By Dairyland Sentinel Publisher Brian Fraley
DPI has a transparency problem that is quickly becoming a legal one. After a year of stonewalling our investigation into what we discovered was a taxpayer-funded Waterpark Workshop, the department has yet to release the vendor contract.. Conveniently for them, it is the very document they claim restricts their ability to provide more details about their secret process to change the state’s Forward exam.
The Dairyland Sentinel is again turning to the Institute for Reforming Government (IRG) to compel the DPI to release public records. On Friday, Jake Curtis, general counsel and director of the Center for Investigative Oversight for the IRG, sent another demand letter to the agency, this time following its failure to produce a signed and executed contract with Data Recognition Corporation, the vendor who helped coordinate the workshop and the standards-setting process.
If Superintendent Jill Underly and her staff choose to continue to hide behind the terms of a contract with a vendor, they at least should have to produce the contract. Fulfilling our open records request would take someone 30 seconds to produce, and after waiting more than a year for partial fulfillment of our request from 2025, our patience has worn thin.
We are not alleging any wrongdoing on the part of the vendor, or DPI or their hand-picked conference participants. This is a search for public records and answers to questions that are in the public interest.
We originally requested a copy of the contract with DRC almost two weeks ago, and despite an acknowledgment from the agency two days later, no documents have been provided. As IRG noted in their latest demand letter, responses to open records requests must be provided “as soon as practicable and without delay” under state law. While we appreciate the demands of responding to many requests, compliance at some unspecified future time is not authorized by the public records law.
We are seeking: “The copy of the final, signed and executed contracts with Data Recognition Corporation for: all activities and research pertaining to the changes to the Forward Exam and its evaluation, the convening of the workshop(s) and any other meetings, calls, services or research provided as discussed in this article.”
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The public records custodian has two choices after acknowledging receipt of a request for public documents: comply or deny and explain why.
Our investigation into the 2024 standard-setting workshop at the Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells revealed a pattern of obfuscation. Dairyland Sentinel discovered DPI spent $368,885 on the four-day event, where 88 hand-picked ‘experts’ were required to sign non-disclosure agreements that banned them from sharing committee discussions with the public. Revelations of the price tag for the four-day workshop prompted the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance to pause millions in funding for DPI operations.
In January of last year we asked the department for public records regarding the work of the standards-setting group, including “an itemized listing of any state expenditures including staff time and equipment purchases, meeting space rental, food, travel, lodging or other accommodations.”
They have, to date, failed to provide itemized expenditures beyond the $368,885 price tag for the four day Waterpark Workshop.
Furthermore, the DPI claims they have no official recordings, transcripts, or meeting minutes from the four-day event despite the fact they produced a several hundred page document as a result of the workshop. They are essentially asking the public to trust their secret process because a contract with a vendor requires secrecy.
So, earlier this month, we asked for a copy of the contract.
I realize by publicizing our open records request, we lose a potential scoop, but DPI’s continued foot dragging on releasing public records is a concern for everyone in Wisconsin, and that is more important than any exclusive reporting Dairyland Sentinel may be forgoing by laying our cards on the table.
IRG has informed the Department it expects prompt disclosure of responsive records to our request; otherwise, it, and we, will be forced to exercise our enforcement rights under Wisconsin’s Open Records Law.
The details of the contract we seek are definitely of high interest to the public, as the results of the work product produced with Data Recognition Corporation dramatically altered Wisconsin public education policy, and the public’s perception of student performance. Following adjustments made at the Waterpark Workshop, state proficiency standards were redefined, causing proficiency rates to jump.
Bottom line: With the assistance of the intrepid team at IRG, Dairyland Sentinel will continue to pursue the release of public records from the Department of Public Instruction.
More to come…
February 16, 2026
Previously at Dairyland Sentinel
