determined. A place to start is to query the candidates! They may not have answers but it will make them think!

With the number of local municipalities to include villages, towns, and cities plus the county governments, it may be hard to generalize the specific issues for discussion. The exceptions may be grouped into two areas of concern. One is the size of government (how many employees and what are they doing?) and the other involves budgets and taxes. Consider a comparison between what is happening now and what happened in the years just before covid?

Do your part to make this campaign season a dialogue and not a monologue! Ask the tough questions. Get informed and get involved! It can only improve the current status quo.