A conservative advocacy group has filed a complaint against the state Department of Public Instruction alleging it broke state open meetings and records laws nearly two years ago when it contracted with a private contractor to revise educational proficiency standards.
A piece appeared in several newspapers throughout southcentral Wisconsin on April 20, 2026, including the Wisconsin State Journal. According to the story:
The Institute for Reforming Government has asked the Adams County district attorney to determine whether DPI’s standards-setting committee broke records laws in June 2024 when it held a four-day conference at Chula Vista resort in the Wisconsin Dells for third-party vendor Data Recognition Corporation, DPI staff and a group of 88 Wisconsin educators for nearly $369,000, which includes costs to revise the state’s standardized testing and resort costs.
As part of that conference, Data Recognition Corporation required attendees to sign nondisclosure agreements to protect confidential Forward Exam questions, and DRC did not collect meeting notes that are responsive to public records.
Adams County District Attorney Rebecca L. Maki-Wallander will have nearly three weeks to decide whether to act on the complaint, which was filed on April 10. But IRG chief legal counsel Jake Curtis told lawmakers during a two-hour Assembly hearing Thursday he felt discussions on testing standards should have been noticed as an open meeting, and any confidential information regarding Forward Exam test questions could have gone into closed session.
In March, the Legislature’s budget committee cut DPI’s budget by $250,000 for the following year after a newsletter published by conservative operative Brian Fraley questioned why the department spent $368,885 on a four-day conference at Chula Vista Resort in the Wisconsin Dells in 2024.
In 2024, the department changed what it meant for students to be considered “proficient” in reading and math on the Forward Exam, which also affected how DPI’s report cards for schools are calculated. Fraley requested records of the conference under the state’s open records law, some of which he said were finally released after he retained IRG to represent him.
The records did not include receipts for the four-day workshop at Chula Vista, Fraley wrote.
Of those expenses, $219,225 went toward hosting the actual workshop, a breakdown from the department showed, slightly less than the overall cut lawmakers approved. IRG and lawmakers also raised concerns about how long it took DPI to respond to Fraley’s request.
Government and Public Affairs Assistant Superintendent Rich Judge told lawmakers that the department’s four lawyers expect to put in five weeks’ worth of work into fulfilling the records request. Hours spent on complicated records requests come at the expense of other areas, such as educator misconduct allegations and teacher licensing, Judge said.
Lawmakers used a wide-ranging hearing before the Assembly Committee on Government Operations, Account- ability, and Transparency Wednesday, April 15, to rehash grievances over the amount of money spent on the conference, changes to proficiency standards and a lack of DPI funding that prevents the agency from fulfilling records requests more quickly.
Republicans, including Chair Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, raised concerns about the amount of money DPI had spent on the conference that conservatives widely view as having lowered the educational bar for students and make it more difficult to gauge how well schools are doing. Legislation has since been introduced to force the department to reverse course but has not been signed into law.
State Superintendent Jill Underly has defended the changes, saying performance benchmarks and accountability systems must align with how students learn.
Nedweski told DPI officials that taking 15 months to respond to a request was unreasonable.
