Jill Underly, Brittany Kinser and Jeff Wright are on the Feb. 18 spring primary ballot for Wisconsin State Superintendent. The top two candidates from this vote go on to the full election on April 1 .
The Wisconsin State Superintendent is responsible for disbursement of federal funds, teacher licensure, heading the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and general leadership of public schools. The four-year term mainly holds control of statewide education objectives and funding for public education in Wisconsin.
Incumbent Jill Underly, who took office in 2021, has pushed for more federal funding for schools in Wisconsin, and is running on that same platform again.
Educational consultant Brittany Kinser, meanwhile, criticizes spending more on education when she finds flaws in the standards the DPI set this past summer.
“It’s really important that we restore the high standards,” Kinser said to Channel 3000 in January. “And this is for the nation’s report card nation standards. We don’t want to lower them like they are right now because we know and I know that when we set expectations high for kids, they can meet that.”
Sauk Prairie superintendent Jeff Wright generally pushes for increasing funds for education, but his website’s main vision states he will, “make sure the DPI has a clear and collaborative strategic vision built on solutions that bridge regional, economic and political divides.”
In a luncheon forum at the Madison Club on Feb. 6, Kinser addressed the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s report that she has never held a Wisconsin teaching license, and her administrative license’s expiration last year, calling it a “distraction.”
Kinser has worked in public education outside of the state as a science teacher and principal and currently owns an educational consulting non-profit, 95 Wisconsin, that centers on reading literacy but has only taught in Wisconsin in charter schools, not public institutions.
Wright and Underly currently both hold Wisconsin teaching, principal and administrative licenses. Obtaining a lifetime license is an eight-year process with the application process done through the DPI.
Though the race is non-partisan, some candidates’ values mirror certain ideologies or have been endorsed by other major entities. Underly has been openly endorsed by the Wisconsin Democratic Party.
In a statement released last November, the party said, “From fighting to give rural school districts a seat at the table, to expanding mental health services in schools, to ensuring every school, teacher, and student has the resources they need to succeed, Dr. Underly is the proven leader we need.”
Wright is endorsed by the Wisconsin Education Association Council, an association to support teachers in Wisconsin with a network of resources. He also ran for State Assembly District 51 in 2016 and 2018 as a Democrat.
Wright mainly seeks to unite the DPI with other state government bodies in a collaborative and constructive way. He speaks often on Underly’s lack of strong leadership and lack of vision when interacting with state legislature
“We will do better together with a common mission as a state,” Wright said to the Cap Times,” than with a DPI that seems rudderless and isn’t providing the leadership that our schools need.”
Kinser has made no statement aligning with any political body nor been endorsed. The CEO of the conservative think tank, the Institute for Reforming Government, CJ Szafir said to Ballotpedia, “I don’t think there’s any real daylight between what conservatives want in the DPI and what Brittany wants to do at the DPI.”
To vote in-person, head to City Hall, 203 S. Farwell Street on Feb. 18 to the elections office. In-person absentee voting is also open in the elections office on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. until Feb. 14. For more information on absentee voting, go to eauclairewi.gov.
Pawlisch can be reached at pawliswj0471@uwec.edu.
