JANESVILLE The Janesville School Board has appointed Colton Measner to a vacancy created when Susan Johnson resigned in February. Johnson relocated out of the district, forcing her to resign.
Measner, a 2023 Janesville Craig graduate, was recommended from a committee comprised of outgoing Board President Kevin Murray and other board members Lisa Hurda and Greg Ardrey. Applications to fill the seat were due Feb. 25. Murray told the board the committee met sometime last week.
Measner unsuccessfully ran for school board in each of the last three elections, and had a couple close calls in the last two years. He came in fourth place in the 2026 election in which the candidates with the three highest vote totals gained seats. Measner earned just shy of 22% of the vote or 5,889 compared to incumbent Karl Dommershausen who was in third place. Dommershausen earned about just shy of 23% of the vote or just over 6,100 votes.
Measner also came in fourth in the 2025 election, finishing with just shy of 300 votes fewer than now-school board member Tyra Johnson, who earned just over 15% of the vote with 6,418 votes to Measners 6,121 votes, which was just under 15% of the vote.
Measner earned 19% of the vote in 2024 with just over 3,800 of the vote behind Ardrey, who came in third with 24% of the vote with just less than 4,800 votes.
Johnson was elected to the board in April 2024. Measner will serve on the board through the remainder of the term in April 2027.
During his campaign for the 2026 school board election, Measner emphasized his interest in bringing a positive focus to school board operations, rather than the publics interest only piqueing when negative items are on a meeting agenda. Looking to the future, he sees one of the boards duties as explaining the importance of a referendum that is seen as necessary in coming years.
We have some big things coming down the pipeline. We have another referendum coming down the pipeline and we need to explain that to the public. We have the budget. We have what I call a health insurance crisis, Measner said. We have been really good with our budget and we have to explain we are doing good things with our budget. I would love to pay our teachers more but we cant. There are things we have to do.
Accountability and communication with the public were other themes of Measners 2026 campaign.