JALEN MAKI
MMC STAFF
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Wisconsin voters will decide the state’s next Superintendent of Public Instruction, the only statewide race on the ballot for the April 6, 2021, Spring General Election.
Carolyn Stanford Taylor, who has held the seat since being appointed by Governor Tony Evers in 2019, chose not to run for reelection.
Deborah Kerr, former superintendent of the Brown Deer School District, will face current Pecatonica School District superintendent, Jill Underly.
Kerr has served as President of the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators and has voiced her support for school vouchers and charter schools. She has been endorsed by former governor Scott Walker and previously praised Act 10, which ended collective bargaining rights for some public employees and requires most public employees to pay half of their pension costs and at least 12.6% of their health care premiums.
Underly has worked as teacher, principal, university advisor, and with Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. She has spoken out against public funding for vouchers and has been endorsed by the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the statewide teachers’ union. She has criticized Kerr’s praise of Act 10.