Ferguson, Reichert want the Superintendent of Public Instruction to be appointed

Both gubernatorial candidates, Republican Dave Reichert and Democrat Bob Ferguson want the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to be appointed rather than elected.

One thing they agreed on in their contentious debate Tuesday night, according to the Washington State Standard, was that the job should be part of the state cabinet so the governor could have more input in developing education plans. Officially, KING 5, The Seattle Times, KREM 2, and El Sol de Yakima were the hosts for the gubernatorial debate.

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The SPI controls funding to schools, implements state education laws, and sets curriculum standards for more than 1 million public school students. It oversees the state’s 295 school districts, six state-tribal education compact schools, educational service districts, and the Washington Center for Childhood Deafness and Hearing Loss.

Ferguson said that if elected, he would work to amend the state constitution to remove the post as an elected position by January 2029. He also plans to “eliminate duplication of efforts at the state, regional, and local levels of the education system” and “break down education silos and ensure that state services are coordinated and focused on the continuum from cradle to career.”

Current SPI Chris Reykdal supports transforming the post to a non-elected job. Reykdal is running for a third term. His opponent in this year’s race, David Olson, opposes the change.

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“The Legislature has given their policy authority to too many boards and agencies that often create inconsistent education policy and duplicate efforts,” Reykdal wrote to Gov. Jay Inslee and lawmakers in January 2021. “The executive branch needs singular leadership to write rules and carry out education policy, and the Legislature needs to assert (or delegate power to an executive) clearer expectations and accountability of local school districts.”

“I believe the position is too important to be a partisan appointment,” Olson said. “I believe the people should decide who fills the OSPI position, not a partisan elected governor. When Reykdal is in serious jeopardy of losing his seat, it’s clear the people should have the say. Not the governor.”

In 2022, former state senators Reuven Carlyle and Sam Hunt, both Democrats, introduced legislation to make the change, and Reykdal testified in favor. It received a hearing but did not advance out of the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee.

“We have such a radical addiction in our state to decentralization that we have a lack of accountability,” Carlyle said in the hearing. Education is in its own silo and a governor’s authority is “very modest,” he said.

Bill Kaczaraba is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here. Follow Bill on X here and email him here.