DPI chief Jill Underly won a second term. What does state superintendent do?
Wisconsin voters elected State Superintendent Jill Underly to a second term in the spring 2025 election.
Underly, a Democrat, defeated her Republican-backed opponent, education consultant Brittany Kinser. She drew 53% of the votes to Kinser's 47%, according to unofficial results.
Here's what to know about Underly and the state superintendent job:
The state superintendent leads the Department of Public Instruction, the statewide agency that disburses school funding, oversees teacher licensing, guides policies for Wisconsin's 400-plus school districts and more.
The DPI chief plays a critical role in advocating for K-12 education statewide. The agency requests money from the state Legislature for schools every two years.
Wisconsin is the only state where voters elect the top education official but there is no state board of education.
More: Everything you need to know about the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction superintendent race
Underly was first elected in 2021. She secured a second term on Tuesday.
Underly's education career began in 1999 as a high school social studies teacher in Indiana. She moved to Wisconsin in 2005, working as an adviser at the University of Wisconsin-Madison while she earned her doctoral degree in educational leadership and policy analysis. She then spent five years at the DPI, specializing in federal grants. From 2015 to 2021, she served as superintendnet of Pecatonica Area School District, leading about 400 students in rural southwestern Wisconsin.
As Pecatonica superintendent, Underly saw the disparities between districts when students and teachers left for wealthier suburban Madison districts. She saw the state's funding formula as broken and wanted to fix it.
"We have to take a look at what the message is we're sending to kids who live in rural Wisconsin and in urban school districts, too, (about) the value of their education," she told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in an interview last month. "Because right now, I think the message is they're not valued."
Underly is likely most known for her controverisal overhaul of the state's proficiency benchmarks for standardized tests last year. Kinser, her opponent, and Republicans have said the changes "lowered standards" because the new cut scores students need to be considered proficient are lower than under the previous system. Underly said the changes came at the request of Wisconsin teachers and more accurately reflect student achievement.
On the campaign trail, Underly toued a reading literacy law passed in 2023. It set aside $50 million for reading instruction. But only $1 million has been released, with the rest tied up in a lawsuit between Evers and the Legislature. If unresolved by June 30, the money will end up in the state's general fund.
Among Underly's lesser-known initiatives is an online network for special education teachers to receive mentorship and support. She said she would like to expand the program to connect teachers of other subject areas who work in rural communities. Even though they may be the only Spanish teacher or librarian or band teacher in their district, they shouldn't feel that way, she said.
"The progress we've made is real," Underly said at a candidate forum last month. "But the work isn't done."
The term lasts four years.
Underly's second term goes through June 2029.
For the budget covering July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2027, Underly proposed just over $4 billion in new spending. Her request reimburses schools at 90% for special education, up from the 33% the state currently reimburses. It would also tie revenue limits to inflation.
The proposal needs approval from the GOP-controlled Legislature, which is unlikely to support the level of spending Underly proposed.
The superintendent earns a $146,183 salary this year.
