State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster was re-elected to her position Tuesday with 62 percent of the vote and 99 percent of precincts reporting.

"Tonight the citizens of Wisconsin came together around our shared value of putting our children and putting education first," Burmaster said in her victory speech Tuesday night. "Tonight the citizens of Wisconsin said 'We believe in our children.' Tonight the citizens of Wisconsin said, 'We believe in our teachers, we believe in our schools, we believe in our communities.'"

Burmaster defeated State Rep. Gregg Underheim (R-Oshkosh), in the race for state superintendent of public instruction. The superintendent supervises all public schools in Wisconsin, administers state and federal funds and makes a spending request every two years.

Underheim received 38 percent of the vote, with 99 percent of precincts reporting.

"They buried us with spending, but we still had a pretty respectable showing," Underheim told WMTV Tuesday night. "Our message resonated though. It's possible to have high quality education without breaking the bank. I think the public clearly believes this."

Underheim supports the government tightening aid to schools, and Burmaster supports Gov. Jim Doyle's proposal to increase aid to schools by $850 million, according to the Milwaukee Jounal-Sentinel.

Burmaster called for a balance between the needs of the government and the needs of the schools in her speech.

"I call upon the legislature to respond to the citizens of Wisconsin and their values of both fiscal responsibility and quality education," Burmaster said, "and to pass a state budget which will respond to the tension that exists between the local property tax and the schools and indeed protects the quality of education in our schools."

The Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, a statewide coordinating council for all AFL-CIO unions in the state, and the Wiconsin Education Association Council (WEAC), Wisconsin's main teacher's union, are two of the groups that supported Burmaster for re-election.

"One of the cornerstones of the Burmaster administration has been what they call the New Wisconsin Promise," said Sara Rogers, political director for the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO.

The New Wisconsin Promise strives to give every child the chance for a quality education.

Rogers said the unions support the Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) program, which aims to reduce class sizes, and the early childhood programs.

"Our goal is to see economic justice in the workplace and social justice in the community," Rogers said.

WEAC agrees with Burmaster in supporting these programs as well, said Dustin Beilke, spokesman for WEAC.

"We hope she continues to be a strong superintendent as she has been for four years," Beilke said. "We just think she's a good leader, a person with 25 years of experience."

Underheim repeatedly criticized Burmaster during the campaign for following the WEAC. Burmaster said in a taped interview Sunday on WTMJ that she disagrees with the Association on certain issues.

Rogers said the WEAC works with Underheim in the legislature, and it looks forward to working with him again.

"I thought he ran a fine campaign," Rogers said.

Underheim has represented Oshkosh in the state assembly since his election in 1987. He ran for superintendent once before, in 1997, but did not make it past the primaries.

Burmaster was both a teacher and a principal in public schools before her election as state superintendent in 2001.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on April 7 2005.