When a state agency launches a massive new initiative to redefine what public education looks like, you would think they would want to brag about the people helping them build it. Transparency is usually the first card played when government officials want to build public trust in a brand new, statewide project.
Apparently, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction missed that memo.
Last week, State Superintendent Jill Underly announced the creation of the Portrait of a Graduate framework. According to the department’s official press release, this initiative is meant to establish a shared vision of the skills and knowledge a student needs to succeed in the modern workforce. To do this, DPI claims it has assembled a diverse steering committee that includes workforce representatives, state agencies, and various Wisconsin employers.
Naturally, we wanted to know who those committee members are. It is a simple, standard question. If a business owner or industry group is helping steer the future of Wisconsin education policy, their names should be a matter of immediate public record. This is not highly sensitive intelligence; it is a roster for a public advisory committee.
On May 26, the Dairyland Sentinel emailed DPI Director of Communications Chris Bucher. We asked for the list of steering committee members, how they were selected, and when they meet.
“[P]lease direct me to or provide the list of the steering committee members for the Portrait of a Graduate initiative. Also, please provide information regarding how the committee members were selected and when/how they met,” I wrote.
Instead of a direct answer, or even a basic list, we got the administrative cold shoulder. Bucher replied the next day to inform us that he had manually entered our simple email question into the department’s open records request Footprints system.
Let that sink in. A state communications director, whose primary job responsibility is to answer basic media inquiries and provide information to the public, decided that a simple request for committee names required a formal open records track. By pushing this inquiry into the bureaucratic queue, DPI effectively created a multi-week wall around information that should be instantly available upon request.
We did a thorough search of every public document, presentation handout, and press clipping related to this launch. The actual names of the committee members do not exist anywhere in the public sphere. DPI is keeping the architects of this project completely in the dark.
This is a classic public relations stall tactic. By forcing a straightforward press question into the statutory open records pipeline, they believe they buy themselves days or weeks or months of silence. They kill the immediate news cycle, slow down independent watchdogs, and control the timeline while they run their hand-picked narrative through friendly local media channels.
It also raises a fundamental question. If this steering committee is truly a proud, collaborative representation of Wisconsin, including employers, why is the department hiding the roster? Who exactly is sitting at that table? Does the committee include actual, independent job creators, or is it a hand-picked group of the usual institutional suspects and administration supporters designed to rubber-stamp a pre-determined state agenda?
This transparency standoff is nothing new for our readers, as Dairyland Sentinel is currently locked in a 17-month-long battle with the department over public access to information regarding state standards and waterpark resort-based workshops. You can read the full background on our ongoing investigation into DPI’s systemic transparency failures by clicking here.
Wisconsin taxpayers and business owners have a right to know who is driving statewide education strategy. Dairyland Sentinel will continue to track the clock on this open records request.
We will publish the full list of committee members the absolute moment the state is forced to turn them over.
