“Blue dog Democrat” education leader Brittany Kinser has registered to run for DPI, giving very liberal DPI Superintendent Jill Underly a heated three-way primary.
Embattled incumbent Jill Underly is under growing fire from multiple corners within her own party, as infighting fractures the Democrat party in the state school Superintendent’s race.
Underly has drawn not one, but two, likely opponents in the Feb. 18 spring primary to continue heading the state Department of Public Instruction. The top two finishers will advance to the April 1 election.
The race is ostensibly non-partisan. However, all three candidates are Democrats. Kinser, though, is a leader in the charter school movement who is supported by key school choice advocates. Wispolitics.com wrote that Kinser “describes herself as a ‘Blue Dog Democrat.'” RRH elections calls her a “moderate Democrat.”
Behind the scenes, some conservatives are positioning Kinser as a Tulsi Gabbard type due to her charter school advocacy – one GOP Congressional District is even circulating her nomination papers and referred to her as the “Conservative Leaning Candidate” in an email. Meanwhile, the anti-choice, extremist Underly is so radical that she once called an opponent “transphobic” for not wanting biological boys to compete in girls’ sports, and her office has been accused of mismanagement, hiding MPS’s severe financial issues from voters, lowering testing scores, and poor communication.
It’s not yet clear where Kinser stands on some of those hot-button parental rights’ issues.
The third candidate is Democrat Jeff Wright, a superintendent in Sauk Prairie, who was endorsed by former President Barack Obama during a failed Assembly campaign and who has earned the surprise endorsement of WEAC’s PAC in the DPI race.
Multiple sources have told us of a rift between Democrat Gov. Tony Evers and Underly, and the tea leaves are there for the reading if you look closely at the public record. For example, Evers split with Underly on her lowering of testing scores, saying publicly that he did not agree with her, and he was unhappy about the MPS mess too, calling for sweeping audits.
It may be Underly’s most vulnerable moment.
There is no staunch conservative in the race, and conservatives have their eyes locked on a bigger prize – the state Supreme Court race this April; Moms for Liberty parents’ rights activist Scarlett Johnson considered a run but decided against it. We’ve learned that concern was voiced to her by at least one pro-school choice advocate that she was “too conservative” to win.
That means that the very liberal Underly is under fire from different wings of her party, and in a three-way primary, anything can happen.
The fact that WEAC’S PAC isn’t endorsing the Democratic incumbent running for DPI has been underplayed in the media. It’s a huge blow to Underly. The full union has not yet made an endorsement decision. Perhaps to shore up the flagging Underly, the state Democrat Party then endorsed her, drawing condemnation from Wright as the war of words became more embittered. And that was even before Kinser threw her hat into the ring.
When was the last time you saw the teachers’ union PAC and Democrat Party on opposite sides?
Conspicuously sitting it out so far: Democrat Gov. Tony Evers, the former DPI superintendent, whose name does not appear on Underly’s endorsement page and who has split with her on key issues, including DPI’s botched handling of the public release of MPS funding problems and her lowering of school testing standards.
Kinser has advocated closing funding disparities that disadvantage charter and private schools, including in Milwaukee, and she helped run an innovative charter school network. She has relentlessly advocated for more opportunities for Milwaukee kids and to close their achievement gap.
Nomination papers must be submitted by Jan. 6. Kinser has “registered her campaign with the state Ethics Commission,” Wispolitics.com reported. On LinkedIn, she wrote, “I am running for State Superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction to put kids first.”
Former Republican State Rep. Amy Loudenbeck, who previously worked at School Choice Wisconsin (SCW) as Director of Policy and Government Affairs, is helping Kinser behind the scenes, according to a nomination paper circulation email sent to Wisconsin Right Now. It seems clear that school choice proponents think that Kinser is the best of the three because of her charter school advocacy, although some conservatives might wish to do away with DPI altogether.
