Jen Zettel

USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

NEENAH – The Neenah Joint School District isn't happy with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke.

Burke has used a Neenah High School alumna as an example of Act 10's negative impact on Wisconsin schools. A Neenah man told Burke how his daughter turned down a job in Neenah for one with a school in Minnesota.

Neenah District Administrator Mary Pfeiffer sent Burke a letter Friday "to express my disappointment regarding your use of our district as an example of your perceived negative impact of Act 10 on education," according to a copy of the letter obtained by Post-Crescent Media.

"It is unfair and misleading to claim that Act 10 is the primary reason why one specific candidate chose to accept a position in Minnesota over an opening in the Neenah Joint School District," Pfeiffer wrote. "There are many reasons why candidates choose to work in other districts and certainly some effects of Act 10 may factor into those decisions."

In the letter, Pfeiffer noted several positive changes since Act 10, including lower unfunded liability, employee merit pay and staff salary increases.

Jim Strick, communications manager for the Neenah Joint School District, said "that (Act 10) isn't what we understood as to why she didn't take the job here."

In an email to Post-Crescent Media, Burke's communications director Joe Zepecki said Burke never meant to "belittle the good work" happening in Neenah when she used the anecdote.

"She stands by the point she was making, which is that we need to make sure we're attracting and retaining great teachers across Wisconsin, but at the request of the Neenah Joint School District, she's no longer going to use this particular anecdote to make that point," Zepecki said.

— Jen Zettel: 920-993-1000, ext. 539, or jzettel@postcrescent.com; on Twitter @jenzettel