Two challengers in the race for state superintendent of education say incumbent Jill Underly has failed Wisconsin students, although they haven’t offered many specifics on what they would change if they’re elected to replace her.
“An entire high school career basically has elapsed without a shared vision of what the department is working on” since Underly became superintendent four years ago, Sauk Prairie School District Superintendent Jeff Wright told the Wisconsin State Journal.
Underly, Wright and education consultant Brittany Kinser will face off in the Feb. 18 primary. The two top vote-getters will advance to the April 1 election.
The state superintendent leads the Department of Public Instruction, which oversees Wisconsin’s 421 public school districts and its libraries. The agency also sets learning standards for each subject, which specify what students should know and be able to do.
Both challengers say they want to remedy low proficiency rates in reading and math. Underly, who is seeking a second four-year term, says students are making steady progress.
In 2022, about 33% of Wisconsin fourth-grade students were considered proficient in reading, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. About 43% of fourth-graders were proficient in math.
Underly has faced sharp criticism for revising language arts and math standards in a way that critics say lowers the bar for student performance because students now can score lower on the Forward Exam, administered in grades 3-8 every spring, and still be considered proficient or advanced.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who previously served as state superintendent, told reporters this month the changes “could have been handled better.” State Sen. John Jagler, R-Watertown, and Rep. Bob Wittke, R-Caledonia, have introduced legislation that would effectively eliminate Underly’s changes.
Under the bill, DPI would have to align scoring methods for the language arts and math sections of the Forward Exam to the systems used by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The bill also would require scoring sections of the ACT and PreACT using the scoring ranges from the 2021-22 school year.
For ACT tests, DPI also would be required to use the terms “below basic,” “basic,” “proficient” and “advanced” to describe student performance. DPI recently has started to describe student performance levels as “advanced,” “meeting,” “approaching” and “developing.”
Wisconsin student test scores up, but bar has been moved and gaps persist
Wright said he supports the bill and that it’s “unfortunate the Legislature has to step in.”
“The changes in our state standards came at the worst possible time, with districts still assessing student progress post-COVID. Wisconsin needs to set high standards for its students,” Wright said in a statement Tuesday.
Wright’s campaign has leaned heavily on criticizing Underly’s leadership. Speaking on “The Todd Allbaugh Show“ podcast earlier this month, Wright said Underly and the Republican-controlled Legislature have a “broken relationship.”
Working in purple Sauk County has taught him how to work with both Republicans and Democrats to make school improvements, he said. While superintendent, the district successfully added more child care options to the community and became the central hub for mental health services.
“If we could bring that to the Department of Public Instruction and restore a good relationship with both sides of the aisle, I think that we will be able to solve some community-wide problems,” Wright said.
The Wisconsin Rural Schools Alliance recognized Wright as a 2024 administrator of the year for his work in Sauk Prairie. Originally from Stevens Point, he has also worked in classrooms as a social studies teacher and as a high school principal in Chicago.
n addition to making sure parents have a better understanding of how their children are performing in school, Wright wants to increase special education funding, address student mental health and create more career opportunities in high schools.
But he has yet to share specific policies or programs he’d pursue if elected.
Kinser’s campaign has focused on academic standards and student achievement.
While Kinser told the State Journal she wants to look at special education funding and help districts manage transportation costs, her main priority is raising reading, writing and math skills and “making sure we’re focusing on the basics.”
Kinser is a former public school teacher and school principal. She is also co-founder of 95 Reads, an initiative directed at getting 95% of Wisconsin students proficient in reading.
Weeks before Republican lawmakers introduced the bill to scrap Underly’s new academic standards, Kinser said she wanted to change the standards back to those in place when Evers was state superintendent.
Kinser also said she would push for more involvement from parents and for easier access to performance data. Rather than waiting until the fall to publish results from student tests administered in the spring, for example, she said she wants that information available right away in the summer.
“It’s being transparent and getting people the information, parent and schools especially, so that they can see what’s working and what’s not working,” she said.
‘It’s a distraction’
Underly has stood by the adjustments to standards and the Forward Exam. The updated scoring system is a more accurate measure of student performance backed by educators around the state, she said.
“The people who are critical about this, it’s political, it’s a distraction,” she said. “They’re focusing on this to take away from the real work that we’re doing.”
If elected to a second term, Underly said her priorities wouldn’t change dramatically but said she will bring a more thorough understanding of state government to the table.
DPI’s $4 billion biennial budget request calls for more spending on special education, student mental health and school nutrition. Underly is proposing that the state-imposed limits that control school spending grow by $425 per student in 2026 and by another $437.75 per student in 2027.
Historically, the Republican-controlled Legislature has agreed to much smaller increases in education spending.
Voices weigh in
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin is backing Underly’s campaign, along with a number of state senators and representatives. She raised about $39,000 in campaign contributions between July 1 and Dec. 31, according to a recent filing.
Wright, however, has gained the endorsement of the Association of Wisconsin School Administrators and of former Republican state senator Dale Schultz.
“Over many years, in communities where people agree on little else, I have seen Jeff unite people to advance public education,” Schultz said in a statement. “Jeff Wright brings people together and he has the experience and a record of accomplishment that will take our public schools to the next level.”
The Wisconsin Education Association Council Political Action Committee has recommended supporting Wright, although the council’s board of directors has not yet made a final decision on endorsing a candidate. He raised nearly $85,000 in recent campaign contributions from July 1 to Dec. 31.
Kinser, who joined the race in December, hasn’t announced any endorsements from any major education groups.
But her connections with two networks of charter schools and the Milwaukee-based City Forward Collective, a nonprofit that advocates for school choice, may make her the clear candidate for voters who want to see expanded choice programs.
Her campaign has received a total of $15,000 in contributions from two individuals, Mequon resident Rob Kieckhefer and Milwaukee resident Priyesh Shah.
Kinser was vague on her plans for charter and private schools if elected, saying her focus is “going to be on making sure all the kids are given an excellent education.”
“If some of those innovative ideas are, you know, charter schools, that’s great,” she said.