MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The high-stakes race for Wisconsin Supreme Court has gotten most of the attention leading up to the April 1 election. But it is not the only issue voters will decide when early voting begins Tuesday.
Also on the ballot is a race for the battleground state’s top education official who will guide policies affecting K-12 schools during President Donald Trump’s second term.
There is also a measure that would place the state’s voter ID law into the state constitution.
Both of those contests have sharp partisan divisions, even though the spending and national attention have been far less than those for the race for control of the state’s highest court.
Here is a closer look at what’s at stake as voting begins Tuesday:
Education race pits union-backed incumbent against GOP choice
The race to lead the state education department pits the teachers’ union-backed incumbent, Jill Underly, against consultant Brittany Kinser, a supporter of the private school voucher program who is endorsed by Republicans.
A third candidate lost the February primary, unable to chip away enough at Underly’s key support. The day after her victory, the state teachers’ union, which did not endorse in the primary, came out in support of Underly.
Underly’s education career began in 1999 as a high school social studies teacher in Indiana. She moved to Wisconsin in 2005 and worked five years for the state education department. She also worked as principal of Pecatonica Elementary School for a year before becoming the district administrator.
Underly was elected as state superintendent in 2021 and is endorsed by the Wisconsin Education Association Council, which is the state teachers union, as well as the Wisconsin Democratic Party and numerous Democratic officeholders.
Kinser, who is backed by the Wisconsin Republican Party, touts her past as a public school principal in her first television ad. But she doesn’t mention it was a charter school. She worked for Rocketship schools, part of a national network of public charter schools and became its executive director in the Milwaukee region.
In 2022, she left Rocketship to work for City Forward Collective, a Milwaukee education nonprofit that advocates for charter and voucher schools. She also founded a consulting firm that year where she currently works.
Wisconsin is the only state where voters elect the top education official, but there is no state board of education. That gives the person who runs the Department of Public Instruction broad authority to oversee education policy, which includes dispersing money to schools and managing teacher licensing.
Voucher schools, education funding are key issues in the race
Kinser has tried to brand Underly as being a poor manager of the Department of Public Instruction. She has keyed in on Underly’s overhaul of state achievement standards last year.
Underly said they better reflect what students are learning now, but bipartisan opposition included Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who served as state superintendent before being elected governor in 2018. Evers has not endorsed in the race.
Kinser said the new standards lowered the bar for students and made it more difficult to see how schools and districts are performing over time.
Underly tries to portray Kinser as nothing more than a lobbyist who doesn’t care about public education. Kinser supports the state’s private school voucher and charter school program, which Democrats and Underly are critical of. Opponents say those programs siphon money away from public schools.
“Instead of fighting for students, Kinser is standing with the far-right politicians who are trying to rip resources away from our schools,” Underly said.
Underly, who casts herself as the champion of public schools, also has tried to make the possible elimination of the U.S. Department of Education an issue in the race.
Underly opposes dismantling the federal agency, while Kinser has said as long as the state continues to receive federal education funding, “I am confident in our ability to navigate whatever changes Washington sends our way.”
Placing voter ID law in the constitution is on the ballot
Wisconsin’s photo ID requirement for voting would be elevated from a state law to a constitutional amendment under a proposal on the ballot.
Even if voters reject it, the voter ID requirement that has been in state law since 2011 will remain in place. The law didn’t go into effect permanently until 2016, after a series of unsuccessful lawsuits.
Republicans put the measure on the ballot, pitching it as a way to bolster election security and protect the law from being overturned in court.
But Democratic opponents argue photo ID requirements are often enforced unfairly, making it more difficult for people of color, the disabled and poor people to vote.
If voters agree to place the photo ID requirement in the constitution, it would make it more difficult for a future Legislature controlled by Democrats to change a law they have long opposed. Any constitutional amendment must be approved in two consecutive legislative sessions and by a statewide vote of the people.
Wisconsin is one of nine states where voters must present a photo ID to cast a ballot and its requirement is the strictest in the country, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Thirty-six states have laws requiring or requesting that voters show some sort of identification at the polls, according to the conference.