(The Center Square) – Milwaukee’s superintendent says she understands that she must make difficult budget decisions, even as she hopes what some people call the most significant school budget reform in Wisconsin history gets struck down.
Milwaukee Public Schools superintendent Brenda Cassellius was on UpFront over the weekend.
She defended her decision to cut nearly 200 jobs at MPS’ central office, while also using a federal grant to hire more than 150 new teachers and paraprofessionals.
“We have to make the very difficult decisions to tighten our belt to make sure that we’re spending within our means. We have been overspending within the district,” Cassellius said.
Cassellius said MPS has to stop “overspending,” largely because the district doesn’t have any extra money to spend.
“We only have about $14 million left on the referendum that we can spend in the budget year past this one, and so we know that by [fiscal year] ’28, which is the funding for the school year ’27-28, we won’t have any new additional referendum dollars,” she added.
Voters approved a $252 million tax increase in 2024 to stabilize MPS’ finances.
That money is already earmarked, and Cassellius said MPS is looking at $20 million in additional insurance costs next year, which means there could be a deficit going forward.
And that is before the Wisconsin Supreme Court decides the fate of Act-10.
Proponents say Act-10 has saved taxpayers more than $35 billion since it was signed into law in 2011. The law limited what teachers can negotiate on, specifically banning insurance rate increases from contract talks.
Cassellius said she wants to see Act-10 struck down.
“I’ve always been a supporter of unions and labor,” Cassellius said. “I think they play a really important part. I actually said to the union I’d want to be one of the first ones to have our contract in place.”
She didn’t offer a guess as to how much the end of Act-10 would cost MPS.
Cassellius also said she can’t rule out a new school referedum to raise more money. She said MPS must also look at its aging buildings.
But Dan Lennington with the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty said MPS, like all schools in the state, don’t need as many buildings because they are looking at fewer students.
“Wisconsin will lose 4.6% of its public school enrollment by 2031. Large school districts MUST plan to cut spending/staff/facilities,” Lennington wrote on social media. “Why should budgets keep growing?”

(The Center Square) – The number of school referenda approved in Wisconsin has led to a larger gap in how much school districts can receive from taxpayers.
That means school districts that have passed referenda are receiving much more funding than those that have not.
“The question may eventually be decided in court,” Wisconsin Policy Forum wrote in its report. “In February 2026, a group of school districts, parents, and advocacy organizations sued the Wisconsin Legislature, alleging that it has systematically underfunded K-12 school districts and violated the state constitution in the process. The Wisconsin Supreme Court last found the school aid funding system to be constitutional in 2000.”
The state saw 61.3% of referenda pass in the spring, with 46 of 75 school district referenda being approved by voters. More will be coming in the fall election.
The only lower percentage of approvals in spring elections in an even-numbered year is 55.0% in 2010 with 60.2% in 2024.
Overall, the lowest approval rate in an even-numbered was 52.7% in 2010 and it was 70.1% in 2024.
Will Flanders, research director for the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, has shown using Department of Public Instruction data that Wisconsin is currently spending more on public schools than it did a decade ago, jumping to $18,592 per student from $16,820 in 2014.
He also has pointed out that there is no correlation between spending more on schools and student performance.
“The relationship between spending and outcomes is generally slightly negative,” Flanders wrote. “When we’re spending nearly $19K per student, we are well past the point of diminishing returns. More money is not the answer.”
The data that Flanders used to present that information, however, has now been removed from DPI’s website.
After WILL exposed that current public school funding is HIGHER than year 2000 levels, @WisconsinDPI suddenly removed the once publicly available school spending data. We need more transparency, not less. pic.twitter.com/mTxtPGvbOQ— WILL (@WILawLiberty) April 13, 2026

