MADISON, Wis. – The superintendent in the tiny 400-student Pecatonica School District in southwest Wisconsin, Jill Underly, was elected he state’s superintendent of public instruction. Although the job is nonpartisan, the victory of Underly, a Democrat, was another crack in Republican domination in state politics. Underly defeated Republican-backed Deb Kerr of the Milwaukee suburb of Brown Deer. Underly had support from the state teachers’ union and an overwhelming financial advantage that went mostly into television advertising. Underly had 526,000 votes to Kerr’s 386,000.

Underly. Back to Madison and the state Public Instruction Department where she worked earlier.