Kelly Meyerhofer covers higher education in Wisconsin. Contact her at kmeyerhofer@gannett.com or 414-223-5168. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @KellyMeyerhofer.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What to know about Wisconsin state superintendent job
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
13 minutes ago
In their own words: Trump, Newsom trade insults and barbs over National Guard in Los Angeles
The swiftly evolving situation in the Los Angeles area over protests surrounding immigration enforcement actions has also cued up a public spat between President Donald Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom, the California governor who has been one of the Republican president's most vocal Democratic critics. After Trump on Sunday called up 2,000 National Guard troops to respond, Newsom said he would sue the administration, a promise on which the state followed through a day later. Trump cited a legal provision that allows him to mobilize federal service members when there is 'a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States." The president also agreed with one of his top advisers that maybe the governor should be arrested. Here's a look at back-and-forth between Trump and Newsom in their own words: 'You have violent people, and we're not gonna let them get away with it.' — Trump, Sunday, in remarks to reporters in Morristown, New Jersey. ___ Newsom's ire has been elevated over Trump's decision to, without his support, call up the California National Guard for deployment into his state. In a letter Sunday, Newsom called on Trump to rescind the Guard deployment, calling it a 'serious breach of state sovereignty.' The governor, who was in Los Angeles meeting with local law enforcement and other officials, also told protesters they were playing into Trump's plans and would face arrest for violence or property destruction. 'Trump wants chaos and he's instigated violence,' he said. 'Stay peaceful. Stay focused. Don't give him the excuse he's looking for.' In an interview with MSNBC, Newsom said Sunday he had spoken with Trump 'late Friday night,' after the protests had begun, but said deploying the National Guard 'never came up.' "We talked for almost 20 minutes, and he — barely, this issue never came up. I mean, I kept trying to talk about LA, he wanted to talk about all these other issues," Newsom said. 'We had a very decent conversation.' 'He never once brought up the National Guard,' Newsom said of Trump, calling him 'a stone-cold liar.' Saying, 'I did call him the other night,' Trump told reporters Sunday that he told Newsom in that call: ''Look you've got to take care of this. Otherwise I'm sending in the troops.' ... That's what we did.' On Monday, Trump posted on social media that Los Angeles would have been 'completely obliterated' without his intervention and referred to Newsom as 'Newscum,' a pejorative moniker he has used to refer to the governor. 'We are suing Donald Trump. This is a manufactured crisis. He is creating fear and terror to take over a state militia and violate the U.S. constitution.' — Newsom, Monday, X post. ___ As Newsom promised, California officials sued the Trump administration on Monday, with the state's attorney general, Rob Bonta, arguing that the deployment of troops 'trampled' on the state's sovereignty and pushing for a restraining order. The initial deployment of 300 National Guard troops was expected to quickly expand to the full 2,000 that were authorized by Trump. Late Monday, Trump authorized an additional 2,000 National Guard troops. Ahead of that move, Newsom accused the president of inflaming tensions, breaching state sovereignty and wasting resources, while warning protesters not to 'take Trump's bait.' Teasing the suit, Newsom told MSNBC that he saw the deployment as 'an illegal act, an immoral act, an unconstitutional act.' Asked Monday about the lawsuit, Trump said it was 'interesting' and argued 'that place would be burning down' without the federal government's intervention. 'I'm very happy I got involved," Trump added. "I think Gavin in his own way is very happy I got involved.' 'I think it's great. Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing." — Trump, Monday, in remarks to reporters. ___ Tom Homan, the Trump administration's border czar, previously warned that anyone, including public officials, would be arrested if they obstructed federal immigration enforcement. Newsom's initial response to Homan, during the MSNBC interview and in subsequent posts on his own social media: 'Come and get me, tough guy.' On Monday Trump seemed to agree with his border chief, telling reporters, 'I would do it if I were Tom.' 'I think it's great. Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing,' Trump added. "He's done a terrible job. Look — I like Gavin, he's a nice guy, but he's grossly incompetent, everybody knows." Homan later said there was 'no discussion' about actually arresting Newsom, but reiterated that 'no one's above the law.' wrote Monday on X that they represented 'a day I hoped I would never see in America' and said Trump's call for his arrest marked 'an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.'
