Fourth candidate files for Wisconsin state superintendent

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The list of candidates who want to be Wisconsin’s next state superintendent is getting longer.

The former superintendent in the Milwaukee suburb of Brown Deer, Deborah Kerr, joins three other candidates seeking to replace Superintendent Carolyn Stanford Taylor.

Stanford Taylor was appointed by Gov. Tony Evers in January 2019 to finish out his four-year term as head of the Department of Public Instruction after he was elected governor. Stanford Taylor does not plan to seek election.

It’s the first race for superintendent without an incumbent since 2009, when Evers was first elected to the job.

Kerr, 63, was superintendent in Brown Deer for 13 years until she resigned this summer. Kerr, with 41 years in the field of education, officially kicks off her campaign Sept. 13 for next spring’s election.

The other candidates who have filed for the post include Sheila Briggs, an assistant state superintendent for the Department of Public Instruction; Troy Gunderson, who recently retired as superintendent of the West Salem School District; and Jill Underly, superintendent of the rural Pecatonica Area School District.

The election for state superintendent is April 6. If more than two candidates collect enough signatures to be on the ballot, a primary will be held Feb. 16.