(The Center Square) – Sen. Tammy Baldwin introduced a bill that she touted as stopping sports blackouts and slashing streaming costs but that bill could have the largest impact on the Brewers and Bucks.
Major League Baseball teams play 162 games and the bill requires all of those games to be provided to home state viewers for free.
Main Street Sports Group shut down their regional sports networks due to finances after the final National Basketball Association regular season games this week and the NBA, Major League Baseball and National Hockey League teams are moving their broadcasts elsewhere.
MLB made the move in January with the final nine teams – including the Brewers – leaving FanDuel Sports Network and creating their own networks, something Brewers owner Mark Attanasio told the media would likely cost the team $20 million in revenue this year.
Baldwin’s bill would prevent the Brewers from charging for those games in Wisconsin while those outside the area can get the games along with the MLB package.
The Bucks have not determined who will hold rights to televise their games next season.
The Brewers’ network, Brewers.TV, costs fans in Wisconsin $100 for the season or $20 monthly or they can can get the broadcasts on cable partners Xfinity, Spectrum, DirecTV, Fubo or AT&T U-Verse.
Baldwin’s bill would require the Brewers to provide that service free through either streaming or through over-the-air broadcasts, which would significantly cut into the revenue the Brewers receive for running their own TV network.
The Center Square was unable to obtain a comment on the proposal from the Brewers before publication.
“Rooting for our favorite sports teams brings all walks of life together – but in order for that to happen, families need to actually be able to watch the games,” Baldwin said in a statement. “Gigantic streaming services and big sports leagues have created a complicated and expensive maze of subscriptions that either stop fans from watching their teams altogether or gouge fans to simply watch the teams they love.”
Finances related to NFL games are far different than those for MLB or NBA teams.
But that is being questioned now in the House Judiciary Committee, which is examining the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 and the NFL’s ability to pool its TV deal and then split the revenue evenly amongst teams like the Packers, even though they are in the league’s smallest market.
The Packers worry messing with the current law could force teams to once again have their own TV deals, hurting small market teams.I asked the team’s director of public affairs, Aaron Popkey, if that’s realistic.”That is the great unknown…that is the grave concern we have” https://t.co/WusOiu4muw pic.twitter.com/w83Eh7689s— A.J. Bayatpour (@AJBayatpour) April 10, 2026
The Packers wrote to Wisconsin Congressman Scott Fitzgerald, calling changing the model an “existential threat” saying that changing the act would “disrupt competitive bland, threatening the ability of the Packers to meaningfully compete and making it more difficult for fans to watch the Packers play,” CBS Milwaukee’s A.J. Bayatpour reported.
Packers vs. Feds? WI Congressman Scott Fitzgerald applauds the DOJ investigating the Sports Broadcasting Act.The Packers sent him a letter two weeks ago saying “any disruption to the current SBA model…would pose an existential threat to the Green Bay Packers” https://t.co/VMjEtoNWN8 pic.twitter.com/cGGHosIgWq— A.J. Bayatpour (@AJBayatpour) April 10, 2026
Baldwin touted the proposal as a way to simplify payments from fans who purchase league-wide packages such as MLB.TV, NBA League Pass, NHL Center Ice and NFL Sunday Ticket by preventing blackouts of some games that are then on other streaming services such as Netflix, Prime, Peacock or YouTube TV, calling those single-game blackouts “deceptive practice.”
The NFL entered a five-game long-term broadcast agreement with YouTube TV recently, Front Office Sports reported on Thursday.
YouTube is the current rights holder for NFL Sunday Ticket.
The Brewers joined the Atlanta Braves Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays in beginning their own sports networks and streaming this season.
Those teams have acknowledged that the new model leads to less revenue than their previous regional sports contracts.
The blackout ban would also allow Iowa viewers – who are currently blacked out for Cubs, White Sox, Cardinals, Royals, Twins and Brewers games – to watch all of those teams through MLB TV.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose slightly in February to 3.4% in numbers released Thursday, sitting below the 4.4% national rate for February.
March numbers are expected to be released in two weeks as the data catches up to a normal timeline following the federal shutdown late last year.
Wisconsin’s number of individuals employed rose 1,500 from January but was down 11,900 year over year. The labor force participation rate went up to 64.4%, above the 62.0% national rate.
“The Wisconsin labor market has cooled a bit, along with the national economy,” Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development Section Chief of the Office of Economic Advisors Scott Hodek said.
Wisconsin manufacturing jobs were down 100 for the month and down 8,600 year over year.
Hodek said that trend matched national labor market trends but “those contractions don’t always indicate the health of the industry.”
Hodek said that manufacturers can become more efficient and see increased productivity and that, if companies have open positions that they are struggling to fill, that can also be reflected in the numbers, saying there are “mixed indicators” but manufacturing is an important sector with good-paying jobs.

