Two incumbents are running unopposed for two open seats on the Ellsworth School Board.

Kurt Buckner*

Town of residence: Trimbelle

Occupation: Operator at 3M Cottage Grove, Minn.

Prior elected offices: 15+ years on Ellsworth School Board

Do you have children who attend the school district? Kyle Buckner graduated in 2018.

Community/civic activities: Ellsworth School Board member/treasurer and clerk currently last 15 years. CESA 11 board member in Turtle Lake since 2015. Been on curriculum, negotiations, communication, budget and building and grounds committees on school board. Also do Adopt A Highway sections around Ellsworth area.

Why are you running for school board? What are your priorities?  Feel it’s my civic duty to give back to the school I graduated from in 1990. Going on my sixth term and feel it’s a priority to keep running. Not a lot of people come out of the woodwork to run for this position. Feel that district has come a long way since a few years ago and that Superintendent Cain has done a great job of being a very forward-thinking administrator.

What do see as the biggest challenges facing the school district?  Potential referendum in 2024 is one challenge. Doing the research and surveying the taxpayers in fall of 2023 will tell us as a board if the time is right to pursue this next year or not Also the “fiscal cliff” is looming after the 2023-24 school year where the ESSR dollars from the federal government have to be used up by the district. Our current Wisconsin legislators need to redo the current school funding formula but highly doubt that will happen this biennium. By 2025 times could be interesting financially for the district as a whole if things don’t change between and now and then.

What differentiates you from the other candidates/board members? My years of service on the board and having been through cuts, to failed referendums to seeing the current elementary school being built and consolidating the outlying elementaries into one central location. Also serving on the committee overseeing the sales of the elementaries was very helpful and knowing that Lindgren and Prairie View schools have successful endeavors in them today.

What do you see as the primary work of the school board? Is there anything you wish the public understood better? Being fiscally responsible for the taxpayers and the district as a whole. Making sure all decisions are the right ones in the future. My wish is the public understood school financing better. Even as a board member it’s head scratching how it’s still funded like it is today yet and can only hope that our legislators and Gov. Evers can come up with some kind of compromise to help out school budgets for the next couple of years.

What is the best way to address differences of opinion on the board or between the board/administration/the public? Listening and talking out differences of opinion without sounding like a broken record and getting somewhere with the decision within a reasonable amount of time.

Could you support a board decision you did not vote in favor of? Why or why not? Yes, I could support it. By listening and respecting the other board member(s) that voted differently and hearing their opinion.

How does a school board balance the need to provide a quality education with the need to respond to the local taxpayer burden?  By spending within its means while also promoting the message that taxes have went down last few years thanks to our lowest mill rate in the districts history in 2022 tax year.

How can people contact you?  By email, calling, texting or by Facebook within reason. Personal information on school website.

Gary Kressin*

Did not respond.