Honestly, if you missed the news back in April, you weren't alone. Most people were staring at the Supreme Court numbers or that voter ID amendment. But the wisconsin superintendent election results from 2025 actually told a much bigger story about where our schools are headed. Dr. Jill Underly held onto her seat. She beat Brittany Kinser, an education consultant who really gave her a run for her money.
It wasn't a landslide.
Underly pulled in about 52.7% of the vote. Kinser trailed with 46.9%. When you look at the raw numbers, it’s about 1.14 million for Underly versus 1.02 million for Kinser. That’s close enough to make a lot of people in Madison pretty nervous.
The High Stakes of the Wisconsin Superintendent Election Results
You’ve gotta realize that while this office is technically "nonpartisan," nobody actually believes that anymore. The money says it all. The Democratic Party of Wisconsin dumped roughly $850,000 into Underly’s campaign. Meanwhile, the GOP and their allies swung hard for Kinser, who ended up raising over $2.2 million.
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Why so much cash for a school job?
Basically, the State Superintendent in Wisconsin has a massive amount of power. We are the only state where the top education official is elected but doesn't have a state board of education to answer to. Underly basically runs the show at the Department of Public Instruction (DPI). She decides how money flows to 400+ districts and sets the bar for what your kids actually need to know to pass their exams.
A Primary That Almost Went Wrong
Before we got to the April finish line, there was that February primary. It was kind of a wake-up call for the incumbent. Underly only managed 38% of the vote in a three-way race. Jeff Wright, the Sauk Prairie superintendent, pulled enough votes away to show there was some real frustration with how things were going.
The main beef? The "Forward Exam" standards.
Underly’s team recalibrated the scores in 2024. Critics—including Kinser—screamed that she was "lowering the bar" to make proficiency numbers look better. Underly argued she was just modernizing the system to reflect what kids are actually learning now. Either way, even Democratic Governor Tony Evers said the rollout could have been handled a lot better.
Why the Margin Mattered This Time
Kinser campaigned heavily on "restoring standards." She’s a former special education teacher and worked with charter schools like Rocketship. She leaned into the idea that only 3 out of 10 Wisconsin kids are reading at grade level. That message resonated in a lot of red and purple counties.
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Underly, though, had the powerhouse backing of the teachers' unions. That’s a streak that has lasted for decades in Wisconsin. If you have the unions, you usually have the ground game.
| Candidate | % of Vote | Total Votes |
|---|---|---|
| Jill Underly | 52.7% | 1,148,427 |
| Brittany Kinser | 46.9% | 1,022,489 |
| Adrianne Melby (Write-in) | 0.0% | 348 |
The map was pretty telling. Underly won four out of the eight congressional districts. She even snagged two districts represented by Republicans. That suggests that even though the race felt partisan, a lot of parents still trust the "incumbent educator" over a "consultant" when the classroom door actually closes.
What Happens Now?
Now that the wisconsin superintendent election results are settled, Underly is staring down a second term that looks a lot harder than the first.
She's working in a world where the U.S. Department of Education is facing massive federal changes under the current administration. She’s already been vocal about it, calling out federal "overhauls" and urging a focus back on the students.
Then there’s the money.
Wisconsin school districts are constantly going to referendum. Basically, they have to beg local taxpayers for more money because the state funding hasn't kept up with inflation. Underly wants to change that. She wants "sustainable revenue" so schools don't have to keep asking for permission to fix the roof or pay teachers a living wage.
The Real Challenges on the Horizon
- The Literacy Law: Act 20 is in full swing now. Underly has to make sure schools are actually using the "science of reading" methods required by the state.
- Achievement Gaps: Milwaukee still has some of the widest racial achievement gaps in the country. It’s a persistent problem that no superintendent has truly "solved" yet.
- Teacher Shortages: It’s getting harder to find people who want to stay in the classroom. Underly is pushing for teacher apprenticeships and "grow your own" programs to fill the gaps.
Honestly, the 2025 election showed us that Wisconsin is still a deeply divided state when it comes to education. One half wants a complete overhaul of how we measure success; the other half wants to protect the public system from what they see as "privatization."
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If you're a parent or an educator, your next steps are pretty clear. Keep an eye on the DPI's budget requests for the 2025-27 biennium. That’s where the rubber meets the road. Also, check your local school board’s alignment with the new state standards; since Underly stayed in office, those "recalibrated" scores are here to stay, and districts are currently adjusting their curricula to match.