Election day is tomorrow, and in
my latest column for the Waukesha Freeman I looked at the twists and turns of the Fernandez-Evers race for state superintendent of public instruction. I conclude,
There are, of course, serious issues in the campaign. As an employee of the state Department of Public Instruction, Evers spearheaded the effort to close down Wisconsin’s virtual schools. Evers has not shown any independence from the teachers unions. Evers endorses the lifting of the state QEO even though it will cause an explosion in Wisconsin’s already high property taxes.
Fernandez has a plan to attack the education problems in the Milwaukee Public Schools, supports exploring alternatives to the public schools, supports rewarding good teachers with merit pay within the qualified economic offer framework and has received bipartisan political support from across every demographic and geographic line.
What remains to be seen is if the last-minute WEAC media blitz, complete with juvenile photo doctoring, will be enough to motivate teachers union members to show up in force on Tuesday to protect the status quo, or will there be enough enthusiastic supporters of Fernandez to carry the day?
