(The Center Square) – The Institute for Reforming Government is calling for Wisconsin lawmakers to create a special committee to investigate the Department of Public Instructions decision to spend nearly $370,000 of taxpayer money on a 2024 Forward Exam standard-setting workshop in the Wisconsin Dells, with details of the discussions at the workshop hidden behind non-disclosure agreements.
Jake Curtis, General Counsel and Director of the CIO at IRG, previously told The Center Square that he believed 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.
An investigation from The Center Square showed that other states that work with DPI either hold meetings remotely or in the capital city where the state education department is already located, only paying for expenses from committee members who travel more than 50 miles for the meetings.
Wisconsin’s Joint Committee on Finance delayed $1 million in a funding request to DPI after the report came to light through reporting from the Dairyland Sentinel but later approved a funding request with Co-chair Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, telling WisPolitics that “there’s nothing wrong with hosting a conference at a Wisconsin conference center and supporting Wisconsin tourism as well.”
DPI Deputy State Superintendent Tom McCarthy claimed to the outlet that Wisconsin is one of the cheaper states that overhauled testing standards but provided no details to prove that.
A spokesperson for the department, Chris Bucher, previously claimed that the conference was a “common approach” though reporting from The Center Square showed that no other state had taken the approach of holding a conference at a resort outside of the state capital.
DPI and Data Recognition Corp. have not responded to questions from The Center Square about the meetings.
Data Recognition Corp., led by former Republican Wisconsin Senate Minority Leader Susan Engeleiter, reportedly signed a nearly $80 million 10-year contract with Wisconsin to operate its testing and create the Forward Exam after initially bidding $63 million on the contract.
The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign questioned Engeleiter’s donations to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker when the deal was signed. Gov. Tony Evers was the state school superintendent at the time.
DPI shared a list of additional expenses for the conference with WisPolitics, which included $219,225 for meeting expenses.
That included $70,447 for meeting rooms to accommodate the group, audiovisual equipment and including $55,752 for food. DPI spent $69,437 to reimburse panelists, including a daily stipend of $150 for educators, totaling $52,200, and $10,491 to cover mileage.
It also paid $66,342 for lodging of panelists and staff of Data Recognition Corp.
