Incumbent faces challenge for seat on School Board

One-term Port Washington-Saukville School Board incumbent Kierstin Cira faces a challenge in the Tuesday, April 7, election from Matt Riemer, who is making his first run for public office.

Cira, a veteran educator who teaches third grade in the West Bend School District, was elected to the board in 2023 and said her experience as a public school teacher and mother of two Port Washington High graduates and a current senior make her uniquely qualified to serve on the School Board and “oversee the policies required to run a successful school district.”

Cira, a Port Washington High School graduate who has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction and is licensed as both a principal and director of instruction in Wisconsin, said, “I’ve worked diligently as a parent and as an educator and as a board member to ensure all youngsters receive the best possible education in our public schools.”

Riemer, a Racine Park High School graduate who has a bachelor’s degree in architecture, said he wants to bring his experience as a virtual design and construction manager, father of three children who attend Port Washington-Saukville schools and husband of a special education teacher at Thomas Jefferson Middle School in Port to the board.

Referring to his job, Riemer said, “On a daily basis we’re setting and establishing strategic initiatives for our projects to ensure they’re serving our clients at the end of the day, similar to the School District and our kids, although they are not clients; they are our future.

“I just want the opportunity to give that perspective (as a parent and husband of a teacher) and share the insights I have from the construction profession.”

Cira, 57, is a self-described champion of public education who has urged the board to  advocate for changes to a state formula that she said does not adequately fund public education.

“One of the most pressing issues for the board is to advocate for change at the legislative level,” she said. “Public schools are under pressure to cut our programming. We are not fairly funded in this state, and we need to advocate for change.”

Part of what ails the state school funding formula, Cira said, is the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program, or so-called school voucher program, that allows students whose families meet certain income criteria to attend private schools with state education funds redirected from the public school districts where they live to the private schools they attend.

“We’re continuing to take taxpayer money and give it to an unaccountable system,” she said during a recent School Board meeting. “We as public school board members have got to start talking to our legislators about what is going on and the impact on children in the seats of our classrooms.”

An estimated $1.58 million in state aid will be redirected from the Port Washington-Saukville School District to private voucher schools next school year. Because that loss of aid falls outside the district’s revenue limit, it is recouped through local property taxes.

Cira said she favors a line item on local tax bills that shows how much voucher school aid transfers cost taxpayers.

“I want every single taxpayer to know how much of their money goes to private schools,” she said.

Riemer, 49, agreed that the financial challenges are largely the result of inadequate state public school funding and said that while it is important to continue discussing that issue, the district should also look for other sources of funding.

“We need to look for opportunities to bring in grants and other money that would alleviate some of the challenges we’re facing so we can really focus on the staff, the students and the (academic) outcomes,” he said. “We should look for opportunities to work with our businesses and partner with philanthropists in the area.”

Cira said continuing to develop mutually beneficial partnerships with area businesses must be a School Board priority.

“The most important issue I think we are facing is to continue to develop relationships with community businesses so that we can create apprenticeships and internships for our students, so we have a school-to-work program that serves our community’s needs and serves our students’ needs.”

The election comes as the district’s financial challenges continue and it cuts positions for the second year in a row to balance its budget and adjust for a continued slide in student enrollment.

Cira said the School Board has dealt with deficits by ensuring that costs are reduced across the board in a way that minimizes their impact.

“As a board last year with our $1.2 million deficit, we gave the charge to our district administrators that we wanted to see cuts across the board. We didn’t want to see students and teachers be the most impacted,” she said. “I feel like we had the least possible impact on students considering the deficit we faced.”

Although some parents have expressed concerns about a corresponding increase in class sizes, those sizes are comparable to the ones in other area and high-performing districts, Cira said.

Riemer, however, said the board must take into account differences between the Port-Saukville School District and other school systems in the area.

“When right-sizing our staff, we need to continue to look at what is that right size to get closer to comparable districts,” he said. “But I don’t believe area districts are necessarily comparable to our district socio-economically.”

Having more students with greater educational needs may necessitate smaller class sizes than in other districts to identify and address their learning challenges, especially in the primary grades, Riemer said. 

“If we don’t support these students early on, it’s is only going to snowball,” he said. 

Financial challenges aside, the district has come a long way since 2023 when Cira was elected and it was grappling with unprecedented turnover in the highest ranks of its administrators, Riemer and Cira agreed.

Since then, the School Board hired Supt. Michael McMahon, adopted a strategic plan, approved a new math curriculum to target academic shortcomings that plagued its school report card and won approval for a $59.4 million referendum that will finance district-wide maintenance and the construction of a new Saukville Elementary School.

“We did a lot of hard work, including rewriting every single School District policy,” Cira said. “I think we’re doing great things in this district, and I’m running again because I want to continue with the hard work we’ve done.”

Riemer said, “I believe we’re on the right track now after that period of turmoil. We have clear goals and expectations, and I believe we need to continue to move forward and communicate the strategic plan and the data to the public.

“I’d like to see us turn from being reactive to proactive and market the wins for the district.”

Riemer and Cira are running for a board seat representing the City of Port Washington.

Also on the April 7 ballot, incumbent Sara McCutcheon, who serves as School Board president, is running unopposed for a seat representing the Village of Saukville.

Dave Didier is running unopposed for the Town of Port Washington seat on the board currently held by Justin Myers, who is not running for re-election. 

The School Board consists of five members from the City of Port Washington, two from the Village of Saukville, one from the Town of Port Washington and one at-large member. They are elected by all residents in the district and serve three-year terms.

This story is based on interviews with the candidates and comments they made during a March 2 forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Ozaukee and Washington Counties and the Port Washington-Saukville School District.