State Superintendent Candidate Defends Lack of Education Licenses

Candidates vying to unseat incumbent State Superintendent Jill Underly made their cases at a forum in Madison Thursday, with one defending her qualifications amidst a report that she holds no active Wisconsin educational license.

As first reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Brittany Kinser of Wauwatosa has never held a Wisconsin’s teachers license, and her school administration license has lapsed.

Kinser, who taught special education in Chicago 20 years ago, argued she has held licensure in the past, won an award from Gov. Tony Evers when he held the state superintendent role, and has a 25-year career in education that includes stints as a principal and consultant.

Speaking to reporters after the Madison forum, she called the current state of education in Wisconsin a “crisis.”

“We haven’t been talking about this enough and talking about what we need to do better for our kids,” she said. “This whole licensure thing is a distraction from what we should be talking about: our kids and their families.”

Kinser was joined at the Madison event by Sauk Prairie School District Superintendent Jeff Wright, who argued all candidates should have an active educator’s license. He said his own three licenses “allow me to literally go into schools across the state and do the work alongside the teachers that I’m supporting, and the children that I’m supporting, in this.”

Underly did not attend the forum. In a statement, Underly campaign manager Jorna Taylor called Kinser’s lack of licensure a “glaring lack of qualifications.”

“Her expired administrator license underscores just how little direct experience she has with the very public education system she claims she’s ready to oversee,” Taylor said.

The state superintendent role does not require an educator’s license.

Vouchers, test scores central focus

Throughout the hourlong lunchtime forum hosted by WisPolitics, Wright and Kinser focused primarily on test scores, the voucher program and state funding for education. Underly had a scheduling conflict and “provided no alternate dates for a preprimary forum,” according to a description of the event.

The race comes as the state prepares for its annual budget process, which will kick off Feb. 18 when Evers — who served for about a decade as state superintendent — unveils his budget proposal. School funding is always a top issue, with Republicans and Democrats differing over how much money should go to public schools and support for vouchers.

More recently, Republican leaders in the Legislature have said they will not support any additional K-12 funding that does not come with promises to raise school standards. Underly has called for $4 billion in new spending for public education and raising the special education reimbursement rate.

That’s after new reading scores showed a leap from past years — but only after DPI lowered the threshold for proficiency.

Wright argued that, nevertheless, public schools need more money.

“The best evidence that I have for that is that district after district after district has to turn to its local property taxpayers to ask for dollars through referenda,” he said.

Wright, a lifelong educator originally from Stevens Point, is backed by the political action committee of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, though the teacher’s union has not made a formal endorsement. He has previously run as a Democrat for state Assembly, losing narrowly in 2018 to Rep. Todd Novak, R-Dodgeville.

Kinser argued school funding should depend on “which district we’re talking about.”

“Right now, we’re spending more on education, and we’re getting worse results,” she said. “We have to make sure that we’re being transparent about our budgets and where’s the money going. Is it going into the classroom, or is it more bureaucracy?”

Kinser identified as “the only school choice candidate.” She has worked as an advocate for charter and voucher schools, and is endorsed by Scarlett Johnson, an activist with the Wisconsin’s chapter of the conservative Moms for Liberty group.

Kinser said many families feel their kids are not receiving the education they need and that they’re not being listened to.

“I support families making the best option for their child,” she said. “I’m pro-kids, so if there are kids going to voucher [schools], I will be pro-voucher schools, too.”

Wright said that he does not support the voucher system as it currently exists, but the job of state superintendent isn’t to challenge the existing system.

“We do need to make sure the students are learning to read and do math and getting access to job-ready skills in all types of schools the state is paying for,” he said. “Whether is it a charter school, a voucher school, a public school, I want to be present in those buildings.”

Asked about Wisconsin’s reading and math scores, which include the largest Black-white disparities in the country, and particularly low performance in Milwaukee, Wright criticized Underly’s record, saying those achievement gaps “have been reality for far too long.”

“This is an example of a state superintendent who has not brought a level of urgency for this work,” he told reporters after the event. “You don’t get four years to make a plan to address something that has been so such a problem historically, and so we need to be doing this work right away.”

Wright and Kinser are challenging Underly as she seeks a second term. Underly has served as superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction since 2021. She is backed by the state Democratic Party.

Early voting has already begun in the primary, which will take place on Feb. 18. The top two candidates will face each other in the April 1 election.

State Superintendent candidate defends lack of education license at forum was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.