Kate Toews
Kate Toews is a former Seat 6 representative on the Madison Metropolitan School District Board of Education in Wisconsin. Toews won a first term in the at-large general election on April 4, 2017. She did not seek re-election in 2020.
Elections
2017
Two seats on the Madison Metropolitan School District Board of Education were up for at-large general election on April 4, 2017. A total of six candidates filed for the seats. A primary election was held on February 21, 2017, because there were over twice as many candidates as seats on the board to be elected.[1]
Three newcomers filed for Seat 6, which was left open when board incumbent Michael Flores chose not to seek re-election. Ali Muldrow and Kate Toews advanced to the general election, defeating Cris Carusi in the primary. Toews defeated Muldrow in the general. In Seat 7, incumbent Ed Hughes filed for re-election and faced challengers Matt Andrzejewski and Nicki Vander Meulen in the primary. Hughes and Vander Meulen advanced to the general, but Hughes dropped out of the race in March. His name still appeared on the ballot, but Vander Meulen won the seat.[2][3][4][5]
General results
| Madison Metropolitan School District, Seat 6 General Election, 3-year term, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Kate Toews |
55.59% | 25,857 |
| Ali Muldrow | 44.15% | 20,536 |
| Write-in votes | 0.26% | 123 |
| Total Votes | 46,516 | |
| Source: Dane County, "2017 Spring Election Official Canvas," accessed June 5, 2017 | ||
Primary results
| Madison Metropolitan School District, Seat 6 Primary Election, 3-year term, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Ali Muldrow |
40.16% | 14,828 |
| Kate Toews |
30.24% | 11,166 |
| Cris Carusi | 28.90% | 10,670 |
| Write-in votes | 0.7% | 259 |
| Total Votes | 36,923 | |
| Source: Dane County Clerk, "2017 Spring Primary Unofficial Canvass," accessed February 21, 2017 These election results are unofficial and will be updated after official vote totals are made available. | ||
Funding
Toews had not filed a campaign finance report with the City of Madison as of March 29, 2017.[6]
All school board candidates in Wisconsin were required to file a campaign registration statement with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission after qualifying as candidates. This statement declares their candidacy to the county clerk's office and allows them to claim exemption from reporting campaign contributions and expenditures. Candidates were only required to report campaign contributions and expenditures if they did one or both of the following:[7]
- Accepted contributions, made disbursements, or incurred debt in excess of $2,000 during the calendar year
- Accepted more than $100 from a single source during the calendar year, barring contributions made by candidates to their own campaigns
There were three campaign finance report deadlines in 2017:
- The pre-primary report was due February 13, 2017,
- The pre-election report was due March 27, 2017, and
- The post-election report was due July 15, 2017.[8]
Candidates who filed before January 1, 2017, also had to file a continuing campaign finance report on January 16, 2017.[9]
Endorsements
Toews received official endorsements from the Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans, the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, and the Democratic Party of Dane County.[10][11][12]
Campaign themes
2017
Campaign website statement
Toews published the following statement on her campaign website:
| “ | I believe in public education.
I believe Madison can be a national leader in public education. We have the resources: we spend more per student than 80% of districts in the country. We have an engaged community: Madison believes in social justice and is willing to work for it. We have amazing teachers and students. We have all the right ingredients needed to close the equity gap and help the next generation unlock the opportunities they deserve. My children attend and will attend our public schools, and I believe the Board of Education should have more voices of current parents. I believe in teachers. I believe the quality of our teachers is the single most important thing in our kids' education. Unfortunately, since Act 10, teacher take-home pay has declined. Madison teachers start out with lower salaries than many comparable districts, which makes it hard to recruit teachers as diverse as our student body and hard to retain the best teachers: 42% of teachers leave within the first 5 years. I believe MMSD needs to be a great place to work, including increasing compensation within the current budget, providing adequate support for teachers in schools, and recognizing teachers for the incredible job they do day in and day out. I believe in excellence and equity I believe that all children deserve our respect and our belief in them, and that students rise to the challenge when we expect great things from them. Madison has started to make progress on an achievement gap that must continue to be a focus for our district going forward. As we build on this foundation, we must also ensure we challenge every one of our students on a daily basis. Every child will have access to more opportunity when we expect excellence from all, and pay attention to potential as much as performance. I believe experience matters. The role of the School Board is to establish policies for MMSD; approve and oversee the school district budget; serve as good stewards of taxpayer funds and levy taxes as needed; and hire and supervise the Superintendent of Schools. Our school district budget is ~$450 Million. Managing a budget this large is an honor and responsibility. I believe Board members should have experience with management in order to make responsible choices for our community and not learn these skills at our kids' - and taxpayers' - expense. I have years of experience listening to competing priorities, using budgets to make change, and making hard choices to fund the right things. I will steward our taxpayer investment well.[13] |
” |
| —Kate Toews (2017)[14] | ||
See also
- Madison Metropolitan School District, Wisconsin
- Madison Metropolitan School District elections (2017)
External links
- Madison Metropolitan School District
- Kate Toews 2017 campaign website
- Kate Toews 2017 Facebook campaign page
Footnotes
- ↑ Wisconsin State Legislature, "Election of School Board Members," accessed January 4, 2017
- ↑ Wisconsin State Journal, "Let Madison's great school debate begin," January 6, 2017
- ↑ Dane County Clerk, "2017 Spring Primary Unofficial Canvass," accessed February 21, 2017
- ↑ The Cap Times, "Madison School Board candidates debate how to narrow achievement gap," March 17, 2017
- ↑ Dane County, "2017 Spring Election Unofficial Canvas," accessed April 4, 2017
- ↑ City of Madison, "Campaign Finance Reports," accessed March 29, 2017
- ↑ Wisconsin State Legislature, "11.0104 Reporting exemptions: limited activity," accessed December 15, 2016
- ↑ Wisconsin Ethics Commission, "Filing Deadlines and Reporting Periods," accessed December 15, 2016
- ↑ Wisconsin Ethics Commission, "Campaign Finance Checklist," accessed December 16, 2016
- ↑ Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans, "WIARA Spring Election Endorsements," March 17, 2017
- ↑ Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, "Spring Election Endorsements," accessed March 19, 2017
- ↑ Democratic Party of Dane County, "Endorsed Candidates for April 4," accessed March 30, 2017
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Kate Toews for Madison Schools, "The Issues," accessed February 19, 2017
| Madison Metropolitan School District elections in 2017 | |
| Dane County, Wisconsin | |
| Election date: | Primary: February 21, 2017 General: April 4, 2017 |
| Candidates: | Seat 6: Cris Carusi • Ali Muldrow • Kate Toews Seat 7: Incumbent, Ed Hughes (Withdrawn) • Matt Andrzejewski • Nicki Vander Meulen |
| Important information: | What was at stake? |
