Why Wisconsin's 2025 Schools Superintendent Election Matters

Frederica Freyberg:
Also on the ballot in Tuesday’s election is the statewide race for the next superintendent of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. In this contest, incumbent Superintendent Jill Underly faces education consultant Brittany Kinser to see who voters will choose to lead the state’s public education system. Steven Potter has this report.

Brittany Kinser:
But again, we need to make sure kids can read, write and do math.

Jill Underly:
We all want the same thing. We want strong schools.

Steven Potter:
In the race for state superintendent of public instruction, a position that oversees all of Wisconsin’s 400 different public school districts, both candidates say they want what’s best for kids.

Jill Underly:
I’m running because I want to make public education better for all kids here in Wisconsin.

Brittany Kinser:
I want us to really focus on educating our children and making sure that we are transparent about where we’re at.

Steven Potter:
But what that exactly means for state superintendent challenger Brittany Kinser and incumbent Jill Underly are two very different things. And those different philosophies for how the state’s education system should be led comes in part from differences in the two candidates’ educational experiences.

Brittany Kinser:
I was a special ed teacher in Chicago public schools for ten years. I have opened up my own school where I received an award from then-Superintendent Governor Evers for beating the odds here in Milwaukee. And I’ve also been an executive director of a charter network and a CEO of a non-profit and now I’m running an initiative to help more children in Wisconsin become fluent in reading.

Jill Underly:
As the incumbent, I feel like I have all the experience. I’m a lifelong public servant. I’m a lifelong teacher, an educator. I started teaching social studies, and then I worked my way through different systems, K-12 as well Jill Underly as higher education and in state service. I was also an elementary principal, a high school principal, and a district superintendent here in Wisconsin.

Steven Potter:
New to this election is a major debate over the standards set by the state Department of Public Instruction. A debate over how to measure student achievement in reading and math. It started last year when current Superintendent Underly made changes to the state academic testing standards. She says updating these learning benchmarks is a routine practice.

Jill Underly:
Every few years, we do change standards. We take out some outdated ones and we add new ones, and that was not unusual. I think the point that became contentious was that we had changed the, the, the grading scale because the scoring scale previously was aligned to a different test.

Steven Potter:
But Republicans in the Legislature say that Underly lowered standards to make more students look like they were doing better academically. Last week, they sent a bill to the governor requiring DPI to return to using the old academic standards. This week, he vetoed that bill. Brittany Kinser says the new standards had pushed her to run for superintendent.

Brittany Kinser:
We should not be lowering standards. That’s why I got into the race. So it’s showing more kids are, are reading proficiently than they really are, which isn’t being honest and it’s not being truthful about where our kids are. It also — because she lowered the standards, we cannot compare to how we were doing before COVID and we know a lot of children fell behind.

Steven Potter:
You’ve gotten a lot of heat for that. Folks are saying that you’ve lowered standards. This is dumbing down our students. What’s your reply to that?

Jill Underly:
I absolutely did not do any of that and I think it’s outrageous. It’s an outright lie. I have very high standards and I will always push for very high standards for our, for our students and for our staff. And we actually raised standards. When we looked at this last iteration of the test, we added standards in math and science and increased standards by adding a literacy score for our students.

Steven Potter:
Another super charged political topic that divides Kinser and Underly is the state’s school voucher system. In operation for decades and often referred to as school choice, the program allows taxpayer funds to pay for private school. Funds that would normally go to that student’s public school. Kinser is an advocate for school choice and vouchers. Underly is not.

Brittany Kinser:
I am the only school choice candidate, and I believe there should be transparency across all of the schools for all of our children. We’re talking about children who are living below a certain income, families, and they’re receiving a scholarship to attend a private school. And from the testing data, the schools around some of where our families are living are not, you know, the best option for their children. So I believe that parents should have that option.

Jill Underly:
So school choice actually sounds like a pretty nice thing, doesn’t it? Like who shouldn’t have choice, right? But really, what it is in Wisconsin is it’s privatization of public schools.

Steven Potter:
So where do you stand on the voucher school system? Do you want to see it eliminated?

Jill Underly:
Ultimately, yes, I would like to see it eliminated. We are spending so much money on it that it’s taking money from our public schools.

Steven Potter:
And to that matter of money, it is a budget year for the state. As superintendent, Underly has requested more than $4 billion for the state’s public school system over the next two years. She wants an increase in per student funding and wants to get closer to fully funding special education costs. It’s a lot.

Jill Underly:
It is a lot, but it is what our schools need. Our schools have been underfunded, chronically. They have been underfunded and undermined for the past 15 years. And it’s evident by the amount of school districts that are going to referendum and these referendums are large amounts of money.

Steven Potter:
Like Underly, Kinser wants to see an increase in general per student and special education funding. However, she says that Underly’s proposal is simply too much.

Brittany Kinser:
I think it’s unrealistic that we’re going to ask for $4 billion when that is the whole surplus and there’s many other, you know, education is my issue, but there are lots of issues in the state.

Steven Potter:
While it will ultimately be up to those in state government to decide how much the state’s public school system receives, it will be up to voters on April 1st to decide who leads the state school system, helping determine the future for its students. Reporting from Madison, I’m Steven Potter for “Here & Now.”