Bill Oemichen says he intends to remain on the New Glarus School Board through the end of his current term even if voters elect him to the Wisconsin State Assembly in November.

Oemichen, the Democratic nominee in Assembly District 50 and president of the New Glarus School Board, responded after New Glarus 360 published a story examining whether Wisconsin law would allow him to serve in both offices at the same time. He had been traveling for the University of Wisconsin to teach local elected and appointed officials elsewhere in the state and was not available to comment before the story was published.

Oemichen said he plans to finish his school board term even if he wins the Assembly race. “As you noted in your article, the School Board and State Legislature are not considered ‘incompatible offices’ under state law and therefore, there is no barrier to my holding both positions,” he wrote.

Oemichen said the issue is one he deals with professionally as UW-Madison’s professor of practice in law and local government. “I actually teach local officials about this in my role as a professor of practice and local government law educator at UW-Madison,”  he wrote.