By Jalen Maki
Tomahawk Leader Editor
TOMAHAWK – Representation on the School District of Tomahawk Board of Education will be rebalanced.
For roughly the last year, the Reapportionment Subcommittee, made up of board members Kay Kissinger Wolf, Shar Kirsch and Dave Long; Lincoln County Clerk Chris Marlowe; and community members Marguerite Lyskawa, Ken Schulz and Jon Long, had been exploring ways to alter how the board is composed to better reflect the district’s population distribution.
District residents present at the school board’s annual meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 10 unanimously voted to approve a new model of representation that achieves this goal.
Since 1972, the board has utilized a “4-3-1-1” representation model. Under this model, the board has been composed of a total of nine members representing four designated areas within the district for three-year terms.
Four members have represented the City of Tomahawk; three have represented the apportioned area covering the Towns of Birch, Bradley, Rock Falls, Skanawan and Tomahawk; one has represented the apportioned area that includes the Towns of Little Rice, Nokomis and Wilson; and one has represented the apportioned area encompassing the Towns of Harrison and King.
In February, the committee provided the board with a presentation explaining why reapportionment was being considered. The committee explained that due to population shifts over the last several decades, some apportioned areas have been overrepresented on the board, while others have been underrepresented.
For example, according to U.S. Census data, the City of Tomahawk went from having 49% of the district’s population down to 33.1% between 1960 and 2020, yet the area has continued to be represented by four board members.
Meanwhile, two of the district’s three rural apportioned areas have seen their populations grow over that time while still having less board representation than the City of Tomahawk has had.
The newly-approved representation model, known as a “3-3-3” model, will see the district divided into three apportioned areas: The City of Tomahawk; the Towns of Birch, Bradley, Rock Falls, Skanawan and Tomahawk; and the Towns of Harrison, King, Little Rice, Nokomis and Wilson.
Each area will have three representatives on the board, allowing the board to remain at its current nine-person membership.
One seat from each area will be up for election in each election cycle, allowing for residents in each apportioned area to run for a three-year term in each election year.
The model was supported by the Reapportionment Subcommittee. In backing the model, the committee noted that each apportioned area has between roughly 32% and 34% of the district’s population, as well as state-required contiguous areas.
The new makeup of the board will be put in place over the course of three years. As current terms expire in 2025, 2026 and 2027, one seat in each newly-designated area will be up for election in each of those years.
The new model will be fully implemented after the April 2027 election.