Lobbyist Brittany Kinser Continues to Lie to Voters About Her Credentials, NAEP, and Trump’s Education Cuts

MADISON – Lobbyist Brittany Kinser has spent this campaign lying to Wisconsin voters about her qualifications, her education policies, and the devastating impact of Trump’s cuts to public education.

Last night’s debate made it clearer than ever: she will say whatever it takes to cover up the truth.

Lobbyist Brittany Kinser used the forum to imply that she has held and now holds a Wisconsin teacher’s license—which is categorically false. What she actually renewed was a charter school principal’s license, not a Wisconsin teacher’s license. She has not ever taught in a Wisconsin public school classroom, and still legally cannot.

And even as she tries to mislead voters, she complains that it’s too difficult to get a Wisconsin teaching license—which is simply untrue.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the requirements to obtain a teacher’s license are straightforward:

• Anyone with a bachelor’s degree can apply for a Wisconsin teaching license.
• Applicants must pass a background check.
• Alternative licensure pathways exist to help qualified professionals enter the classroom.
  (Source: Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, “How to Become a Teacher in Wisconsin,” dpi.wi.gov)

Kinser’s inability to be honest about her own license raises serious concerns about whether she even understands how Wisconsin’s public education system works.

In addition, Kinser continues to claim Wisconsin should return to a federal testing regime—“NAEP” —as a benchmark, even as Trump’s administration has dismantled the program, eliminated staff, and put its entire future in doubt.

Here’s what has actually already happened to NAEP under Trump:

• The entire staff administering NAEP has been eliminated, except for one person.
• Key national testing contracts have been canceled.
• The administration of future assessments is in limbo, with no plan to continue testing.
  (Source: Hechinger Report, “Chaos and Confusion in National Education Statistics,” hechingerreport.org)

Kinser has no plan for how Wisconsin would functionally tie its standards to NAEP now that the program is collapsing, yet continues to insist that somehow we are living in a parallel reality where these cuts are not occuring.

In a third set of untruths, Kinser also continues to downplay the impact of Trump’s executive order to wind down the Department of Education, ignoring the very real cuts Wisconsin has already suffered under Trump:

• Teacher training and retention programs have been defunded—Governor Evers is literally suing the Trump administration right now over these cuts.
• Millions in funding for school meal programs and local farm-to-school partnerships has been slashed, hurting both students and Wisconsin farmers.
• Title I grants, which support low-income schools, are now at risk.
• Federal oversight and administration of special education funding is being gutted.
  (Sources: Associated Press, “Trump’s Education Cuts Already Hurting Schools,” apnews.com; Wisconsin State Journal, “Gov. Evers Joins Lawsuit Against Trump Over Education Funding,” wisconsinstatejournal.com)

Yet Kinser continues to claim “it’s fine” as long as the money is sent to the states—again completely ignoring the reality that these cuts are already happening, and Trump has proposed cuts to state funding, not increases.

Lobbyist Brittany Kinser will not speak out against the Trump cuts to education because her far-right funders want to dismantle public education and transfer public money to unaccountable private entities.

• Her campaign is bankrolled by MAGA billionaires like Dick Uihlein, one of the biggest funders of far-right causes.
• She is aligned with the same extremists pushing to gut federal education funding.
• Her biggest supporters want public money funneled into private, unregulated education networks.
  (Sources: Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, “Who’s Funding Brittany Kinser?” wisdc.org; OpenSecrets, “Dick Uihlein’s Influence on Education Policy,” opensecrets.org)

While Jill Underly fights every day to protect Wisconsin schools, Kinser is trying to stay silent.

If Kinser can’t even stand up for the truth now, what will she do when Wisconsin needs a leader to fight for public school students?

Wisconsin needs a State Superintendent who will protect public education—not a lobbyist who will sell it off to the highest bidder.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.