Changing the Election of School Board Members will be voted on by constituents at the Annual Meeting.
Wis. Stat. § 120.02 allows a school district to 1) change the number of school board members; 2) apportion the district into geographic areas; and 3) change the election method to numbered seats.
The statutory method of changing the election of school board members to numbered seats is specified in Wis. Stat. § 120.02(4).
It states (bold for the parts that pertain our district), "If, at least 30 days prior to the day of the annual meeting, in a common or union high school district, or at least 70 days prior to the day of the election of school board members in a unified school district, a petition conforming to the requirements of s. 8.40 which sets forth a plan for the assignment of a number to each seat on the school board is filed with the school district clerk, the school district clerk shall incorporate notice of receipt of such petition in the notice of the annual meeting or election required under s. 120.06(8) (c). The petition shall be signed by not less than 100 electors residing in the school district, except that in school districts which contain, in whole or in part, a city of the 2nd or 3rd class in which one or more electors of the school district reside, the petition shall be signed by not less than 500 electors residing in the school district. If a majority vote of the annual meeting or election approves the plan set forth in the petition, the plan shall remain in operation until revised by the same procedure.
The above (in summary) states if enough signatures are gathered on the petition and submitted to the Board Clerk 30 days before the annual meeting on September 12, 2022, then this topic will be added as an action item on the annual meeting agenda and requires a majority vote of the residents of the School District of Menomonee Falls to pass. If the majority of the above mentioned residents vote to approve the change, the seats will be numbered for the next election. If the majority of said residents vote no to the item at the annual meeting, then school board members will continue to be elected "at-large".
Numbered Seats: board member elections are specific to a numbered seat such as “Board Member 1”, “Board Member 2”, and “Board Member 3”, etc. A primary is required if there are more than twice as many candidates who qualify for the ballot than there are positions to be filled. (Wis. Stat. § 120.06(7)(b). With numbered seats, this would be when there are three or more candidates. When a contest requires a primary, all qualifying candidates are listed on the primary ballot. The primary narrows the candidate field to no more than twice the number of positions to be filled (Wis. Stat. § 5.58(3). For numbered seats, this would be two candidates. Numbered seat board members may reside anywhere in the school district.
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