Freepik
Last week I wrote about the need for community leaders to focus on our public schools. My point was that Madison is too complacent about the poor test scores, high truancy rates, achievement gaps, behavioral issues and fiscal management of our schools.
But dealing with all those things at once is a tall order. So, this week I’d like to focus on just one reform that would help: Let’s change the way we elect our school board.
I’ve written about this before, but I think it deserves more attention since April’s results have given us more data.
In the April 1 election Martha Siravo and Bret Wagner ran for the one open seat. Siravo won and, at least out of the gate, she would seem to mirror the views of the other six board members. She might end up being a fine school board member and I have to respect anybody who steps up to take on these tough jobs, but she doesn’t appear to be a change agent. Full disclosure here: I supported Wagner because I thought he might be a mild sort of change agent, though he is certainly no flame thrower.
And that’s where I’d like to start. The current system is providing no diversity of points of view. There isn’t a single board member who emphasizes holding taxes down, not a single board member who focuses on test scores or on improving discipline. The board as a whole is quite far to the left ideologically. There’s a great deal of emphasis on issues of equity — though I have to point out that, despite this, the racial achievement gap isn’t budging.
I have to conclude that, since two incumbents went unchallenged and since the new member fits the mold of those incumbents, that this is what the majority of Madisonians want. I’m free to protest that direction all I want, but I can’t make a credible argument that my views are in the majority.
I can, however, make a good argument that my more conservative ideas should at least have some voice on the board, even if it’s a minority voice. It would be healthy for the whole district if there were at least a couple of folks on the board who kept bringing up taxes, test scores and discipline. When everybody thinks the same way, nobody thinks much at all.
But diversity of views is not likely to happen under the current system in which we elect all seven members in citywide races. Let me take up this April’s race to illustrate my point.
In that race between Siravo and Wagner about 110,000 votes were cast. Targeting and communicating with over 100,000 voters is a complicated and expensive endeavor. I know. I did it three times in my runs for mayor. And, if you assume that 110,000 voters might mean, say, 70,000 voter households (some voters live together) knocking on 70,000 doors is unrealistic.
But what if districts were one-ninth the size of the whole city? Now, we’re talking about 12,000 voters and maybe 7,500 or so voter households. A candidate on a shoestring budget and with a good pair of walking shoes could tackle that. Moreover, since some parts of the city are more moderate than others, geographical districts are more likely to produce more moderate members. (Madison has moved so far to the left in recent years that I don’t think any part of the city would produce a truly conservative member.)
This reform could happen. State law allows school boards to have up to nine members and districts can be geographical. In fact, only Madison elects its school board with numbered seats in seven citywide districts.
It’s unclear where that change, which happened in the 1980s, came from. The public argument at the time was that the numbered seats would mean that less well-known candidates would have a better chance because they wouldn’t necessarily have to take on incumbents. But it’s also true that the citywide seats mean that more influence is in the hands of interest groups — like the teachers union — with the resources to communicate with voters on that scale.
We talk a lot in this town about “grassroots” campaigns. But the current system makes that all but impossible. A couple more seats and smaller districts would be a win for democracy and ultimately for the school board and our kids.
Dave Cieslewicz is a Madison- and Upper Peninsula-based writer who served as mayor of Madison from 2003 to 2011. You can read more of his work at Yellow Stripes & Dead Armadillos.