(The Center Square) – Judge Lyndsey Brunette began her campaign Thursday for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, becoming the first judge to enter the race to replace Annette Ziegler, who has announced that she will not run for reelection in 2027.
Ziegler will be one of two conservative justices on the court until her term ends. Brunette has been a circuit court judge in Clark County since 2018.
She previously ran as a Democrat and won the race to become Clark County District Attorney in 2012, the first woman to hold the position. She began her legal career at the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office in Minneapolis under then County Attorney Amy Klobuchar.
“Before I became a judge, I served as a district attorney, prosecuting cases in this very courthouse and fighting for victims of domestic abuse and assault,” Brunette said in her campaign announcement. “I worked hard to protect families and keep communities safe.
“Today, on the bench, I make sure the law is applied fairly and equally. Because in our courts, justice shouldn’t depend on who you are, your politics, or how much money you have.”
The court will have five liberal justices and two conservatives after Chris Taylor takes her seat on Aug. 1 and, if she wins the race, Brunette would have the potential to extend that liberal majority to six members with one conservative.
“I’m running for the Wisconsin Supreme Court because those principles matter now more than ever,” Brunette said. “Judges should follow the facts and the law, respect the Constitution, and protect the rights and freedoms of everyone.”

(The Center Square) – There is now a state of emergency in Wisconsin because of this week’s rain and storms.
Gov. Tony Evers issued a disaster declaration after severe thunderstorms rolled across southeastern Wisconsin and after heavy rains left communities near Green Bay dealing with flooding.
“It is critical that we ensure our communities have access to every available resource to help local folks and families in need to secure essential infrastructure,” the governor said in his order. “We are grateful to all of the neighbors, emergency and first responders, local partners and volunteers, who are already working to support each other, respond to damages, restore essential services and ensure that homes, buildings and other important structures are as secure as we prepare for more severe weather to come.”
Tuesday saw two rounds of severe thunderstorms roll across southeast Wisconsin. The National Weather Service has not officially confirmed all of the damage, but forecasters say it appears that at least one tornado touched down in Waukesha County.
That tornado hit near the town of Sussex. Another tornado touched down in Juneau County.
In northeastern Wisconsin, this week’s storms have dumped heavy rains that have left several communities flooded.
In Suamico, the sheriff said flooding opened a sinkhole near the Suamico River that ate away part of a road and downed a power pole. That road is now closed.
The village of Hobart has declared a state of emergency because of flooding throughout the town.
In Manawa, volunteers are sandbagging at the local water treatment plant because the Little Wolf River is rising and could threaten the plant.
In New London, volunteers are being asked to help make more sandbags just in case.
So far there haven’t been any storm related deaths, though officials in Suamico said a driver drove into their sinkhole and had to be rescued. The person suffered only minor injuries.
Forecasters say there are more chances for rain or storms today, Friday and into Saturday morning across the state.

(The Center Square) – Jill Underly, Wisconsin’s State Superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction, did not attend a Wednesday morning committee meeting she was invited to about her department’s 2024 standards-setting conference in the Wisconsin Dells.
But representatives from her department were present and adamant the work of the 88-member committee that met was not subject to open meetings or open records disclosure because it was setup by vendor Data Recognition Corp.
Committee Chair Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, had the legislative legal affairs department read from state law that included a stipulation that a private company contacted to do public work had to follow the same record-keeping and notice process as a public entity.
Also, Institute for Reforming Government General Counsel Jake Curtis testified he believed prior case law was clear that the 88-member committee constituted an Ad Hoc Committee that should hold its meetings publicly.
“Given the decision by IRG to file an action in court against us … we are going to keep these comments to a fairly high level,” DPI Assistant State Superintendent Division of Government & Public Affairs Rich Judge said.
DPI Legislative Liaison Andrew Hoyer-Booth said that DPI feels “clearly and pretty strongly” that Data Recognition Corp.’s work at the conference did not constitute a public meeting.
IRG filed a complaint in Adams County Court about the meeting and plans to file a legal action on the meeting if no further action is taken by the court.
“Wisconsin case law is clear,” Curtis told the committee. “… The DOJ compliance guide is extremely clear on this.”
Judge was asked further questions about delays in the release of public records related to the conference, to which he responded that DPI’s legal department needs more resources to fulfill requests and that those same resources are then taken away from sexual misconduct investigations when they are used for public records.
Judge said that 100 legal hours have been spent on records related to the conference and the department expects that 100 to 150 more hours will be spent on the case.
The sexual misconduct work that Judge referenced that were heightened after a Capital Times report into how DPI handles teacher license investigations occurred after the public records response from DPI was delayed.
Rep. Mike Bare, D-Verona, asked Nedweski and Curtis if they would join him in a request for more funding for DPI for public records responses. He said that committee meetings like Wednesday’s unfairly add to educator and public school mistrust.
“The mistrust is growing because of theater like this,” Bare said.
Rep. David Steffen, R-Howard, said that Democrats always attempt to use discussions about DPI’s actions to push for more funding for the department.
“The solution provided from the other side is almost always money,” Steffen said. “I reject that. I know the public does as well.”

