This post originally appeared at https://www.badgerinstitute.org/kinser-dpi-victory-would-alter-decades-long-trend/

Union-backed candidates have won state superintendent job over and over

Early voting is ongoing in the April 1 election pitting the incumbent union-supported head of the Department of Public Instruction, Jill Underly, against Brittany Kinser, a teacher who went on to lead public charter schools and a Milwaukee education organization, City Forward Collective.

In scant polling earlier in the race, they were more or less tied.

Underly was ahead slightly, 33% to 30% with 38% undecided in a WMC poll in early March. Kinser was up 22% to 20% (with 58% undecided) among 800 people polled by Scott Rasmussen at the end of February for the Institute for Reforming Government.

11-election run

Long-time education observer and journalist Alan Borsuk, now at Marquette, says he cannot predict an outcome. If Kinser wins, he said, it would be the first victory over union-backed DPI candidates in a long time — since 1981, by one count, when liberal Bert Grover beat incumbent DPI head Barbara Thompson.

In that and 10 subsequent elections, union-endorsed candidates went on to serve as five successive state superintendents. All of them won by no less than 10-point margins, and some took three-fourths of the votes.

This year, much depends on what the undecideds are learning.

Kinser calls herself a moderate and supports school choice. She has said that she doesn’t want the DPI to oppose parents’ alternatives to a traditional district school system that, for many, isn’t working. “I support school choice,” she said during the debate. “I support families having the option to send their children to any type of school.”

That distinguishes her from the string of union-backed superintendents who, uniformly, have opposed school choice, faulting public charters or independent schools for attracting students in a state where funding is based on enrollment.

Asked by Isthmus for her position, Underly responded that she believes “Public dollars belong in public schools” and that she opposes “expanding private school voucher programs that siphon funding from the public schools.”

Changing opinions

The position of Wisconsinites as a whole on the issue has evolved.

In September of 1988, we (then known as the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute) asked 1,000 Wisconsinites their opinions about educational choice.

According to the survey, 45 percent wanted parents to have the right to use a government funded voucher to send their children to any public, private or parochial school they chose. Forty-seven percent were opposed to such a plan.

Support for school choice is up dramatically since then, according to a variety of sources. A 2024 national survey by EdChoice found that over two-thirds (67%) of Americans support school vouchers.

In Wisconsin, meanwhile, a 2023 Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce poll asked 700 likely voters, “Do you generally support or oppose school choice?” — and 70% said “support.”

In a Marquette Law School Poll that asked about “state funding for vouchers” at “religious schools,” 55% were in favor.

Until now, that evolving public approval has not tipped a race for superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction toward a supporter of choice.

Could this year be different?

There is evidence that favoring school choice is now politically advantageous. In that February head-to-head, when respondents were told Kinser supports school choice and Underly opposes it, Kinser’s support increased to 55%. Underly’s increased to 23%.

Approximately 126,000 students attend a private K-12 school in the state, and more than 55,000 students are now in the growing parental choice programs.

The number of Wisconsin students in traditional district schools is now below 800,000. Of those, 74,000 used public school open enrollment to change districts.

Patrick McIlheran is the Director of Policy at the Badger Institute. 

Any use or reproduction of Badger Institute articles or photographs requires prior written permission. To request permission to post articles on a website or print copies for distribution, contact Badger Institute President Mike Nichols at mike@badgerinstitute.org or 262-389-8239. 

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