State Superintendent Dr. Jilly Underly appeared in front of lawmakers this week to answer for the October Cap Times report regarding 200 allegations of sexual misconduct or grooming by teachers that were not made publicly available.

The report found that from 2018 to 2023, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) investigated around 200 educators for sexual misconduct or grooming allegations. These educators included teachers, substitutes, and other certified staff that were on the property. Despite there being a high quantity of cases investigated, many of them were not easily visible to the public. Several of the educators under investigation were able to voluntarily suspend their license which ended the investigation into their case. The lack of transparency is alarming and is putting our kids in danger, which is why Dr. Underly was in the Capitol this week to be held accountable.

Prior to being here this week, Dr. Underly declined to attend a hearing two weeks ago to instead receive an award from her alma mater, despite members on both sides of the aisle inviting her to appear before the committee. After the State Senate Committee on Education held a hearing with Dr. Underly present, Republican legislators are ordering an audit of DPI's educator misconduct license investigations. The audit, done by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau, will focus on the following components:

• Trends in the allegations received and investigated by the department
• The duration of the department’s investigations
• Written policies and procedures the department uses for its investigations and whether those were consistently followed
• How the department gathered evidence, assessed information, and documented its investigations and decisions
• Trends in the department’s investigation determinations over time
• Fiscal, staffing and technology resources used by the department for investigations
• How the department’s investigation processes are similar to or different from those used by other Midwestern states

Although DPI has claimed they have implemented changes, Republicans in the Assembly will continue to hold them accountable and ensure there is transparency in our schools to keep our kids safe.

Gov. Evers Vetoes Common-Sense Bills
Sadly, Gov. Evers vetoed several bills that Republicans proudly authored and passed, including a bill requiring state employees to conduct their work in person and in the office for at least 80% of the month. Several state agencies do not have the proper infrastructure to accurately monitor their employee's metrics regarding productivity, meaning there is no way to ensure they are properly performing their job while being paid in taxpayer dollars. This lack of basic oversight isn't fair to the taxpayers and leads to less efficient and effective work done for the state.

Another disappointing veto was our Republican bill that patched unemployment loopholes. Now, people will continue to cheat unemployment and take away resources from those that actually need them, costing taxpayers more unnecessary money. It is the legislature's job to ensure these programs are being administered correctly, but Gov. Evers is preventing us from doing that. The public overwhelmingly supports getting people off of government programs and back into the workforce, but these disappointing vetoes will allow people to collect benefits when others who lost their job through no fault of their own receive less.

Read more HERE