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin continued to drop in economic outlook, ranking 28th amongst the state’s in the new ‘Rich States, Poor States’ rankings from the American Legislative Exchange Council.
The group uses 15 state policy variables to project economic outlook and also computes economic performance based upon gross domestic product, absolute domestic migration and non-farm payroll employment.
Wisconsin ranked 32nd in economic performance between 2014 and 2024 because it was 34th in GDP, 27th in absolute domestic migration and 36th in non-farm payroll.
Wisconsin’s economic outlook has dropped from a top ranking of 12th in 2020 to the current 28th spot. It ranked 26th last year.
Wisconsin ranked at the top of the list for its right-to-work policy, relying on the federal minimum wage and not levying an estate or inheritance tax.
But the state ranked 40th for its 7.65% marginal personal income tax rate, 43rd for personal tax progressivity and 44th for its average workers’ compensation costs.
Wisconsin also ranked 30th in property tax burden, 36th in debt service as a share of tax revenue, 35th in top marginal corporate income tax rate and 18th in sales tax burden.

(The Center Square) – One of Wisconsin’s Republican congressmen says it could be a “frustrating” return to Capitol Hill this week.
Congress is back after a two-week break, and Rep. Bryan Steil said there is a lot on the to-do list.
“It’s frustrating,” Steil said during an interview on News Talk 1130 WISN. “We have narrow majorities in both the House and the Senate, that’s not lost on anybody, so making progress is difficult.”
Steil isn’t sure how much will actually get done, but he said his focus is on ending the shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security.
“The path forward on this is to move it through on a party-line vote and using the tactic of reconciliation to get around the Senate filibuster,” Steil said. “Getting the funding through for the Department of Homeland Security is so absolutely essential. That is going to take a ton of energy in the room, but I think we will be successful in the coming weeks.”
Steil is also focusing on his now three-year-long investigation into the fundraising platform ActBlue.
“What are online portals, like ActBlue, doing to prevent foreign donations from being processed on their platforms?” Steil asked. “We asked ActBlue a series of questions, and now it appears that they were not fully truthful.”
Politico wrote about Steil’s investigation Tuesday and followed a New York Times report that said ActBlue leaders may have “misled” Congress during testimony in 2023.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday called ActBlue the “most corrupt group in Government” in a post on Truth Social.
Steil said he expects “significant action in the coming weeks.”
“We’re taking this incredibly seriously, because at the end of the day the American people deserve to know that in U.S. elections there is no foreign funding,” Steil said.
As for how the ActBlue investigation ends, Steil said he is focusing on getting answers for the American people. Anything else would have to come from the Justice Department.
“The DOJ may have their own investigation that would result in an individual being held accountable to the law,” Steil said. “On the Congressional side, what I can do is provide transparency that can move the Department of Justice…but also to make sure that we are changing the laws on the books.”

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s Senate and Assembly decided to keep Gov. Tony Evers’ special session open on Tuesday as conversations continue on redistricting in the state, with Assembly Republican leaders saying that will allow for “meaningful dialogue” on the topic.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and Majority Leader Tyler August, R-Walworth, sent a joint statement at noon Tuesday announcing the continuation of the special session.
“We view the Governor’s proposal as a first step on which to build a more comprehensive, workable solution for Wisconsin and we hope that Governor Evers will agree to meet face-to-face with us to discuss our ideas on how to accomplish this shared goal,” the leaders said in a statement. “We’re committed to a transparent and balanced solution that reflects the interest of all Wisconsinites.”
Evers called the special session to “ban partisan gerrymandering” but did not provide details of his proposal, something he also mentioned in his State of the State speech.
Evers said Tuesday that he did not plan to compromise.
“There’s nothing to negotiate because there’s no room for compromise when it comes to making sure Wisconsinites’ voices matter and their votes count,” Evers said in a statement.
“Rigging maps so that one political party stays in power is wrong, it’s anti-democratic, and it’s un-American—there’s nothing to negotiate because there’s no room for compromise when it comes to making sure Wisconsinites’ voices matter and their votes count,” Evers added. “This is a first step—if we don’t get a ban on partisan gerrymandering put in Wisconsin’s constitution, lawmakers will never be forced to create the independent and nonpartisan redistricting process Wisconsinites deserve.
“Lawmakers either want to ban partisan gerrymandering in Wisconsin or they don’t. It’s that simple. If lawmakers fail to take a public vote on this basic question, then Wisconsinites have no choice but to assume their lawmaker’s position on this issue.”

