Wisconsin's top education official facing challengers on both flanks

MADISON, Wis. — The race to become Wisconsin's top education official pits the Democratic-backed incumbent against a school choice advocate aligned with Republicans and a rural school superintendent who has garnered support from teachers unions and school administrators.

The top two vote-getters in Tuesday's primary will face off on April 1.

Wisconsin's top education job has uniquely broad authority

Wisconsin is the only state where voters elect the top education official but there is no state board of education. That gives the person who runs the Department of Public Instruction broad authority to oversee education policy, which includes dispersing money to schools and managing teacher licensing.

Whoever wins will have to manage Wisconsin's relationship with the Trump administration as it seeks to eliminate the federal Department of Education, which supports roughly 14% of public school budgets nationwide with an annual budget of $79 billion.

The race for the constitutional office is officially nonpartisan, with a single open primary to narrow the field to the top two candidates. But support for the candidates largely breaks down along partisan lines, with more Democrats and backers of increasing funding for public schools on one side and Republicans and conservatives who favor bolstering private school vouchers and other choice programs on the other.

Democratic incumbent faces challengers on both flanks

The incumbent, Jill Underly, was first elected in 2021 with the support of Democrats and teacher unions. But this year she faces a challenge on the left from Sauk Prairie Superintendent Jeff Wright, a two-time Democratic candidate for state Assembly who has chipped into her base of support.

On her right is Brittany Kinser, a consultant for privatizing education through voucher programs and past president of a Milwaukee nonprofit that advocates for and funds charter schools.

Kinser described herself as both a moderate and a ''Blue Dog Democrat,'' a term that refers to a Democrat who votes conservative.

Kinser is the favored candidates of Republicans. The Wisconsin Republican Party has given Kinser's campaign $100,000 and billionaire GOP megadonors Dick and Liz Uihlein, founders of the shipping company Uline, and Diane Hendricks, owner of ABC Supply, all gave the maximum of $20,000 for individual donations.

Underly is endorsed by the Wisconsin Democratic Party, which has given her campaign $50,000.

In a blow to Underly, the political action committee of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the state's largest teachers union, recommended supporting Wright, although it stopped short of a full endorsement. Wright also is endorsed by the Association of Wisconsin School Administrators, which did not endorse anyone in the 2021 race.

Student achievement and school funding are key issues

Kinser let her state administrator license expire last summer, which Wright and Underly have said makes her unqualified to lead the education department. Kinser calls that a ''distraction'' and points to her 25 years of educational experience.

Underly has tried to position herself as the champion for public schools. She wants to tap nearly all of the state's $4 billion surplus to increase school funding. Republicans who control the Legislature and vote on how much to spend on education funding have said her request will be denied.

Underly also overhauled state achievement standards last year. She said better reflect what students are learning now, but bipartisan opposition included Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who served as state superintendent before being elected governor in 2018.

Wright and Kinser have both said the new standards lowered the bar for students and made it more difficult to see how schools and districts are performing over time. Kinser said improving student performance is the reason she got into the race. She supports a Republican-authored bill in the state Legislature to restore the previous standards.

Wisconsin continues to have one of the nation's largest achievement gaps between Black and white students.

Underly argues that her experience makes her the best choice to deal with changes coming from the Trump administration. She held a news conference to criticize Trump's freezing of federal aid for Head Start programs on the same day she skipped a candidate forum with Kinser and Wright.

Wright's attempts to peel off Underly's supporters included a television ad accusing her of ''failing Wisconsin schools.''

Wisconsin schools don't need the $4 billion Underly requested, Wright said, but he does support increasing funding so that districts don't have to ask voters to increase their property taxes. He also accused Underly of poor management and said the department's relationship with the Legislature is broken.

Candidates are divided over future of anti-union law

Wright supports overturning the 2011 law known as Act 10 that effectively ended collective bargaining for school teachers and other public workers, with the exception of police, firefighters and sheriffs deputies. Underly also said she thinks the law is unconstitutional. Kinser does not support overturning Act 10.

A case seeking to overturn the law is pending before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

The state education superintendent race struggled to get attention alongside the higher profile contest for Wisconsin Supreme Court. There is no primary in that race, which will also be on the April 1 ballot. The winner will determine the court's ideological balance.