Menomonee Falls Republicans' push for change to school board elections draws concerns over polarized, partisan races

After rallying behind a slate of self-described "moms on a mission" who swept their school board race this spring, Menomonee Falls Republicans are now drumming up support to change the way school board members are elected.

Menomonee Falls School Board members are proposing a rare change to a "numbered-seat" system, which experts say can make it easier to oust certain members, polarize races and potentially lead to a majority party's full control of a board.

While board members voted to move forward with the process of changing the system in July, the change must be approved by residents in a vote at the school board's annual meeting Monday.

The Facebook page "Menomonee Falls Republicans" urged their supporters to turn out and vote for the change.

"It is imperative that conservatives take the time necessary to attend this meeting and cast their vote!" a post on the page reads.

The proposal comes as both political parties have become heavily involved in school board races nationwide, pumping over $80,000 into Wisconsin's 2022 spring school board races, including at least $4,000 in the Menomonee Falls race, according to campaign finance reports.

How would school board elections change?

Under Wisconsin law, there are three ways school board members can be elected in the state's more than 400 school districts.

Most school districts, including Menomonee Falls, use an "at-large" system. Each school board candidate runs against all other candidates, and the top vote-getters take the open seats.

Less common, about 100 school districts use an apportionment system where candidates run representing a specific geographic area of the district, according to Dan Rossmiller, director of government relations for the Wisconsin Association of School Boards. This can help ensure diverse representation on the board for minority populations that are in concentrated geographic areas.

Least common, Rossmiller said: About seven school districts use a numbered seat system where candidates run for a specific seat number, which doesn't align with a specific geographic area but represents the full district.

With the numbered system, all Menomonee Falls residents would still get to vote for every seat, according to Menomonee Falls Superintendent James Heiden.

The difference: Each current board member would be assigned a seat number, and any future challengers would choose to face off against a specific incumbent or open seat.

More: Wisconsin Republicans celebrate 'flipping' school boards 

Why was this proposed?

School Board President Eric Pelzer introduced the proposed change at a July 12 meeting. Board members voted, 5-2, the same night to move ahead with the process.

Pelzer said he'd been thinking about it for "a number of years" as a voter, noting the change would "align" the board with the Village Board, which already uses a numbered seats system.

Pelzer also said it would allow popular candidates to avoid campaigning if they go unchallenged, while making it easer for residents to target members they are unhappy with.

“It allows the community to, if they don’t like what a particular board member is doing, to try to unseat them," Pelzer said at the July meeting. He and other board members did not reply Friday to interview requests the same day.

The three "moms on a mission" —  Nina Christensen, Chris Stueland and Shelley Holzman — voted in support of proposing the change at the annual meeting, along with Jennifer Grant. Two members, Melinda McShane and Keri Duce, voted against it.

Stueland agreed with Pelzer: "The strongest board member might run unopposed. I think it helps challenge possibly board members that aren't meeting expectations; people might want to run against them."

Duce asked Pelzer why he wasn't considering a system in which each candidate would represent a geographic area.

"Ultimately, when you look at fair elections, oftentimes people are held most accountable by their neighbors," she said.

Pelzer said it would be "complicated and confusing." He said his goal was to make the process less confusing, noting that voters in the last election had a "large piece of research" to sift through six candidates for three positions.

The numbered seat system Pelzer supports would not change the number of seats or candidates that each voter would choose from.

Will it lead to more party control?

Amy Ignasiak, a resident and parent speaking at the July 12 meeting, said she worried the change would lead to "targeting" certain board members.

"We're already divided enough here," she said.

The reasons for changing to a numbered seat system are generally "largely political," said Rossmiller, from the Wisconsin Association of School Boards.

Interest groups or individuals are able to focus on running against certain candidates they want to boot, he said.

"In a number system, I think you could end up with a group targeting all the people they don't like, and not broad representation of all facets of the community," Rossmiller said. "But that's really up to the voters."

David Canon, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said head-to-head races also provide more incentive for candidates to directly attack their opponents.

In an at-large race, candidates might hope voters will choose them alongside a variety of other candidates, so attacking other candidates could hurt their own odds.

"If you're competing across all the candidates, it's not as likely you're going to be singling out one person for an attack; rather you're more likely to be making a positive appeal to your voters about why you should vote for me," Canon said.

Head-to-head races could also call more attention to partisan differences, he said, which could possibly benefit the majority political party.

Widening the lens, Hong Min Park, associate professor of political science at UW-Milwaukee, said numbered-seat systems are often associated with authoritarian regimes, as they tend to lead to "winner-take-all" outcomes where the majority political party wins each match-up.

"If the winner takes all, it is possible that one political party can completely control the entire electoral result," Park said. "If the population in that specific school district is more likely to be conservative, then the conservative people can control the entire school board."

Was the process rushed?

Some residents raised concerns at the July 12 School Board meeting that the board was rushing the item and asked that the board hold off its vote until its next meeting to allow for more discussion.

"The way they did it is not how they should have done it and not in the best interest of our community," said Kathy McBride, a resident who is part of the Grassroots Menomonee Falls group.

McShane, the board's communications chair, asked at the July 12 meeting about how the district should notify residents of the discussion and whether there should be community forums on the topic.

"How are we going to sell this to the community in a way that we are not 'pushing this through,' considering it's a discussion item tonight and we're going to be asked to move it forward or not in a couple minutes?" McShane said.

Pelzer said he thought the information could "just be a couple lines" in the regular monthly information release but said it should be "at the top of that."

Leia Scoptur, human resources director for the district, said "technically," the board's July 12 meeting met the statutory requirement for public input on the topic by having it on the agenda and having an open meeting.

Residents then had to submit a petition with at least 100 signatures to get the item on the agenda for the upcoming annual meeting Monday.

The annual meeting is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. Monday at the auditorium at Menomonee Falls High School, N80 W14350 Titan Drive

Contact Rory Linnane at rory.linnane@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @RoryLinnane. 

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Menomonee Falls Republicans want new school board election process