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THE CANDIDATES
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Elizabeth Burmaster
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Linda Cross
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| Age:
46 Resides: Madison Education: Bachelors degree in music, UW-Madison, 1976: master's degree in educational administration, UW-Madison, 1984: postgraduate work toward doctorate, UW-Madison. |
Age:
53 Resides: Waupaca Education: Bachelor's degree in history, English and secondary education, Marquette University, 1969; master's degree in history, UW-Oshkosh, 1986. |
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| Career: Teacher, 1976-78; choral and drama director, 1978-85; assistant principal, Marquette Middle School, 1985-88; fine arts coordinator, Madison School District, 1988-90; principal, Hawthorne Elementary School, 1990-92; principal Madison West High School, 1992-present. | Career: Teacher 1969-present; chaired Hortonville High School English Department 1975-96; co-owner with husband of Sign of the Whale gift and clothing shop in King, 1985-present; operations manager for Chain O'Lakes Marine in King, a business partly owned by her husband. | |
| Questions | Personal: Husband, John, principal of Muir Elementary School in Madison; three children. | Personal: Husband, Roger, administrator for state Division of Motor Vehicles. |
| The state limits what school districts can spend without going to a referendum. Do you support the continuation of these revenue caps? | No. "Revenue
caps are preventing many districts from meeting critical needs."
Says districts need greater revenue flexibility, and that school
boards must have more control over budget decisions and local
spending. |
Yes, although she says she's willing to consider modifications. She criticizes Burmaster for wanting to lift revenue caps. "There is a better way to help our schools without having local taxpayers flip the bill." |
| Would you advocate expanding Milwaukee's private-school voucher program to other districts? | No. "My focus would be on making Milwaukee Public Schools the schools of choice for Milwaukee's children." Thinks choice schools should be held to greater accountability. | Yes. "If there are schools that are struggling and not doing a good job for the kids, then I'd empower the parents to find a better school while we fix the public school." |
| Unlike public schools, private schools that are part of the Milwaukee school choice voucher program and receive public money are not required to give their students statewide assessment tests. Should they be? | "I think it would be valuable for choice schools to use state tests so that they can assess student achievement, just like public schools." As state superintendent, she said she would work with choice schools to increase their accountability to taxpayers. | "(The private school students) certainly need to be measured. I would not object to them being measured by the same tests as public schools, or something equivalent." |
| A proposal by Gov. Scott McCallum would create a governor-appointed board of education to administer statewide tests, taking the task away from the Department of Public Instruction. Is that a good idea? | No. "We've been down that road before," she said, referring to a 1996 Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that then-Gov. Tommy Thompson's plan to replace the elected state superintendent with a governor-appointed secretary of education was unconstitutional. Burmaster was a plaintiff in the case. | "I'd prefer to try to talk (McCallum) out of it. On the whole, other states have various types of education boards, and, as an educator, I don't see why they are necessary. They appear to be an extra layer we don't need." |
| Are teachers paid enough? | "To me, it depends on the economic context of the community. We must have competitive salaries for teachers that reflect the importance of what they do for their communities." | "Considering the important job teachers do for society, I don't think they are. But we have to work within the needs of taxpayers. That's the nasty reality. It can't he Christmas every day." |
| Do you support pay-for-performance initiatives for teachers? | "I'd prefer us to offer competitive salaries up front to attract good people to the profession." She also thinks that any additional money would be better spent on professional development for all teachers rather than on a competitive award system. | "I do think that merit pay is something many teachers would like to have, because there really has been no difference between the person who's a real go-getter and others. But how you do it is really tricky." |
| What is the main difference between you and your opponent? | "My educational experience and qualifications. I've been a leader in the classroom at all three levels - elementary, middle and high school - and I'm an administrator. I do not accept that being a department chair prepares you for being state schools superintendent." | "I am a classroom teacher, so I'm in the heart of education, and that's where I've been working for 31 years with the kids." |
| Why are we seeing so much violence among students in our schools nationally today? | "Because of the alienation of some young people from the values of their community. It's a tough question, because you don't want to blame any one thing. What we have to do is improve communication with them so that when these children feel alienated, they have the support from us that they need." | "I think part of it is the drug culture and gang culture - all that violence that exists in society as a whole and that is repeated in the media. I think that the breakdown of the family over a long period of time also has contributed to the problem. We just have to work so hard to make sure that no one mistreats anyone within a school." |
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Major Endorsements:
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State Schools Superintendent John Benson; Attorney General Jim Doyle: U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.; Wisconsin Education Association Council; Madison Teachers Inc.; Wisconsin Federation of Teachers; Wisconsin State AFL-CIO; Wisconsin Citizen Action. | Wisconsin Right to Lire: state Rep. Glenn Grothman, P-West Bend; state Rep. Scott Jensen, R-Waukesha: state Sen. Alberta Darling, P-River Hills. |
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Artcile provided by the Wisconsin
State Journal
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