State superintendent race is neck-and-neck in early results
Nov 8, 2016, 8:47 PM | Updated: 9:38 pm
Erin Jones, left, and Chris Reykdal were competing to take over for Randy Dorn as Superintendent of Public instruction for Washington schools. (AP/Canva)
(AP/Canva)
The title of Superintendent of Public instruction for Washington schools is a tight race as Erin Jones and Chris Reykdal are nearly tied in early results.
Reykdal had 51 percent approval, and Jones had 49 percent after initial results were announced Tuesday night.
Election results for all of Washington’s key races
Jones and Reykdal topped seven other candidates in the Aug. 2 primary (receiving 26 percent and 21 percent, respectively) to square off for the office that oversees K-12 public education in the state. Dorn announced last fall that he would not run for re-election after serving eight years in the post. He made headlines in June after suggesting that the state shut down schools if the Legislature doesn’t find a way to finally fund them as required by the state Supreme Court’s 2012 McCleary decision.
The superintendent is tasked with directing public schools. The nonpartisan job pays $132,000 a year and oversees some $9 billion in education spending.
Jones, a Milken Educator Award winner and assistant superintendent to Dorn, was the first black woman to run for statewide office in Washington state. Reykdal has served as a Democrat in the state legislature since 2011 and is an administrator for the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges.
In September, Jones called out The Stranger newspaper for misrepresenting her LGBTQ positions and for tokenism.
