DOJ Prod Gets DPI to Release $8M Forward Exam Workplan & Waterpark Workshop Details

By Brian Fraley Dairyland Sentinel

It took fourteen months, a mountain of ignored requests, the retention of a respected public policy legal powerhouse and a formal intervention by the Wisconsin Attorney General to finally see more of the picture. But now that the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has been forced to open its books, the picture emerging is one of calculated stonewalling and staggering taxpayer expense.

Last week, we sent a letter to fhe Attorney General’s Office of Open Government requesting they inform DPI of their obligations to release public records. Days later, the office replied, and while making no promises, Assistant Attorney General Lili C. Behm wrote me:

“DOJ cannot offer you legal advice or counsel concerning this issue as DOJ may be called upon to represent DPI. DOJ strives to provide the public with guidance on the interpretation of our State’s public records and open meetings statutes. However, DOJ must balance that role with its mandatory obligation to defend state agencies and employees in litigation pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 165.25(6). Where that statutory obligation is at play, DOJ has a conflict in providing advice on the same topic.

“However, I did contact DPI to make them aware of your concerns, and I am also copying them on this letter.”

The very next business day, DPI relented, somewhat. They turned over a signed contract and a 70-page work plan for 2023-2024 that they had spent over a year keeping in the dark.

What we found is shocking. That controversial $368,885 “Waterpark Workshop” at the Chula Vista Resort was just one piece of a massive, $8 million endeavor to administer the Forward Exam and overhaul state education standards. This wasn’t just a retreat; it was part of a multi-million dollar effort to “re-base” our state proficiency tests, a move that effectively dumbs down the educational achievement benchmarks for our children’s success.

The $8 Million Black Box

The newly released work plan reveals a two-year project with a price tag of approximately $8 million. While the $368,885 spent in the Dells is a massive sum for a four-day meeting, it represents less than five percent of the total project budget. In fact, the overall cost would likely be even higher if Superintendent Jill Underly’s department hadn’t postponed updates to science standards, kicking those expenses down the road.

The most frustrating part? This entire resort circus was unnecessary. The department’s own work plan confirms that DPI and their vendor, Data Recognition Corporation (DRC), met virtually and in person multiple other times throughout 2023 and 2024. Yet, for this specific policy-setting session, they insisted on a resort setting where taxpayers were billed $13,000 just for the vendor to provide Chromebooks and hotspots that our local school districts already own.

The Buck Stops, Where?

The journey to these records began in January of last year after I read comments  by State Superintendent Jill Underly, in which she claimed that the sweeping changes to the state’s Forward Exam were the work of an independent 100-person advisory committee rather than a top-down decision from the DPI. It was a bold claim of transparency that immediately ran into a wall of state-sponsored secrecy. This is the most impactful education policy change in a decade and it’s clouded with secrecy. If a group of “experts” are redefining what it means for a Wisconsin child to be proficient in reading and math, the public has a right to see the work.

In fact, this is what Superintendent Underly actually wrote in a December 2024 column justifying her department’s actions: 

This past summer, I tasked a diverse group of nearly 100 Wisconsin educators, representing communities across the state and perspectives from various education sectors, to review and update our measures over the summer. These individuals are experts in education — the exact people who dedicate their lives to helping our kids succeed, and the people we trust with our children in schools every day. This necessary process was performed in a very open and transparent manner.

Transparent? The gall.

We made first request for public records, fourteen months ago (See the request at the end of this column). Some materials were turned over weeks later, more earlier this year. But still a lot of what we were looking for was not produced. We also asked, earlier this year, for the contract between the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and Forward Exam test contractor Data Recognition Corp., who we learned conducted the standards-setting conference in the summer of 2024 in the Wisconsin Dells. We wanted to know about itemized costs and more information about what DPI believed would have justified DRC’s use of non-disclosure agreements with conference attendees.

This isn’t just an academic debate or a dispute over spreadsheets. What DPI and DRC did in 2023 and 2024  is a massive public policy decision that has impacted every single parent of school-aged kids in Wisconsin, whether they attend public school or not. Every parent is empowered to determine the best educational fit for their children, and one of the primary factors they rely on is test scores and how they relate to the state benchmark. By hiding the mechanics of how those benchmarks were altered, the department isn’t just protecting a vendor it is obstructing the ability of parents to make informed decisions about their children’s future.

Hiding Behind the Vendor

Even with the Attorney General prodding them, the DPI is still playing games. The department claims it possesses no minutes, no handouts, no powerpoint presentations and no recordings of the sessions where 88 (the actual number) hand-picked “experts” and a dozen DPI employees decided the future of Wisconsin’s proficiency benchmarks.

Their excuse? I guess they claim these records belong to their private vendor, DRC. Can we send a public records request to a private company? Well, we are about to, as they were acting on public policy at the behest of DPI.

Will they turn over the public information they have? We shall see.

