The Department of Public Instruction spends nearly $400,000 on a four-day Waterpark Workshop… two years later they’re encouraging teachers practice “scrappiness.”
By Brian Fraley Publisher, Dairyland Sentinel
The Department of Public Instruction likes to talk about “scrappiness.” On it’s website inviting teachers to an upcoming Play Make Learn conference, DPI tells educators they’ll “explore playful, hands-on learning and discover new ways to make the most of what they have.” That conference is happening in a public building on the UW Madison campus, down the road from DPI’s offices. Minimal travel. Public space. Low cost. No waterslides. That’s scrappy. That’s making do.
The conference is hosted by the UW-Madison School of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction and the office of Professional Learning and Community Education.
“We quickly run into time constraints, limited material, difficulties getting access, administrative rules and the inertia of how things have always been don. We struggle against that resistance, we fight to get in and get on with it. we are scrappy.” touts the conference website.
Now compare the UW conference for educators to DPI’s 2024 standards-setting junket in the the Dells. They shelled $368,885 in public money for a four-day Waterpark Workshop at the Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells. Four days. At a waterpark resort. Fewer than 100 teachers, and DPI staff. A testing vendor. Nearly $400,000. DPI objects to our reporting and says the number includes planning, salaries, lodging, meals, and travel.
Fine. Show us the receipts.
See, we’re still waiting for the Department to turn over records that by law should be public. We’ve asked for details, including the full contract DPI had with Data Recognition Corporation, the vendor who held the Waterpark Workshop.
The gap here is obvious. DPI talks about how teachers “have to make do.” But when the Joint Finance Committee points out state funding for their agency isn’t automatic, DPI howls, and warns of layoffs. They resist oversight. They slow-walk records. Hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars get approved and spent for a resort trip without a hint transparency (until we starting asking questions).
If DPI wants to preach resourcefulness and scrappiness, that needs to apply to their own budget decisions too.
The irony of this particular conference is hard to miss. Scrappiness is the message for schools. Meanwhile luxury resorts and opaque spending are the practice for the agency. Making do is encouraged in schools. But when anyone asks DPI to make do or justify spending, the agency howls. And stalls.
Back to the 2024 Waterpark Workshop in the Dells, until DPI produces detailed records and the DRC contract, their talk about empathy and frugality rings hollow. Nearly $400,000 for a resort trip is not scrappy. It’s not making do. If DPI wants credibility, it needs to walk the same walk it sets for districts. Sure, scrappiness matters. Transparency matters. So does consistency.
One final note: Dairyland Sentinel will be filing a records request with the UW today for the full cost of the “Play Make Learn” conference. If scrappiness is the theme, taxpayers deserve to see it applied consistently. How much is going to food, facilities, staff time, outside vendors? Are contracts competitively bid? Are costs justified? Taxpayers should have access to this data for every junket of every state agency. Until that happens, we will keep digging, and sharing what we find. We’ll turn to the legal heavyweights at IRG again if we must.
I guess we’re just scrappy.
Previously at Dairyland Sentinel
