Wisconsin school chief candidates clash on unions, vouchers

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The candidates for Wisconsin superintendent of schools clashed Thursday over reopening schools for in-person teaching, Act 10 and teacher unions and the private school voucher program.

Former Brown Deer Superintendent Deb Kerr and Pecatonica Superintendent Jill Underly meet April 6 in the race to become superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction. The race is officially nonpartisan, but conservatives have largely lined up behind Kerr while Underly has the backing of Democrats.

Underly touted her endorsement from the statewide teachers' union during a virtual candidate forum hosted by the Greater Milwaukee Committee. She also criticized the Act 10 law passed a decade ago that effectively ended collective bargaining for teachers and cut their pay.

Underly said Act 10 “was a big hit to the teaching profession" and discouraged many people from entering the field. She criticized Kerr for praising the law in 2013, when she called it a “gift that keeps on giving for a while.”

Kerr said she used the law, which forced teachers to pay more for retirement and pension benefit, to save money at Brown Deer which ultimately meant saving teacher positions. She noted her endorsement from Brown Deer teachers, while pushing back against Underly's backing from the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the statewide teachers union that led the fight against Act 10.

“When I did not get the endorsement of the teacher union, it was not a deal breaker for me because I have always worked well with everyone," Kerr said. "I am beholden to kids, families and teachers, in that order. I am not beholden to the teacher’s union only.”

Kerr, who said she reveres and honors teachers, is endorsed by former Gov. Scott Walker, who signed Act 10 into law. Kerr calls herself a “pragmatic Democrat”...