Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Wisconsin State Superintendent Tony Evers has admitted to plagiarizing large sections of his latest schools budget proposal. POLITICO reported Friday morning.
In so doing, he violated his own Department of Public Instruction's rules and standards. DPI takes plagiarism very seriously, and includes on its website numerous guidelines for avoiding it.
As the DPI's website notes, "there are only two instances when you do not need to cite a source"--when "the idea is common knowledge" and when "you came up with the idea."
If that is somehow confusing, the DPI's website also includes a helpful video demonstrating examples of plagiarized school assignments.
A search of the DPI website reveals 178 different entries for "plagiarism," and all focus on a central theme; that it is unacceptable in any circumstance and punishable by a failing grade, suspension from school, or even expulsion.
If a public school student could face expulsion from school for passing off another's work as his own, what should happen to the head of public schools?