NPE Action endorses Chris Reykdal for Washington State Superintendent

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The Network for Public Education Action gives its endorsement to Chris Reykdal, in the race for Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction. 

Here is what Chris told us about why he is running:

“Washington State is under court order to fund PUBLIC schools even while education “reformers” are pushing more aggressively for new charter schools. I am running to support, defend, and improve our public schools! I am incredibly passionate about this work and always have been. I grew up in poverty, and it was my incredible public education that helped me to break that cycle. I firmly believe that the quality of a child’s education should never depend on their zip code, family income level, race, ethnicity, gender, or any of the other identifiers that can hold us back… My top priority will be to get our state in compliance with the Supreme Court’s McCleary decision and fully and equitably fund our public schools. Until we fully and equitably fund our schools, they will struggle to meet the needs of each student and that will fuel the call for faux reforms. In some ways we are lucky that our Supreme Court has absolutely demanded full funding of our state’s paramount duty while simultaneously ruling against charter schools in the form they are in today. The next Superintendent has an opportunity to move the public to greater support of our public schools.”

Chris believes in less testing, smaller class sizes, due process rights for teachers, sufficient and equitable school funding and student data privacy.

In an interview with Seattle Education, Chris said the following:

So let me get at my values.  The greatest frustration for me is that our federal government continues to step on the authority of states to determine the provision of basic education.  The fact that these funds are not flexible for innovation schools in general, but instead, charters-only, means that the U.S. Department of Education has learned very little from the failures of No Child Left Behind, and they clearly are not interested in returning control and flexibility to the states.

In this case, the Feds are using taxpayer dollars to pick a preferred method of delivery, in the same way they tried to use our tax dollars to force us into tying student test scores to teacher evaluations.

At this point, it isn’t about whether you are for or against charters.  The question before us now is, are you, or are you not in support of the principle that education is a state issue.  Congress can absolutely establish goals and civil rights, and other aspirational interests, but the delivery of education is a state’s rights issue that should be void of federal preferences.

For his strong support of public education and clear stand on charter schools at a critical time in the state, we endorse Chris Reykdal for Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State of Washington. The election is November 8.