This is a dangerous precedent. By outsourcing public policy development to a private firm, the department is attempting to create a “transparency-free zone.” They are using a private contract as a shield to prevent you from seeing how and why your child’s achievement standards were altered. Hiring a vendor does not make public policy discussions immune from Wisconsin’s Open Records Law.

Timeline

The dispute involves records requests first filed in January 2025. Dairyland Sentinel requested emails and cost records for a June 2024 workshop at Chula Vista Resort. During that event, officials changed student proficiency standards. The move caused state test scores to jump significantly.

DPI released some records in February 2025 and more in February 2026. The second release of information only happened after the Institute for Reforming Government (IRG) sent a formal demand letter. However, DPI still refuses to release all of the records sought in 2025. It has also withheld its contract with Data Recognition Corporation (DRC), the state’s testing vendor, a document Dairyland Sentinel requested earlier this year.

The Staggering Price Tag

Here’s a summary of the expenses DPI incurred with DRC in 2023-4. as it relates to the Forward Exam, the state administered standardized test. This two page budget was part of a larger Forward Exam workplan created by DRC and which the department turned over to Dairyland Sentinel this week. Their transmittal of this long-sought information came one business day after DPI was copied on the Assistant Attorney General Office of Open Government’s correspondence with us.

And below is the breakdown of expenses for the four-day, $368,885 “Standards Setting Workshop,” held in June of 2024 at the Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells,a story first reported by Dairyland Sentinel in February. This breakdown. which answers some of the questions we first posed in our open records request of January 2025, was shared with hand-picked reporters last month. The document was also only delivered to the Dairyland Sentinel this week, one business day after the Department was contacted by the Attorney General’s office.

The ‘Black Box’ Receipts

The larger, itemized cost breakdown of the Forward Exam work conducted by DRC raises as many questions as it answers.

First, the big picture. This isn’t about a four-day junket in the Dells. We now know this is a multimillion dollar fiasco, wherein the State Superintendent and her Department subcontracted out a significant change to how Wisconsin measures academic success within our k-12 schools.

• The total price tag in 2023-24 for administering the exam and the process to reset the state standards: $8.2 million.
• More than a million dollars for ‘meetings and workshops’
• The personnel costs at DRC are astronomical.
• The state paid nearly a quarter million dollars for DRC to operate a help desk.
• More than $900,000 was spent to hand score the tests.
• One simple line item for “Technology” carries a $1.7 million price tag, no further details provided

Mind you, these are the breakdowns of contracted costs from DRC. DPI has not said how much their staff did on this project or what those costs may have been.

Now that we have some numbers from the infamous Waterpark Workshop, consider the specific breakdown from the Waterpark Workshop bill:

• The department spent $55,751 on breakfasts, lunches and refreshments. That averages out to roughly $120 per person, per day for two meals a day (and “refreshments.”)
• DRC had to bring internet hotspots and Chromebooks for the workshop participants to use. So basically, conference attendees were working remotely, but in the same room.
• They incurred $13,000+ in additional A/V costs
• The ‘experts’ who attended received a free room, free meals, mileage and $600 for four days of ‘work.’ How much any one participant actually did or said is unknown because no minutes or recordings of the workshop have been released.

The Fight for the Truth Continues

Wow, this is a long column. Thanks for hanging in there.

We’re not alleging that Chula Vista or DRG violated any law, over charged the department or failed the public in any way. Moreover, taxpayers don’t pay their salaries, and they have a responsibility to their owners, shareholders, employees and clients. But the work product from the standards setting process, including meeting presentations, notes and recordings are public record. Period.

DPI has a responsibility to taxpayers, and Superintendent Underly swore an oath after her elections. Underly and her department need to answer to the public here.

Now we have a better understanding why DPI spent fourteen months hiding these costs. First, they hid the itemized receipts; they still refuse to provide minutes or any recordings of what went down in the four day Waterpark Workshop. They are using an $8 million vendor contract as a barrier between the government and the parents they are supposed to serve. They’ve now handed over a work plan, a final report, and a hastily-created summary document, but have not provided invoices, receipts proof of payment.

They also provided no insight as to how the ‘experts’ were selected, other than to indicate they were from several different communities across the state.

Dairyland Sentinel, in partnership with the Institute for Reforming Government (IRG), is not backing down. IRG has been a vital partner in this fight for transparency, and together, we will continue to pursue the records being withheld. We want to know exactly how these “experts” were selected and what was actually said during those closed-door meetings.

Wisconsin’s parents deserve a Department of Public Instruction that prioritizes student achievement over resort retreats and taxpayer-funded secrets. At a bare minimum, we deserve a DPI that is transparent and honest.

Until we get the full story, Dairyland Sentinel will keep digging.

The original request

I marked the items still missing in bold. As you can see, despite the length of this column and the many months this has dragged on, this story is not over.