WI employers can’t find literate workers!
Republicans in the state legislature are rightly holding up $1 million in funding for Jill Underly’s WI Department of Public Instruction after learning the state agency spent $368,885 to rent a Wisconsin Dells vacation spa for four days in June 2024. That is where DPI convened 88 “expert” educators, who signed non-disclosure agreements, as reported by Wisconsin Right Now and Dairyland Sentinel.
Their apparent shame is understandable. The purpose of the expensive confab: to redefine what it means for a Wisconsin student to be proficient in reading and math! That redefinition led to rejiggering DPI’s school district achievement report cards to cover up the failure of over-politicized, identity-obsessed, progressive pedagogy. (“State school boss cheats on her tests”)
The chickens have come home to roost. Over half of Wisconsin employers say the state’s K-12 education system does not adequately prepare students for the workforce, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce finds.
The top obstacle, by far, is the lack of skilled applicants (59%). 64% of employers indicated their employees struggle with reading, math, or both. 30% of respondents have had to resort to providing remedial education or tutoring. — WMC Report on Education 2026
Putting teachers back in control
Republicans are proposing state legislation to allow teachers to remove students from classrooms when they disrupt class. The bill would protect teachers from being terminated for enforcing classroom order. Too late for Mr. Rob at Whitehorse middle school, whom former Madison Supt. Jennifer Cheatham sacrificed on the altar of Woke. As with banning cell phones in the classroom, why do only Republicans think of these things?
Be wary of anyone the teachers union endorses for your local school board. Here in Madison, teachers union-endorsed candidates jacked upschool property tax increases by $676 for the average home. “Those [referendums] look a lot more real on a property tax bill than on a ballot,” said one parent quoted here.
Blaska’s Bottom Line: Wisconsin’s K-12 schools cost to much for too little result. Wisconsin had a chance to elect education reformer Brittany Kinser a year ago. Alas, we’re stuck with Jill Underly for another three years, unless the incumbent has the good grace to resign. We remain skeptical of the Madison school board candidates.
3 responses to “Redefining failure & waste”
I can’t believe I’m the first one to comment on the Squire’s excellent and thought provoking post on this topic! There must have been a lot going on today. At any rate, is there no shame among the voting public in our state for re-electing Underly for state superintendent of DPI? It is downright embarrassing to have such an underachieving individual in charge of public education in our fair state. Talk about low information voters! Oh, that’s right. The teachers unions all endorsed her! There’s the fox in the henhouse!
I’d like to point to a paragraph in the WSJ front page story on this matter. Addressing the notion that they dumbed down the standards in order to get better results in their ratings, the WSJ writer said, “State Superintendent Jill Underly defended the changes, saying performance benchmarks and accountability systems must align with how students learn.”
Am I the only one who realizes that, far from defending against such a scurrilous motive, that statement confirms the accusation completely! She has it exactly backwards. Aligning the benchmarks with “how students learn,” simply means lowering the standards when teachers do a poor job of teaching, or raising them if by chance the students exceed expectations (Has that ever happened?) How about we try aligning the “how-students-learn” side of the equation to meet the standards? Let’s do a better job of teaching so that we meet the challenge rather than move the goalposts. What a concept!
Jill is a paid political hack of the WEAC.