Brian Farmer
Brian Farmer ran for election to the Appleton Area School District Board of Education At-large in Wisconsin. Farmer lost in the general election on April 3, 2018.
Farmer participated in Ballotpedia's 2018 school board candidate survey. Click here to read his responses.
Elections
2018
Two of the seven seats on the Appleton Area School District Board of Education in Wisconsin were up for at-large general election on April 3, 2018. Incumbents Kay Eggert and Leah Olson defeated challenger Brian Farmer.[1][2][3]
General election
General election for Appleton Area School District Board of Education At-large (2 seats)
Incumbent Leah Olson and incumbent Kay Eggert defeated Brian Farmer in the general election for Appleton Area School District Board of Education At-large on April 3, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Leah Olson (Nonpartisan) | 41.6 | 7,667 |
| ✔ |  | Kay Eggert (Nonpartisan) | 38.9 | 7,159 |
 | Brian Farmer (Nonpartisan) | 19.0 | 3,495 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.5 | 98 | ||
| Total votes: 18,419 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Campaign themes
2018
Ballotpedia survey responses
- See also: Ballotpedia's candidate surveys
Brian Farmer participated in Ballotpedia's candidate survey on January 22, 2018. The survey questions appear in bold, and Brian Farmer's responses follow below.[4]
What would be your top three priorities, if elected?
| “ | 1) Maintaining a balanced budget 2) Improving readiness for life after public school |
” |
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about? Why?
| “ | Enabling more parental involvement in the educational process, because parents are ultimately responsible for their children's education.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many[6]
|
” |
Post Crescent Survey
Farmer participated in the following survey conducted by the Post Crescent. The questions provided by the Post Crescent are bolded, and Farmer's responses follow below.[7]
| “ |
Why are you running for office? All too often when I go to vote in a local election, I look at the ballot and see nobody challenging the incumbents. In other words, I don’t really have a choice. We are told that it is our civic duty to vote, but when we are just rubberstamping an incumbent, is that really an election? That is one reason I am running for office: I want to make it possible for the voters to actually have a choice on Election Day. And there is another reason I am running. It bothers me that I keep voting and voting, but things just seem to be getting worse and worse. I have come to the conclusion that I need to do more than just vote because it seems that the people we have been electing to public office have been letting us down. It has been my life experience that, if you want something done right, then you often have to do it yourself. I suspect that many voters feel the same way, but for whatever reason, cannot run for public office. I am running so that they can vote for someone who will step-up for them. Government experience: I do not have previous government experience. However, when it comes to the school board, having previous government experience does not appear to be a vitally important asset, judging from the sorry state of our educational system. More important than previous government experience are qualities which I feel that I possess, such as: 1) A commitment to the belief that the purpose of education is to transmit knowledge to the next generation. What do you think are the key issues facing the community? First, deteriorating student performance. Fewer than half of Appleton students are proficient in reading and math, a totally unacceptable state of affairs. The 2016-17 Appleton Area School District report card, issued by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, reveals that proficiency ratings for district students are 41.6 percent for English Language Arts (up from 40.3 percent in 2015-16) and 42.7 percent for math (down from 46.5 percent). Deteriorating student performance is highlighted by the district’s overall report card score of 66.9, down from 70.9 in 2015-16. Second, an ethically challenged school board. The Appleton school board has violated a fundamental principle of American government, namely, that public officials are supposed to operate out in the open. Instead, it has conducted meetings behind closed doors, in violation of open meetings laws. The Appleton school board has also violated a fundamental principle of education, namely, that parents are ultimately responsible for the education of their children. By holding closed-door meetings, it has denied parents the right to influence their children’s education. The school board was taken to court by a concerned parent, was found guilty, and thereby squandered hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars, money that should have been spent educating students. What do you hope to accomplish, if elected? Having been found guilty of violating the open meetings laws, the Appleton school board is now working to circumvent the court’s decision. If elected, I would work to stop that, and I would work to open up meetings to parents so that they can participate in the handling of issues relating to the education of their children. In general, I would work to make activities of the school board more transparent, in order to foster public trust. The Appleton school board seems to be operating according to the principle that “It is easier to believe a credible lie than an incredible truth.” The credible lie is that the school board is doing a good job overseeing the education of our children. The incredible truth is that the school board is actually doing a terrible job. If a private corporation received a report card like the one our school district has received, heads would roll. If elected, I would insist that the district administration improve those performance results within a specific time frame (determined by the board) and, if the goals were not achieved, I would advocate for replacing the district administrators with others who could get the job done.[6] |
” |
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Post-Crescent, "Fox Cities candidates gear up for spring elections," January 2, 2018
- ↑ Calumet County Elections, "Unofficial Calumet County Election Results," accessed April 3, 2018
- ↑ Outagamie County Elections, "Summary Report," accessed April 3, 2018
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia's candidate survey, "Brian Farmer's responses," January 22, 2018
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Post Crescent, "Appleton School Board candidates delve into priorities," March 19, 2018
| Appleton Area School District elections in 2018 | |
| Outagamie County, Wisconsin | |
| Election date: | April 3, 2018 |
| Candidates: | At-Large: Incumbent, Kay Eggert • Incumbent, Leah Olson • Brian Farmer |
| Important information: | What was at stake? |
