(The Center Square) – The Wisconsin Assembly Committee on Government Operations, Accountability and Transparency will hold an informal hearing Wednesday related to open records and open meetings for the Department of Public Instruction’s Forward Exam.
DPI has come under fire for not complying with public records requests from Dairyland Sentinel related to its 2024 standard-setting conference in the Wisconsin Dells while the Institute for Reforming Government has questioned why the meetings were not noticed with an agenda as General Counsel Jake Curtis told The Center Square that he believes the meeting fits under the definition of a state Ad Hoc Committee.
Conference attendees signed non-disclosure agreements through Data Recognition Corp., which currently has a 10 year, $80 million contract with the state to conduct the Forward Exam. DPI paid Data Recognition Corp. $8 million on resetting its standards on the Forward Exam and operating the test in 2023-24.
Curtis and DPI State Superintendent Jill Underly are scheduled to speak at the hearing.
DPI spokesperson Chris Bucher told The Center Square that “standard setting and assessment item review is a ‘routine’ part of this process.”
Bucher was previously quoted as saying that the Wisconsin Dells location was aimed at supporting Wisconsin tourism and stating the Wisconsin Dells meeting was a “common approach.”
But a Center Square investigation showed that hosting standard-setting meetings outside the state capital city, where the department is located, is unique to Wisconsin and not done in other states, adding expenses for DPI staff to stay and attend the meetings along with bringing in computers, hotspots and technology to use at the meeting.
Curtis told The Center Square that, while the conference spending raised eyebrows and drew headlines, he believes the 88-member standards-setting group filled with school employees and leaders fits the exact definition of an Ad Hoc Committee and that meetings of that committee should be public and not subject to the non-disclosure agreements signed by conference attendees.
“In Wisconsin, we have very robust open meetings laws, public records laws and we have a strong sunshine set of laws in Wisconsin,” Curtis told The Center Square. “What the Department of Public Instruction did here was pretty obvious, just did not want the scrutiny from the public. And that’s frankly why it’s such a problem for DPI.”
