Ballot established for Feb. 21 BASD election
By Jennifer Eisenbart
Staff writer
After confirming six official candidates for two open spots on the Burlington Area School District Board of Education Monday night, the official order was set for a primary election on Feb. 21.
According to BASD officials, state law says that if there are more than two candidates for any electable position, a primary needs to be held. In this case, there are six candidates for two seats.
District officials drew lots Monday to determine the ballot order of the candidates. Challenger Phillip Ketterhagen will be first on the ballot, followed by challenger Roger Koldeway. Incumbent John Anderson is third, and challenger Megan Shuemate is fourth.
Incumbent Susan Kessler is fifth and the final challenger, Scott Elblein, will be listed sixth on the ballot.
The primary will narrow the field to four voters, with the general election to be held April 3.
Since a battle to certify a tax levy increase at the annual meeting last August, School Board meetings have been a popular place for critics of the board to voice their displeasure. In fact, Koldeway, Ketterhagen and Shuemate have all acknowledged they are running because of the issues with the tax levy last fall.
District residents packed the Burlington High School gym Oct. 31 to vote down a proposal to freeze the tax levy at the previous year’s level – a proposal that would have forced the district to cut student programs. The voters then OK’d a motion to increase the tax levy by 3.6 percent.
The tax levy increase was initially voted down by district residents Aug. 29, but the School Board voted to override the vote and certify the levy anyhow. Officials contended it would have been difficult to make substantial changes to the budget without cutting programs because teacher and administrative contracts had already been signed.
Petitioners successfully managed to get a second meeting by gaining enough signatures to force another vote, but in that meeting, more than 750 people voted, with the margin 518-246, to reject the tax levy freeze.
The electors then voted 511-194 in favor of approving the tax levy of $20.37 million as proposed by the School Board.
WeVote group will host Feb. 7 candidate forum
WeVote Burlington – a conservative group that helped organize opposition to a tax levy increase in the Burlington Area School District – will sponsor a School Board candidate forum Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. at the Burlington High School auditorium.
Bonnie Ketterhagen, one of the founding members of WeVote and the wife of School Board candidate Phillip Ketterhagen, said when asked why do the forum, “Why not?”
“(We want) to increase education of candidates that would help education of the Burlington Area School District,” Ketterhagen said.
The event will allow candidates to answer six questions, with a maximum of two minutes per question.
In addition to Phillip Ketterhagen, the field of six candidates includes incumbents John Anderson and Susan Kessler, and newcomers Roger Koldeway, Megan Shuemate and Scott Elblein.
The six candidates will be narrowed to four during a primary election set for Feb. 21. The general election is April 3.
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