The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty alleges the DPI is “effectively hiding public records behind an illegal” $34,014 fee. In a statement, WILL said the law firm in August 2025 requested from the DPI records of applicants since 2018 who were denied educator licenses for failing to complete an approved program, a DPI-approved educator preparation program that meets specific criteria.
WILL said the DPI acknowledged it had located 1,381 denied applications but charged more than $17,000 to review the files by hand, at $49.26 per hour. The DPI later increased the cost of the records to over $34,000 after WILL attempted to narrow its request, the law firm said.
“An informed electorate is essential to representative government, which is why Wisconsin law strongly favors public access to government records,” said WILL associate counsel Lauren Greuel. “After months of delay, DPI is attempting to price the public out of that access by imposing tens of thousands of dollars in unlawful fees. Government transparency cannot depend on whether citizens can afford to pay for it.”