{"id":1148,"date":"2023-03-07T18:51:36","date_gmt":"2023-03-07T19:51:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=1148"},"modified":"2023-03-07T20:03:36","modified_gmt":"2023-03-07T20:03:36","slug":"irgs-k-12-covid-relief-audit-forces-public-dpi-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=1148","title":{"rendered":"IRG\u2019s K-12 COVID Relief Audit Forces Public DPI Response"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/reforminggovernment.org\/irgs-k-12-covid-relief-audit-forces-public-dpi-response\/<\/a><\/p>\n

IRG Responds to State Supt. Jill Underly on Continued Opacity: \u201cThe Only Thing that Matters Is Kids\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/h4>\n

Delafield, WI\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013\u00a0The Institute for Reforming Government (IRG) today issued a letter to State Superintendent Jill Underly expressing disappointment over the Department of Public Instruction\u2019s (DPI) public response to IRG\u2019s groundbreaking\u00a0K-12 COVID Relief ESSER III Audit<\/a>\u00a0and continued lack of transparency.<\/span><\/div>\n

Following the January 31 release of IRG\u2019s\u00a0audit<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0report<\/a>, DPI was flooded with questions over how schools are allocating the unprecedented $1.49 billion in federal pandemic funding. In response to parents\u2019 and legislators\u2019 queries, Deputy State Superintendent John Johnson issued an\u00a0email<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0two pages of talking points<\/a>\u00a0to every District Administrator in the state that identifies zero factual errors in IRG\u2019s audit, fails to respond to clear issues like millions in unlabeled allocations and over-budgeting, and justifies two-thirds of funding being unbudgeted and inactive.<\/span><\/div>\n


Since its release, IRG\u2019s audit has driven statewide momentum for transparency and swifter action for children, as Wisconsin districts increased allocations from $508 million to $938 million total in just two months. IRG will release a massive update on this early next week and applauds districts spurred to action by the audit.<\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span>The letter by IRG CEO CJ Szafir reads, in part:<\/span><\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not sure what you are trying to say with your letter. What we had hoped you would say was, \u2019In this massive, complex process begun at a time of great upheaval, we made some mistakes. DPI will correct errors, help lagging districts put their plans in action, increase transparency, and make sure that every child is getting the support that he or she is owed.\u2019\u201d
\n<\/em>\u201cInstead of putting resources toward a shield against criticism, we urge you to follow the report\u2019s recommendations for improvement, either voluntarily or after legislative oversight.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n


<\/span>Timeline of Events:<\/span><\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n


<\/span>\u25ba\u00a0January 31, 2023:<\/strong>\u00a0IRG releases audit transparency tool for taxpayers to see how Wisconsin school districts are allocating the unprecedented $1.49 billion in federal K-12 COVID relief funding.<\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span>\u25ba\u00a0February 14, 2023:<\/strong>\u00a0The Department of Public Instruction issues a\u00a0public letter<\/a>\u00a0and two-page\u00a0refutation resource<\/a>\u00a0claiming to \u201chave received a number of requests for support around how we communicate about the complicated aspects of federal budgeting due to a recent, misleading release from the Institute for Reforming Government.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/span>\u25ba\u00a0Between January 6 and March 2, 2023:<\/strong>\u00a0School districts hasten their\u00a0budget approvals<\/a>, increasing total allocations from $508 million to $938 million total. Approved funds can now be spent on students.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span>Click here<\/a>\u00a0to read the full letter from IRG CEO CJ Szafir.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/reforminggovernment.org\/irgs-k-12-covid-relief-audit-forces-public-dpi-response\/ IRG Responds to State Supt. Jill Underly on Continued…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":1150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-institute-for-reforming-government"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1148"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1151,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148\/revisions\/1151"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}