Wisconsin superintendent candidates weigh in on Betsy DeVos role

State Superintendent Tony Evers on Monday called for the new U.S.  secretary of education to use her bully pulpit in the Trump administration's cabinet to advocate for all schools, not just the charter and voucher schools she has championed.

At a candidate forum Monday in Milwaukee, Evers and challenger Lowell Holtz were asked about the role of the federal government in local schools among other topics. The nonpartisan election will be held April 4.

Evers responded by saying that Betsy DeVos, who has long-standing ties to Wisconsin's school choice movement, must represent all students, both public and private pupils.

"Here's my concern about the bully pulpit. If her position is 'I'm going to Milwaukee and I'm going to go to taxpayer subsidized parochial or private schools that are part of the choice program,' that's great. But she also has to visit public schools. ...

"She better talk about both in a positive way. She represents all kids, all 680,000 public school kids in the state of Wisconsin. We need her to be an advocate for those kids," Evers said.

Holtz, the former Whitnall superintendent, said he talked to a friend who knows DeVos and said the new secretary of education has always been dedicated to children and wants students to be successful. He also said the Trump administration has promised not to meddle in decisions by local school districts.

"Assuming they are people of their word, as President Trump says 'we're not going to be involved in the states as they have in the past.' I welcome that with open arms. I don't want D.C. dictating what we're doing in Wisconsin," Holtz said. "I want Wisconsin to choose the path moving forward. I do think she's going to help us with that."

The candidates were asked when they last taught in a classroom. Evers said it was in 1980, but as the state superintendent he visits classrooms around the state at least once a week — last week he was in Durand and this week in Green Bay.

RELATED: Evers, Holtz easily advance out of primary

Holtz said he was a third- and fourth-grade teacher in 1983 before becoming a Whitewater police officer. He later returned to college and took his first principal job in 1989. If college classes he has taught are included, he was teaching in a classroom a few months ago.

School start date

Brown Deer Superintendent Deb Kerr asked the candidates their opinions of Wisconsin's mandatory school start date that bars schools, except for special exemptions, from starting classes before Sept. 1. The change dates to 2000 when Wisconsin tourism businesses had difficulty finding enough employees to work through the busy Labor Day holiday if kids were returning to school in August.

RELATED: Proposed bill would repeal Sept. 1 school start law

Kerr said a majority of school superintendents want to see the law changed.

"The tourism industry is a $19 billion industry. Several years ago when that law was legislated by the tourism lobby, things were different. Our worlds have changed," Kerr said.

Both Holtz and Evers said they want the law repealed. Holtz said schools need flexibility to set their calendars and offer more programs.

"If you have a Sept. 1 school start date it's counterintuitive to being able to expand and really focus on helping kids in the summertime and breaking up vacations so they don't have that big loss when they're out of school for three months," Holtz said.

Evers said he proposed that Milwaukee Public Schools be exempt from the mandatory start date, but the governor didn't include that provision in his budget.

The mandatory start date "makes absolutely no sense. We want our districts to be as flexible as they can," Evers said.

After the forum, held at the Zilber School of Public Health, Holtz was asked about his use of a taxpayer funded email account to draft a political note seeking support that mentioned prominent state Republicans.  The May 2016 email was released over the weekend by One Wisconsin Now, a liberal interest group.

Holtz said he didn't think he had broken any rules, but if he had, he apologized.