DPI adamant waterpark conference wasn’t public meeting, others disagree
(The Center Square) – Jill Underly, Wisconsin’s State Superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction, did not attend a Wednesday morning committee meeting she was invited to about her department’s 2024 standards-setting conference in the Wisconsin Dells.
But representatives from her department were present and adamant the work of the 88-member committee that met was not subject to open meetings or open records disclosure because it was setup by vendor Data Recognition Corp.
“We received extremely short notice on this hearing,” DPI spokesperson Chris Bucher said. “The very best staff equipped to address questions about open records, from our Division of Government and Public Affairs, were in the room. If the committee sincerely wanted to ensure availability, they would not be scheduling hearings with such short notice.”
Bucher did not say why Underly could not attend the hearing.
Committee Chair Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, had the legislative legal affairs department read from state law that included a stipulation that a private company contacted to do public work had to follow the same record-keeping and notice process as a public entity.
Also, Institute for Reforming Government General Counsel Jake Curtis testified he believed prior case law was clear that the 88-member committee constituted an Ad Hoc Committee that should hold its meetings publicly.
“Given the decision by IRG to file an action in court against us … we are going to keep these comments to a fairly high level,” DPI Assistant State Superintendent Division of Government & Public Affairs Rich Judge said.
DPI Legislative Liaison Andrew Hoyer-Booth said that DPI feels “clearly and pretty strongly” that Data Recognition Corp.’s work at the conference did not constitute a public meeting.
IRG filed a complaint in Adams County Court about the meeting and plans to file a legal action on the meeting if no further action is taken by the court.
“Wisconsin case law is clear,” Curtis told the committee. “… The DOJ compliance guide is extremely clear on this.”
Judge was asked further questions about delays in the release of public records related to the conference, to which he responded that DPI’s legal department needs more resources to fulfill requests and that those same resources are then taken away from sexual misconduct investigations when they are used for public records.
Judge said that 100 legal hours have been spent on records related to the conference in a request from IRG and the department expects that 100 to 150 more hours will be spent on the case. Bucher clarified that those hours were part of a separate request from IRG unrelated to the records that were the subject of the hearing.
The sexual misconduct work that Judge referenced that were heightened after a Capital Times report into how DPI handles teacher license investigations occurred after the public records response from DPI was delayed.
Rep. Mike Bare, D-Verona, asked Nedweski and Curtis if they would join him in a request for more funding for DPI for public records responses. He said that committee meetings like Wednesday’s unfairly add to educator and public school mistrust.
“The mistrust is growing because of theater like this,” Bare said.
Rep. David Steffen, R-Howard, said that Democrats always attempt to use discussions about DPI’s actions to push for more funding for the department.
“The solution provided from the other side is almost always money,” Steffen said. “I reject that. I know the public does as well.”
Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Gillett, said in a statement that the hearing highlighted why the Joint Legislative Audit Committee ordered an audit of DPI’s school district accountability report process in February 2025.
He said the audit is expected to be released “in the coming weeks.”
“Today’s hearing once again shows that DPI is actively withholding records from the public over its attempt to quietly lower school standards behind closed doors,” Wimberger said. “These changes were only made to cover over Superintendent Underly’s failures and weaken success standards for our students.
“This lack of responsibility is exactly why I led the Audit Committee to order a full examination of DPI’s Forward Exam standards changes. Wisconsin’s students, parents, and taxpayers deserve transparency from our education officials, and shouldn’t be left in the dark about how our school are performing. I look forward to this audit uncovering how and why DPI changed these standards so we can stop this manipulation from happening again.”
Nedweski also asked Judge why the detailed cost records of the waterpark conference were sent to a select group of media, including WisPolitics, but not sent to the public records requester, the Dairyland Sentinel, until the Department of Justice intervened with a letter.
“I don’t know,” Judge responded.