Chris Reykdal set to become Washington’s next Superintendent of Public Instruction

State Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Chris Reyk­dal (D‑22nd Dis­trict: Olympia, Tumwa­ter) is set to become Wash­ing­ton State’s next Super­in­ten­dent of Pub­lic Instruc­tion after fresh results show it’s become math­e­mat­i­cal­ly impos­si­ble for him to lose.

“We are up over 28,000 votes with less than 18,000 to count in our race. We have achieved a math­e­mat­i­cal vic­to­ry,” Reyk­dal not­ed in a Face­book update for back­ers of the cam­paign. “Thank you every­one for your incred­i­ble support!”

The elec­tion is due to be cer­ti­fied in a week, and Reyk­dal will for­mal­ly take over for incum­bent Randy Dorn in Jan­u­ary. Oppo­nent Erin Jones has con­ced­ed the race in one of the classi­est con­ces­sion mes­sages we’ve ever seen.

She writes:

It is time to con­cede the race for OSPI to my oppo­nent, Chris Reyk­dal. He ran a great race, and I wish him all the best in his new role.

As for me, I believe there is a rea­son for every­thing. I believe the right doors will open to do the right work. I just need to be patient and lis­ten. There have been mul­ti­ple job offers, but I won’t com­mit to any­thing right away.

Thank you so much to my friends, col­leagues, stu­dents, and, espe­cial­ly, fam­i­ly, for your sup­port! Thank you for con­tin­u­ing to believe in me, no mat­ter what! Thank you for being my strength when I was weak, for being my courage when I was afraid.

Thank you, most of all, for your love!

The video is even bet­ter, and we rec­om­mend watch­ing it from start to fin­ish.

Reyk­dal is the first can­di­date in years to jump straight from the Leg­is­la­ture to the Office of the Super­in­ten­dent of Pub­lic Instruc­tion (OSPI).

Sup­port­ers say Reyk­dal’s leg­isla­tive expe­ri­ence and rela­tion­ships will be use­ful over the next few years as the Leg­is­la­ture grap­ples with McCleary compliance.

Cur­rent Super­in­ten­dent Randy Dorn has been very vocal in chid­ing the Leg­is­la­ture for fail­ing to meet the state’s para­mount duty, but his demands for more school fund­ing and an income tax have gone unheeded.

Mean­while, his deci­sion this year to sue sev­en school dis­tricts for ille­gal­ly rely­ing on levies to fund basic edu­ca­tion was met with wide­spread condemnation.

Dorn is loud, but very inef­fec­tive, crit­ics say.

Reyk­dal’s tenure as Super­in­ten­dent promis­es to look rather dif­fer­ent. Reyk­dal back­ers say he’ll be a bridge builder who will make the posi­tion of Super­in­ten­dent much more rel­e­vant, par­tic­u­lar­ly with respect to address­ing McCleary.

(The Super­in­ten­dent does­n’t have a vote on the bud­get like law­mak­ers do, and does­n’t have veto pow­er like the Gov­er­nor does, but does have a bul­ly pul­pit and can be an effec­tive advo­cate for school funding.)

Reyk­dal is notably a father of chil­dren cur­rent­ly in pub­lic schools — his kids Carter and Kennedy often accom­pa­nied him on the cam­paign trail, demon­strat­ing incred­i­ble patience and matu­ri­ty at events their father had been invit­ed to par­tic­i­pate in — and has expe­ri­ence as a teacher and a school board mem­ber in addi­tion to a state leg­is­la­tor. Reyk­dal’s record in the House is very pro­gres­sive; he mem­o­rably vot­ed against new tax cuts for Boe­ing and spon­sored leg­is­la­tion to increase trans­paren­cy and account­abil­i­ty of Wash­ing­ton’s ini­tia­tive process.

The vot­ers have now cho­sen him to join the state’s exec­u­tive department.

We at NPI con­grat­u­late Chris on his vic­to­ry and look for­ward to see­ing him take over as Wash­ing­ton’s next Super­in­ten­dent of Pub­lic Instruc­tion in 2017. We stand ready to work with Chris to ensure our para­mount duty is met as quick­ly as possible.