14 minutes ago
Election conspiracy theorist sticks by false 2020 claims in defamation trial
DENVER -- One of the nation's most prominent election conspiracy theorists, MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, stuck by his false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen while testifying Monday during a defamation trial over statements he made about a former official for a leading voting equipment company. Taking the stand for the first time during the trial, Lindell denied making any statements he knew to be false about Eric Coomer, the former product strategy and security director for Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems. Among other things, Lindell accused Coomer of being 'a part of the biggest crime this world has ever seen." Lindell also distanced himself from a story told by a conservative podcaster who accused Coomer of helping to rig the 2020 election. It was discussed during a 2021 symposium Lindell hosted to discuss election fraud. Lindell said he did not know about the story before it was discussed onstage at the event and only learned about it during the trial. Coomer said his career and life have been destroyed by statements Lindell made about him and allowed to be promoted through his online media platform, Frankspeech. During sometimes rambling testimony in federal court in Denver, Lindell painted himself as the victim of 'lawfare' — when people are sued to scare them into silence. Several conservative news organizations, including Fox News, Newsmax and One America News, have settled defamation lawsuits from voting machine companies over allegations that they promoted falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election. In 2021, Newsmax also apologized to Coomer for airing false allegations against him. Nevertheless, Lindell said he hoped his trial would lead people to look at what happened in the election and get rid of electronic voting machines, which have been targeted in a web of conspiracy theories. Reviews, recounts and audits in the battleground states where Trump contested his 2020 loss all affirmed Democrat Joe Biden's victory. Trump's own attorney general at the time said there was no evidence of widespread fraud, and Trump and his allies lost dozens of court cases seeking to overturn the result. Lindell said he never accused Coomer of rigging the election, but he testified that Coomer's claims led Newsmax to block him from being able to go on air to talk about voting machines. 'You're part of the biggest coverup of the biggest crime the world has ever seen,' he said to the Coomer lawyer questioning him, Charles Cain. Lindell said he used to be worth about $60 million before he started speaking out about the 2020 election, and now he has nothing and is $10 million in debt. 'I believe what you did to me and MyPillow was criminal,' he said to Cain during questioning. Both Cain and U.S. District Judge Nina Wang had to remind Lindell several times to listen to the questions and only provide the answers to them, rather than head off on tangents. During the trial, Coomer's attorneys have tried to show how their client's life was devastated by the series of conspiracy theories about him. Lindell was comparatively late to seize on Coomer, not mentioning him until February 2021, well after his name had been circulated by other Trump partisans. Coomer said the conspiracy theories cost him his job, his mental health and the life he'd built and said Lindell's statements were the most distressing of all. He specifically pointed to a statement on May 9, 2021, when Lindell described what he believed Coomer had done as 'treason.' Asked by his attorney what he wants out of the trial, Coomer said he would like an apology, compensation and 'a chance of rehabilitating my public image.' Lindell's attorneys argued that Coomer's reputation was already in tatters by the time Lindell mentioned him — partly because of Coomer's own Facebook posts disparaging Trump, which the former Dominion employee acknowledged were 'hyperbolic' and had been a mistake. 'Your reputation was shattered long before Mr. Lindell said a word about you,' Chris Katchouroff said to Coomer. Katchouroff noted that Lindell also is known for making hyperbolic statements and that what he said about Coomer was simply the result of his sincere concern over vote-rigging in the 2020 presidential election — a claim for which there is no evidence.
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
GOP Rep Announces Sudden Retirement in Shock Twist for GOP Majority
Tennessee Rep. Mark Green announced his sudden retirement Monday before the end of his term, leaving Republicans with a slender majority. Green, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, revealed that he would be moving into the private sector once the House votes on any Senate changes to Donald Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill.' The initial legislation squeaked by in the House last month, 215 to 214. 'Recently, I was offered an opportunity in the private sector that was too exciting to pass up,' he said in a statement. Green didn't elaborate on the role, and his office didn't immediately return a request for comment from the Daily Beast. Upon Green's exit from the House, the GOP's majority will shrink to seven—219 to 212. A special primary election will take place within two months from that date, with a general election to follow a few weeks later. Green's seat—Tennessee's 7th congressional district—is reliably red, having been in Republican hands since 1983. A former Army flight surgeon in Afghanistan and Iraq who interviewed Saddam Hussein during Operation Red Dawn, Green later founded a staffing company for hospitals' emergency departments. He also launched two medical clinics in Tennessee and 'numerous' medical mission trips, his website states. Green was elected to the Tennessee state senate in 2012. He briefly ran for governor in 2018, but later launched a bid instead for his current seat when then-Rep. Marsha Blackburn announced her run for Senate. In February 2024, Green announced he would retire from Congress, but changed his mind two weeks later after Donald Trump said he would endorse him if he ran for reelection. That summer, Green drew attention over personal matters. While in the process of getting divorced, Green's then-wife accused him of having an affair. In a statement acknowledging a 'difficult time for my family and me,' Green didn't deny the claim, which the woman in question confirmed to Politico after Green's wife initially identified the wrong woman. 'We are currently going through divorce proceedings,' Green said then. 'As this is a deeply private matter, I ask for privacy. I will continue to serve this district with all I've got, as I have the last five and a half years.' Green's daughter, Catherine, subsequently told the Nashville Banner that he had not been living up to his public image. 'My dad sells himself in politics as being a Christian, conservative family man,' she said. 'His actions in the last, whatever, year have not been that.'
