MILWAUKEE – With election day fast approaching, voters are getting closer on deciding who will lead Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction.
WTMJ has a comprehensive break down into each candidate and where their policies stand on positions when it comes to leading education in the state of Wisconsin.
CANDIDATE: BRITTANY KINSER is a former leader at a charter school and taught in Chicago Public Schools as a Special Education teacher and was a public elementary school principal in Milwaukee. Kinser considers herself a moderate, though she is backed by state Republicans.
CANDIDATE: JILL UNDERLY is the incumbent candidate for this years election and has been Wisconsin’s State Superintendent since 2021. Dr. Underly has more than 25 years of teaching experience and is a big supporter of funding for public schools. She has been endorsed by state Democrats to continue leading the Department of Public Instruction.
ON SCHOOL VOUCHERS
The debate of school vouchers is a topic both candidates are passionate about when it comes to school choice.
Dr. Underly believes that funding that goes to voucher programs is being diverted for funding that should only be meant for public schools.
“I strongly believe that public dollars should be used only for public schools,” said Dr. Underly. “All students, regardless of their background or needs have access to that high quality education. Studies have shown that MPS students that are in the voucher program are not outperforming MPS school students. They’re all scoring below the state average and we need to support one system that supports all students.”
Kinser disagrees and points out that half of the families across the Milwaukee area are choosing to place their children in charter schools and Private schools with a voucher.
“60% of families want school choice and in Milwaukee it is decoupled. It does not effect the property taxes, it is a state program,” said Kinser. “I’m on record saying decoupling is a way to take that off of the tax bill and not complicate it for our public schools and have it paid through state aid.”
ON READING PROFICIENCY
One issue that many parents are concerned about is reading proficiency across the state, especially in urban communities like Milwaukee where there are years of learning gaps within students.
Kinser says currently, the way reading is taught in the state is not working and that DPI should reintroduce phonics-based learning.
“We have to make sure that we are using research and evidence-based curriculum and we have to make sure that our teachers are trained and educated on how to teach phonics,” said Kinser speaking before a panel at the Law School at Marquette University. “We have to have teachers that are from the community but are also taught on how to teach reading.”
For Dr. Underly, she argues that the programs in place work, but more funding must become available in order for teachers to properly teach to students in an effective way.
“These gaps are absolutely unacceptable, but we know how to solve the problem, but it takes money and effort,” said Dr. Underly. “I say give us the tools that we need to use to get it done. Give us the funding. But the laws that Madison passed prevent us from doing that. We know that the programs work.”
ON FUNDING REFERENDUMS
One issue that voters are adamant is the issue with referendums to help fund school districts across the state that can’t keep up with the rate of inflation and results in higher tax levies for district residents.
Dr. Underly says that she is well aware of the issue and has been trying to tackle it head-on.
“We’ve been stuck in these never ending cycles of referendums. Especially in low-spending districts,” said Dr. Underly. “What we’ve learned from assessment is that we’re very good at testing and finding out which school districts have high poverty. There’s a correlation between high-poverty and low test scores. I’m not saying it’s across the board, but generally speaking we have to really look at our school-spending formula and we have to look at the fact that we are funding two systems such as public schools that’s open to every child and the voucher system which is available to only select children.”
Kinser agrees that the state school funding formula is flawed and is in desperate need of an upgrade.
“Schools are operating on limited resources and tax-payers are tired and concerned of actually paying out of these referendums. Believe me, I hear it all over the state,” said Kinser. “We need to modernize the formula and we need to get a better reimbursement for special education programs as well. I will do my best to work with districts across the state and our legislature and the Governors office to improve that.”
ON TRAINING AND RETAINING TEACHERS
While the state is successful at training teachers, efforts to keep those teachers in the state to teach education has been difficult.
Dr. Underly says that she is fully aware of the issue and cites Act 10 as a driving force behind decrease in school funding and teacher salaries.
“Funding is a big way that we can help solve this problem. We haven’t been able to in our school districts give our employees any type of inflationary or cost-of-living increase because we are not getting those types of increases in our school districts either,” said Dr. Underly. “This has resulted in referendums to help make ends meet for school districts, but funding could help. Certainly reimbursing special education costs at a higher rate than 29% than it is now would give our school districts more spendable revenue.”
Kinser says that she is committed to changing the licensure system and is open to welcoming more individuals into the teaching profession.
“Alternative education pathways are essential to increasing the number of high quality teachers in our schools. I’m open to collaborating with groups and learning from other states that have implemented successful school programs,” said Kinser. “Finding a solution is going to require really innovative ideas, a collaborative approach and we have to act now to solve this problem.”
Both Kinser and Dr. Underly have both expressed interests in establishing apprenticeships for teaching in the state. Kinser also recommended having teacher apprentices enter the classroom two years before graduation while providing payment incentives as well.
The State Superintendent election is set for Tuesday, April 1st.