(The Center Square) – Two more Wisconsin Republicans announced onTuesday that they will not be running for reelection as Sen. Jesse James, R-Thorp, and Rep. Scott Allen, R-Waukesha, will not attempt to retain their seats.
James called it a retirement from the Senate while Allen, who recently lost his bid to become the next Waukesha mayor, called it a sabbatical from public office.
“I had the opportunity of a lifetime,” James said in a statement. “However, this role came at a price, a price of being away from my family. For this reason, and for other personal reasons I have decided to retire from the Wisconsin State Senate. It has been an honor and a privilege to represent the people of the 23rd Senate District.”
Others who won’t be running for reelection include Rep. Rob Brooks, R-Saukville, Rep. Jerry O’Connor, R-Fond du Lac, Sen, Rob Hutton, R-Brookfield, Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, and Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine.
Rep. Calvin Callahan, R-Tomahawk, announced that he will be running again for his seat.
Republican Michele Magadance Skinner announced that she will be running for James’ seat. Skinner fell to Jodi Emerson for the District 91 seat in the Assembly in 2024. She thanked James’ for his endorsement in the race, making her announcement right as James public said he would be retiring.
“On the Eau Claire County Board, I have seen firsthand the impact the state government can have on our community,” Skinner said in a statement. “Hardworking families deserve a Senator in Madison who will roll their sleeves up, work across the aisle, and deliver. That’s what Senator James did, and that’s what I will do as your next State Senator.”
Allen was first elected to the Assembly in 2014 and has been reelected every two years since.
“Scott has served with honesty, integrity, and a deep respect for this institution,” Assembly Majority Leader Tyler August, R-Walworth, said in a statement. “He has always approached his role with a clear sense of responsibility, focusing on doing the job the right way and staying true to the people he represents.
“He has been a thoughtful and principled member of our caucus, someone who took the time to understand the issues and speak with sincerity.”
Republican Bryson Reyes announced on Tuesday that he would run for Allen’s seat. Reyes is an Army veteran who works in manufacturing.
“I am running for State Assembly because I want to fight for the American dreams of my
family and my neighbors,” Reyes said in a statement. “I see lack of economic opportunity for the people who call this place home. Overregulation and lack of support from Madison for our small businesses inhibit growth and do not provide long-term stability for working families.”

(The Center Square) – The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa will have another chance to halt construction on a Line 5 pipeline reroute during a Thursday morning hearing at the Bayfield County Courthouse.
The judge will appear live at the hearing via Zoom from Iron County while public viewing of the hearing will be in Bayfield County.
The hearing is challenging Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources permits for the project in response to a petition for judicial review of an administrative law judge’s decision to uphold the permits in February.
The Bad River Band, along with Clean Wisconsin and Midwest Environmental Advocates, asking for construction to be paused because the groups believe that state regulators did not properly apply Wisconsin’s environmental laws and didn’t fully account for the environmental harm from the project.
The permits allow for a 41-mile Line 5 reroute in northern Wisconsin. Permit applications for the project were initially submitted in 2020.
The pipeline transports more than 500,000 barrels of crude oil and natural gas liquids each day through the Bad River Band reservation.