Whether the big money from choice backers comes in for Kinser is unclear and could be determinative, although in a three-way primary, anything can happen.
More on Brittany Kinser’s Background
Kinser donated $250 to Democrat U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin in 2023 (Republican Eric Hovde wasn’t in the race yet), and just four months ago, she posted on LinkedIn about attending the 2024 Democratic National Convention Committee with her 12-year-old niece.
It will be hard for Underly and Democrats to label her.
She made a similar post on X before privatizing her page. She tagged Democrats for Education Reform in the LinkedIn post and wrote:
“I also attended the Progressive Policy Institute event in Chicago, which hosted an afternoon of programming centered around their Campaign for Working America. The expert panel discussion focused on creating urgency around ensuring all kids receive an excellent education. It was inspiring to see WI State Senator-Elect Dora Drake speak on the panel. Thank you to Tressa Pankovits for facilitating such an important conversation. It was a powerful day filled with insights and inspiration for what’s possible.”
A woman wrote in the comment thread, “Amazing speakers. I’m glued to the TV. Major difference how RNC was what I saw on TV. One statement at DNC that stood out today was ‘we’ve been there and not going back!!!’ Let’s connect next time you are in Chicago.” To which Kinser replied, “It was an inspiring night.:)”
PPI was formed in 1989 “as the intellectual home of the New Democrats and earned a reputation as President Bill Clinton’s ‘idea mill,'” its website, which also includes anti-Trump verbiage, says. What is the “Campaign for Working America?”
“Since the 2016 election, the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) has focused intently on what we believe is the Democratic Party’s overriding political imperative: Regaining the allegiance of working Americans who don’t hold college degrees,” the PPI website says.
The group does aim to reinvent America’s schools, saying that America “needs a 21st century model of public education geared to the knowledge economy. Charter schools are showing the way, because they provide autonomy for schools, accountability for results, and parental choice among schools tailored to the diverse learning styles of children.” Pankovitz, the facilitator praised by Kinser, has worked on education reform and also consulted for Obama.
Of course, the current political landscape is filled with a growing list of Democrats who have found commonality with Republicans on some key issues as their party careens further to the left, from Gabbard to RFK Jr. to Elon Musk.
In 2008, Kinser volunteered for Obama but “grew disenchanted,” an ABC7 Chicago article noted. In 2011, she attended a birthday gala for him, saying, “He hasn’t been as motivating as in the past. Today was awesome though. He was very energized. It was like (the) Obama I knew.”
Her other donations are somewhat mixed, although they tilt Democratic. She has donated money to Democratic Assembly candidates Dora Drake and Jarrod Anderson but also to Deborah Kerr, who ran against Underly in the last DPI race and was considered the more conservative candidate in that race. She donated to former Republican state Sen. Dale Kooyenga, who is now President and CEO of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce. She also donated to the state Senate Democratic Campaign Committee in 2011.
These photos from a Milwaukee event show she is very networked in that city.
Wright is a Democratic donor who’s given money to the state Democrat Party and liberal Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh-Bradley. His Assembly campaign drew donations from a slew of liberal donors. The same is true of Underly, an uber-liberal who has given money to Evers.
Underly’s tenure has been rocked by partisan headline grabs and incompetence, such as when DPI failed to tell voters about severe financial issues at MPS BEFORE they approved a massive school referendum last spring.
According to Wispolitics, Kinser “has launched Wisconsin Reads, a nonprofit that backs evidence-based literacy practices and the science of reading.”
“As a former special education teacher and elementary school principal, I’m committed to ensuring students can read, write, and do math skillfully. I want to restore high academic standards and make sure students have the skills they need for good jobs after graduation. We must prioritize reading, writing, math, and science to provide the foundation for meaningful careers and a bright future. The kids—and their future—should be the number one priority!” Kinser wrote supporters.
Parent Nelly Hernandez told OnMilwaukee.com about Kinser, “You could tell she really cared about every person.”
