State legislators called both hearings this week in response to reporting by the Cap Times that uncovered hundreds of sexual misconduct and grooming investigations conducted by the department from 2018 through 2023.
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In a joint statement, the audit commitee’s co-chairs — Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Oconto, and Rep. Robert Wittke, R-Caledonia — said Underly and the department “failed at their most basic oversight role.”
“In the coming weeks and months, state auditors will work to get the answers from DPI that the public deserves,” Wimberger and Wittke said.
The Cap Times revealed the department uses a rudimentary internal tracking system — a Google spreadsheet — to document its misconduct investigations and has two investigators to work on 113 cases on average each year.
Joe Chrisman, head of the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau, outlined the audit ordered by legislators will likely examine, among other components:
- Trends in the allegations received and investigated by the department
- The duration of the department’s investigations
- Written policies and procedures the department uses for its investigations and whether those were consistently followed
- How the department gathered evidence, assessed information, and documented its investigations and decisions
- Trends in the department’s investigation determinations over time
- Fiscal, staffing and technology resources used by the department for investigations
- How the department’s investigation processes are similar to or different from those used by other Midwestern states
The Department of Public Instruction hasn’t previously conducted audits of its investigation practices or produced annual reports on investigation data, according to spokesperson Chris Bucher.
Other state education departments — such as Arizona, Idaho and Pennsylvania — publish reports on license investigations each year, including data on how many investigations were conducted, the types of conduct investigated and investigation outcomes.
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Underly also wants educators in private schools to be required to hold a Department of Public Instruction educator license. Current state law limits the Department of Public Instruction’s authority to investigating licensed educators for misconduct.
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She has declined requests by the Cap Times to discuss the department’s educator misconduct investigations, saying an interview would create a “conflict of interest” since she oversees teacher licenses.
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‘We believe in transparency’
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Lawmakers will audit the state Department of Public Instruction’s process for granting and revoking licenses for educators as the criticism over how the agency investigates cases of teacher misconduct continues.
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Accountability and the taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI
I’ve been doing journalism a long time and don’t recall a public official ever demanding a “public correction” of an entire story, and then proposing a bunch of fixes to the exact problems highlighted in the @CapTimes story.
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Did taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Underly Juice Test Scores for Reelection?
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Only 31% of 4th graders in Wisconsin read at grade level, which is worse than Mississippi.
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Madison taxpayers have long supported far above average (now > $25,000 per student) K-12 tax & spending practices. This, despite long term, disastrous reading results.
Madison Schools: More $, No Accountability
The taxpayer funded Madison School District long used Reading Recovery…
The data clearly indicate that being able to read is not a requirement for graduation at (Madison) East, especially if you are black or Hispanic”
My Question to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Teacher Mulligans and our Disastrous Reading Results
2017: West High Reading Interventionist Teacher’s Remarks to the School Board on Madison’s Disastrous Reading Results
Madison’s taxpayer supported K-12 school district, despite spending far more than most, has long tolerated disastrous reading results.
“An emphasis on adult employment”
Wisconsin Public Policy Forum Madison School District Report[PDF]
WEAC: $1.57 million for Four Wisconsin Senators
Friday Afternoon Veto: Governor Evers Rejects AB446/SB454; an effort to address our long term, disastrous reading results
Booked, but can’t read (Madison): functional literacy, National citizenship and the new face of Dred Scott in the age of mass incarceration.
When A Stands for Average: Students at the UW-Madison School of Education Receive Sky-High Grades. How Smart is That?