(The Center Square) – There is now a legal challenge to Wisconsin’s recently lowered state test scores.
The Institute for Reforming Government filed a case in Adams County that claims Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction violated the state’s open meetings law by secretly playing host to a working group of education bureaucrats in 2024. That working group drove DPI’s effort to rework Wisconsin’s standardized test scores.
“This workshop was essentially set up to refigure the cut scores, to rename them,” IRG attorney Jake Curtis explained in an interview on News Talk 1130 WISN.
Curtis said reworking the scores actually lowered them and misled parents about how well their kids are reading, writing and doing math.
“The problem, from a public policy standpoint, is that was lowering expectations,” Curtis added. “You’re not going to have an apples-to-apples comparison of how your kid was doing from previous years.”
But more than that, Curtis said DPI went to lengths to keep the effort to change the test scores from parents and the public.
“Attendees were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements, not allowed to post anything on social media,” Curtis said. “The public deserves to know. And those who attended, at least should have the right to discuss what was debated, and why these scores were lowered.”
But this isn’t the only time Curtis said DPI has hidden information from parents.
“Clearly, the concern here is, at DPI there seems to be a pattern of not informing the public,” Curtis said, “and most critically, on issues that the public really cares about.”
A Cap Times story last fall showed a pattern at DPI of ending or dismissing sexual misconduct and grooming investigations when suspected teachers surrendered their teaching licenses.
DPI has never addressed the claims that its 2024 waterpark weekend working group violated the open meetings law, but DPI officials have said they reworked the state’s test scores to better reflect how and what Wisconsin school kids are actually learning.
State Superintendent Jill Underly has been invited to testify at a legislative hearing at 10 a.m. on Wednesday about the secrecy at DPI.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin state Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, announced Monday he will be running for reelection in the 17th Senate District.
Marklein is a co-chair of the state’s Joint Finance Committee and his announcement comes after a flurry of Republicans announced that they would not run again, including Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu.
“I am running again to keep investing in our shared priorities, protect Wisconsin’s checkbook, continue working across the aisle to solve problems, and move Wisconsin forward,” Marklein said in a statement.
Others who won’t be running include Rep. Rob Brooks, R-Saukville, Rep. Jerry O’Connor, R-Fond du Lac, Sen, Rob Hutton, R-Brookfield, Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, and Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine.
The State Senate Democratic Committee pointed to the recent state Supreme Court race, when Judge Chris Taylor won all of the counties in Marklein’s district.
“Sen. Marklein talks about investments in our schools, investments in hospitals, in our healthcare system — ignoring the fact that while he’s been in office, schools in his district have closed their doors, hospitals in his district have closed their doors, and health care costs have skyrocketed,” State Senate Democratic Committee Communications Director Will Karcz said in a statement. “Sen. Marklein sat back and did nothing as veterans’ housing facilities in Eau Claire and Green Bay closed their doors. When he could have acted.
“The people of Wisconsin’s 17th Senate district deserve better than the failed leadership Howard has brought to Madison. This November, they will reject the failures of Howard Marklein and elect Jenna Jacobson as the new State Senator in Southwestern Wisconsin.”
Marklein pointed to the nearly 20 bills he authored that have been signed into law and nearly 100 that he co-authored.
“We have made a lot of progress, but there is more work to do. I am running again to keep investing in our shared priorities, protect Wisconsin’s checkbook, continue working across the aisle to solve problems, and move Wisconsin forward,” Marklein said.

(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.”

(The Center Square) – University of Wisconsin-Madison Athletics Director Chris McIntosh is leaving the school less than a week after a name, image and likeness bill was signed into law by Gov. Tony Evers that will send $15 million annually to the athletic department along with creating a broad public records exemption for any spending or revenue.
McIntosh will join the Big Ten Conference office May 1 as the deputy commissioner for strategy, the conference announced onMonday.
McIntosh pushed the bill as necessary to save women’s and Olympic sports at the university. While lawmakers said that 32 states had NIL state laws in place, no other public university has a sweeping exemption to public records like the Wisconsin law and no other state has passed a bill that would send $15 million of general taxpayer money annually a public university related to NIL.
“In the event that this legislation is not passed, we will be forced to reconcile our revenues with our liabilities, like we always have,” McIntosh told a Senate committee. “And that will come through a series of painful reductions, further emphasis on increasing our revenues.
“And, what I fear is, that through those reductions in support of our sport programs, all of our sport programs, all 23 of our sport programs, we’ll be left in a situation in which it will be difficult to say the least, for us to be competitive in the sports that generate in excess of 80% of the revenues. And it will also be difficult to be competitive.”
Part of the argument from McIntosh and lawmakers supporting the bill came from a report from a 2022 marketing report from eConsult Solutions that claimed each UW-Madison football game brings $19 million of economic impact to Dane County.
A later report from UW-Madison’s CROWE Center for Research said that continued losing by the football program could cost the athletic department $20 million in profit, but that report also cited and relied upon the numbers from eConsult Solutions.
The type of hired marketing reports that eConsult Solutions provides are consistently rejected by sports economists who point out the flaws in the math used and how they do not factor in items such as diverted spending, crowding out effects and the costs related to large events and facilities.
Sports teams and athletic programs then use those marketing reports to justify public spending, the UW-Madison athletics officials are doing with AB 1034, which does not have a fiscal estimate attached yet.
UW-Madison athletics operated with a $4.3 million surplus in its most recent annual NCAA financial report covering the financial year that ended in June 2025.
Athletic department officials told the Assembly Committee on State Affairs on Wednesday that football is responsible for 80% of the athletic department’s revenue. That was $113.6 million last fiscal year, according to the NCAA report, which showed the football program brought in $72 million in excess during the year.