State Superintendent Candidate Comes to Plover
By Patrick Lynn
The competition is stark and vast between the two candidates for State Superintendent.
Tony Evers, the incumbent, has been under fire recently over his decision to implement the single- vendor option for the statewide student information systems (SSIS)- a decision that will force Stevens Point-based Skyward out of the state unless the decision is overturned. Evers spoke with a handful of Skyward employees during a campaign stop in Wausau in February, saying he’d do everything he could to work with Skyward.
“If I had my magic wand every public bid would go to a Wisconsin company,” Evers said.
“I understand the anguish within the Stevens Point Area,” he added, but would not answer specific questions with any detail.
Evers has also voiced supportive of teacher’s unions, his disapproval of Governor Scott Walker, cuts of any type to the state’s education budget and the school voucher program.
Evers’ opponent, Rep. Don Pridemore of Hartford, says he’s in favor of a multi- vendor option because it created competition in the free market economy, which in turn creates jobs. Pridemore also says he supported Act 10.
“Unions in general have controlled DPI superintendent’s job and other school board races for the last 46 years,” Pridemore said in a statement. “The policies and directions that DPI has taken since the teachers associations were allowed to begin unions have harmed their ability to teach critical thinking and prepare kids for employment.”
Pridemore will stop in Plover at Sky Club Restaurant, 2202 Post Road, at 5 PM on Wednesday to discuss the DPI’s decision to chosen an out- of- state vendor, Minnesota’s Infinite Campus, to provide the SSIS for all districts in Wisconsin. Pridemore will also discuss his vision for the DPI if he is elected in April.