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Danielle DuClos: Jones was appointed to the Branch 1 seat by Gov. Tony Evers last year after Susan Crawford was elected to the state Supreme Court. Prior to his appointment by Evers, he spent almost a decade as an attorney with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction under three state superintendents, including Evers. For about […]
Wiseye: On April 15, 2026, the Assembly Committee on Government Operations, Accountability, and Transparency will hold an informational hearingon Department of Public Instruction policies, procedures, and compliance regarding open meetings laws and open records laws; standard-setting and benchmarking process for the Forward Exam. Speakers: ——- Dairyland Sentinel: So far, DPI has said.They dragged their feet on […]
Dairyland Sentinel At the center of the dispute is a four-day “standard setting” session held at a resort, where education officials reviewed and adjusted benchmarks for the state’s Forward Exam. Critics say those changes effectively lowered the bar for what counts as student proficiency. —— A Dane County Judge appointed by Governor Evers – Ben […]
Danielle DuClos: He oversaw the department’s legal strategy and educator misconduct investigations. Jones has also worked in private practice representing school districts and municipalities. ——- Governor Evers appointed Jones to the Dane County Circuit Court in 2025. Happily, we have a competitive election: Huma Ahsan. I’m glad reporter DuClos is covering former DPI lawyer Jones’ activities.
Ah politics. Funny how things “work”. Ben Jones: Prior to being appointed to the bench, Judge Jones built an impressive record as an attorney in private practice, and then was legal counsel under three successive Superintendents at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), the state’s education agency. Ben distinguished himself at DPI as the […]
WILL: The News: A three-judge panel of the federal Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in St. Augustine v. Underly, a lawsuit first filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) in 2016, that the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) violated state law when denying transportation benefits to families attending St. Augustine School, an independent Catholic […]
Will Flanders: Last week, a Jefferson County Circuit Judge ruled that the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) violated the law when it came to releasing data on the state’s private school choice programs. Along with Jim Bender of School Choice Wisconsin and Matt Kittle of Empower Wisconsin, I served as a plaintiff in this case brought […]
Wisconsin institute for law and liberty: The News: Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Bennett Brantmeier issued a summary judgement ruling in a lawsuit brought by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) that the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) violated state law when the state agency released partial data on Wisconsin’s school choice programs […]
Huma Ahsan: During this campaign, I expected opposition from across the aisle. What I did not anticipate was resistance from within the Democratic Party itself. Too often, institutions that claim to champion diversity fall into patterns of tokenism elevating a few voices while sidelining broader movements for structural change. In this race, that reality became […]
Recent news that current Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman is being pushed out (and voting today, with several uncontested races….) brought back memories of chats with local and state elected officials over the years. As an aside, spring, 2026 election day is likely a convenient time to push Rothman out. A friend mused that […]
Limited background amidst Wisconsin (and Madison’s) long term, disastrous reading results: Did taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Underly Juice Test Scores for Reelection? notes and links on Incumbent DPI Superintendent Jill Underly (back story). Underly supports eliminating our one elementary teacher content knowledge requirement, the Foundations of Reading (FORT). Perhaps this forensic thread offers a […]
transcript (machine generated)meta/Facebook blog post: More speech and fewer mistakes. John Robb: There’s a reason people don’t trust Mark. He doesn’t have a highly evolved digital ledger on X. People learn to trust the digital ledger before they trust the person. more: It won’t work. There’s not enough flow/dynamism on the platform anymore (since they […]
Wisconsin Reading Coalition via a kind email: With the beginning of a new school year, here is some timely information and inspiration. You can make a difference: At WRC, we are often focused on top-down systemic change that can improve reading outcomes for students across our state. However, bottom-up, individual efforts are equally important. A […]