Here & Now

What’s Next for School Funding and Policy?

Frederica Freyberg:

Following Tuesday’s election, Wisconsin has a new incoming superintendent of public instruction. Jill Underly won the election over Deb Kerr by a margin of 57% to 42% of the vote and will take office in July. Tonight we’re joined by Jill Underly to talk about her mission going forward and she joins us from Hollandale. Thanks very much for being here.

Jill Underly:

Thank you so much.

Frederica Freyberg:

First, congratulations.

Jill Underly:

Thank you. Thank you very much. I’m really excited to get to work and get started.

Frederica Freyberg:

I don’t have to tell you that this election was contentious. And right out of the chutes, Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos tweeted this. “Correctly stated,” he said, “that the teachers union owns the DPI, not the parents or the students or the taxpayers.” He says, “Count me as someone who isn’t going to support putting another nickel into this unaccountable state bureaucracy.” What’s your response to that message from Speaker Vos, particularly that part about the teachers union owning the DPI?

Jill Underly:

Yeah. My initial reaction was that was really sad. Honestly, my sadness. I think it’s clear from Tuesday’s result that supporting our local schools and our children isn’t a partisan issue. I have no interest in being partisan about public schools or about our kids. And our kids and our school staff, they deserve — you know, they need help, I should say, recovering from the pandemic and getting back on track. And I look forward to working with the Legislature and the governor to help all kids no matter how their parents voted.

Frederica Freyberg:

As to supporting putting money into the DPI and as the budget process gets underway here, what concerns do you have that the Legislature will or won’t open the purse strings to fund priorities that you have?

Jill Underly:

Well, I think initially, there’s a lot of common ground, right? We’ve got — we’ve got some sources and certainly we need to put those resources into the schools and flow that money through our schools to help with mental health, credit recovery staffing, and more. You know, the state Legislature needs to fund our public schools. I mean, that’s truly really the basis of our funding, is the equalization aid. And then the additional money, you know, from the federal money, for example, that should be helping us come out of this pandemic piece. But we still need to operate. So I guess my hope is that we can work together, you know, because at the end of the day, it’s not about Robin Vos and it’s not about me. It’s about funding our schools and certainly it’s about the kids and the future of the state. So my desire is to work together and commit to recovering from the pandemic to set up all our kids for success.

Frederica Freyberg:

What are your priorities starting day one?

Jill Underly:

Well, I mean, opening and making sure our schools are open. That’s number one priority. Right? But you know, assuming that we get through that, getting our kids caught up is certainly the other piece of that. High-quality early childhood education, adequate and fair funding for all of our schools. Mental health and emotional wellness support. Teacher recruitment and retention. And disrupting those systems of inequity that I’ve been talking about the entire campaign that certainly plaguing our public school systems.

Frederica Freyberg:

As to the more than $2 billion in federal COVID relief funding that you spoke of for schools that came into Wisconsin, can or should that be used to replace state funding in the budget?

Jill Underly:

It should not be used to replace state funding in the budget. The reason for that funding, it’s — federal funding is a one-time thing. And the intention is to help with infrastructure and to help getting our schools open and staying open, as well as providing the resources that our kids need to recover from the pandemic, such as mental health support, for example. The Legislature and the state of Wisconsin still need to make good on its promise of funding our public schools federal money aside.

Frederica Freyberg:

So have you been working with or talking with Governor Evers around these issues?

Jill Underly:

I have not spoken recently about the budget, for example. But he knows and I — we’ve talked about the fact that I’m very supportive of what he’s recommending in his budget, such as higher reimbursement for special education, poverty aid for example, as well as the broadband and the technology wireless access and affordability, too. So we’re on the same page.

Frederica Freyberg:

I know you said you want to work with the Republican Legislature around these issues but what is your message to them, the Republican budget writers in particular, as they consider the school funding package?

Jill Underly:

Yeah. You know, I think at the end of the day, it’s just about our kids. Honestly. And it’s about the future of our state here this Wisconsin. And we need to make sure that we’re funding our public schools adequately so that we can no longer have these inequities. You know, there’s a lot of gaps. We talk about opportunities. We talk about achievement. But really, in order to get through all that, we certainly need to make sure that we’re funding our public schools. And right now as we’re coming out of a pandemic and out of the hardest year of our lives, we have to think about the kids and the situation, too. And the kids deserve adequately-funded schools.

Frederica Freyberg:

Jill Underly, thanks very much.

Jill Underly:

You bet. Thank you.