http://newiprogressive.com/images/stories/S5/teaching-students-s435.jpgWright campaign seeks answers about Underly financial mismanagement at state schools agency via new open records request.

MADISON-Is incumbent Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Jill Underly hiding a millions-dollar structural deficit, a hiring freeze and potential layoffs from the public and Legislature going into her re-election campaign? Are her political operatives involved in an ongoing coverup of this information?

The Jeff Wright for Wisconsin campaign is seeking answers to these questions in an Open Records Request submitted Wednesday (text below) after a newly-obtained internal email from August (attached) suggests chaos in the finances at DPI.

The August email from a top deputy at the agency - never before shared with the public or the Legislature - cites “funding challenges” when laying out a series of drastic cost-cutting measures, limiting travel, hiring and programming. Underly has never disclosed these steps.

In the records request submitted on January 8th to the agency’s website, duplicated in the attached Open Records request sent January 8th to the DPI general counsel, the Wright campaign is seeking answers to the following questions:

1. Why haven’t we heard directly from Jill Underly about the dire financial conditions before? Is the Department of Public Instruction concealing an internal deficit AND a de facto hiring freeze from the public (and Legislature) heading into an election?

2. Has Jill Underly been honest with the public (and the Legislature) about the finances of her agency and whether financial mismanagement has caused the drastic measures laid out in the August email?

3. Are political considerations - and NOT the mission of supporting K-12 education in Wisconsin - behind the apparent lack of transparency at DPI?

Wright for Wisconsin Campaign Manager Tyler Smith called for transparency and answers in submitting the records request today:

“The Department of Public Instruction has never been so isolated from the future of K-12 education in Wisconsin because of Jill Underly’s failures. The August email we have obtained, and which we share today, suggests chaos and coverup in the agency.

“The public has a right to know whether DPI has imposed a de facto hiring freeze or whether this once-proud agency faces unprecedented structural deficits, even as Jill Underly has sought conflict and put her political well-being above public education in Wisconsin.

“It’s time for Jill Underly to be honest about the internal finances at the Department of Public Instruction.”

*****

DPI COVERUP OPEN RECORDS REQUEST

(submitted TODAY via mail and electronically)

Ben Jones

General Counsel

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

201 W. Washington Ave
Madison, Wis.
53702

1/8/25

Dear Mr. Jones,

This letter is to request the following records, under the state’s Open Records Law (19.31-39, Wisconsin Statutes):

• Emails from the receipt of this request dating back to August, 2024, including drafts, regarding any structural deficit or hiring freeze at the Department of Public Instruction, from and to the following agency staff:

• Dr. Jill Underly

• Thomas McCarthy

• Sachin Chheda

• Demetri Beekman

• Barb Novak

• Ben Jones

• Ashley Showers

• John Johnson

• Laura Adams

• Erin Faith

• Tacara Lovings

• Drafts and responses to the email from Thomas McCarthy sent on 8/14/24, titled “Agency operations communication” from the individuals listed above

• Any emails and other records related to any hiring freeze, personnel practices, structural deficit or other cost overruns, from August 2024 to present.

Records

Please be aware that the Open Records law defines “record” to include information that is maintained on paper as well as electronically, such as data files and unprinted emails. Wis. Stat. § 19.32(2).

Please also be aware that the Open Records law “shall be construed in every instance with the presumption of complete public access consistent with the conduct of governmental business. The denial of access generally is contrary to the public interest and only in exceptional cases can access be denied.” If you deny my request, the law requires you to do so in writing and state what part of the law you believe entitles you to deny my request. Wis. Stat. § 19.35(4)(a).

The Open Records law states that you may charge for “the actual, necessary and direct cost” of locating records, if this exceeds $50, and for photocopies.  Please advise me before processing this request if the total cost will exceed $50..

As you know, the law requires you to respond to this request “as soon as practicable and without delay.”

If you are not the records custodian for this information, please forward this request to the appropriate person. Also, please let me know if I can clarify or refine this request.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Tyler Smith
Campaign Manager, Wright for Wisconsin