According to her bio, Kinser is the CEO of Kinser Consulting, LLC. “After teaching in both Chicago and Japan, she helped launch the IIT Math and Science Academy in Chicago, where she developed innovative curricula that emphasized STEM education.”
In 2012, “Brittany joined Rocketship Public Schools as an Assistant Principal in California before relocating to Milwaukee, where she served as the Founding Principal of the network’s first school outside of California and later as Executive Director of Rocketship’s Milwaukee region, overseeing the growth of a regional network of schools,” it says.
What is Rocketship? The Progressive once wrote in an article on Kinser, “Rocketship, an entrepreneurial network of charter schools based in the Silicon Valley, has become a national poster child for the privatization of public education. It is particularly known for its bare-bones curricular focus on standardized test scores in reading and math (and) its use of computer-based ‘learning labs’ that cut down costs.”
Her bio continues, “Most recently, she held the position of CEO and President of City Forward Collective and CFC Action Fund in Milwaukee, where she played a pivotal role in securing over $250 million in new funding for local schools. Brittany has also served as President of the Milwaukee Charter School Advocates, mobilizing parents and advocating for equitable funding and resources for charter schools.”
The website of the City Forward Collective blisters MPS. “These are serious violations that directly call into question MPS’ financial stewardship of taxpayer dollars,” a press release from May says (she left in January). In a press release for that group, Kinser spoke in favor of a funding increase that “will help keep the doors open” for “Milwaukee’s public charter and private schools.” She credited “parent power.”
She has raised grave concerns about achievement gaps for minority students.
Interestingly, this third challenge to Underly comes from Milwaukee circles, where many parents have relied on alternatives to MPS to help their kids succeed, regardless of partisan affiliation.
Jeff Wright Goes After Jill Underly
Wright has directed his fire at Underly. He’s running on a platform of improving communication from DPI, and he told the Wisconsin Examiner (a liberal outlet) that there is “palpable frustration” from educators about Underly’s gutting of standardized testing score criteria.
“The agency lowered the proficiency threshold and changed the terms that are used to describe student performance, which critics said made it difficult to make comparisons to previous years,” the Wisconsin Examiner reported. Reminder: this is coming from a liberal outlet.
Wright also slammed the state Democratic Party’s endorsement of Underly in comments that echo the DNC’s maneuvering to anoint Kamala Harris as a nominee who had not won a primary.
He said party “insiders” were deciding to “ignore” the voices of teachers, administrators, and others while settling for “the division and mismanagement that have marked Superintendent Underly’s tenure, ignoring failures that are isolating DPI from discussions about the future of Wisconsin’s public schools.”
Again, this is coming from a Democrat to a liberal outlet about a Democratic incumbent.
“Party leaders even ignored the voices of organized educators, a key member of the Democratic coalition, in making this endorsement,” Wright said to the Examiner.
All of this before the more moderate Kinser even got into the fray.
Jill Underly’s Failures
We previously reported that:
- State School Superintendent Jill Underly’s executive director, the powerful leftist ex-campaign operative Sachin Chheda, donated to the committee working to push through a $252 million Milwaukee Public Schools referendum at the same time DPI was failing to tell the public that the district had not turned in key financial data as far back as September.
- The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) is urging the Legislature to “rein in DPI’s ability to change accountability standards in education” after the state Department of Public Instruction (DPI) released new report card data on November 19 in which “the only expectation is mediocrity.”
- Underly wrote Waukesha school Superintendent James Sebert and the board, slamming their decision to enforce a policy that bans posters and materials relating to controversial issues in classrooms, including thin blue line, pride, and black lives matter signs. In this case, the school banned the song “Rainbowland” from being played at a spring concert.
- Underly missed a Board of Regents vote on freezing DEI positions in the UW System because she couldn’t get internet in Europe.
- Underly once said on Milwaukee inner city talk radio, “We have to look at opportunity gaps instead of looking fully at achievement.”
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