Incumbent Tony Evers (left) retains his superintendent seat after beating challenger Don Pridemore. (AP photo)

by Patrick Lynn

Tony Evers will serve a second term as head of the Department of Public Instruction after beating challenger Don Pridemore by nearly 175k votes Tuesday night.

Pridemore, who served as a member of the State Legislature last season, pitted his starkly different viewpoints against those of Evers, who came under fire last year over a decision to force all school districts statewide to use a single vendor for student information system (SIS) software.

Evers also faced additional criticism when that vendor contract was awarded to a Minnesota- based company, taking business from the Stevens Point-based Skyward.

Evers has a background in education; Pridemore comes from the business world. Pridemore defended Act 10; Evers decried it. The two differed on school choice, the voucher program and the extent of the state’s involvement in public education. One issue the two did agree on was the need to raise reading scores statewide.

Evers, who came to Wausau during a campaign tour in February, spoke separately with concerned Skyward employees prior to his campaign speech. During that conversation, Evers said he “understood the anguish” from the Stevens Point Area, but would not answer questions with any detail because of a pending appeal made by Skyward to keep their vendor contracts in the state.

Skyward has said they would leave the state if they were made unable to continue doing business with the state’s school districts.

Pridemore, who stopped at The Sky Club in Plover during his campaign, was unprepared for questions relating to Skyward, admitting he was unaware of the legislative bills proposing a multi-vendor SIS system, co-authored by Assemblywoman Katrina Shankland or State Senator Julie Lassa (both of Stevens Point), be put into place to save Skyward jobs.

Portage Co. voters mirrored the state’s bigger picture, with Evers 5,955 votes beating out Pridemore’s 3,854, winning in every precinct by only a few votes in some cases.