SEATTLE — Washington voters elected Chris Reykdal to the state's highest education office for a third time.
As of Friday afternoon, Reykdal had just over 53% of the vote. His challenger, David Olson, a School Board member for the Peninsula School District, trailed at 46%.
As the former state lawmaker prepares for his ninth year on the job, nearly every school district has experienced financial distress wrought by inflation and declining enrollment. And as he asks the state Legislature for billions more in assistance for schools, he said he expects "no help" from the incoming Trump administration, which has proposed sweeping changes to the education system, including dismantling the U.S. Department of Education.
"We've done this before," said Reykdal, who served his first term under a Trump presidency. "There's now more pressure on the state to take care of itself."
On the campaign trail, Reykdal pledged to continue promoting his signature issues, such as expanding career and technical education, dual-credit programs and free school meals.
As the state superintendent, Reykdal leads the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, or OSPI, the agency responsible for distributing funding to schools and enforcing laws. That includes federal funding and federal laws. However, only a small portion of school funding comes from federal dollars, so OSPI spends most of its time conferring with state lawmakers, he said.
That doesn't mean federal funding is insignificant. Reykdal said his staff has been pushing for more federal money to fund programs for students with disabilities and free meals for the past four years. During the previous Trump administration, the federal Education Department proposed cutting spending in several areas. More cuts could be on the horizon. The administration could, for example, withhold federal funding from schools if they don't remove certain curricula that discuss race and gender ideology.
"We'll fight it as much as we can," said Reykdal, a progressive who served as a Democrat in the state House of Representatives. "We're gonna stand up for our diverse kids."
Reykdal stressed that he would continue working with federal and state lawmakers in both parties.
"It's always important to people to know that a lot of what we do is very bipartisan," he said.
Though it is a nonpartisan race, voters usually choose a state superintendent according to their political values. Reykdal earned his lead from votes west of the Cascades. Olson, who was endorsed by the state Republican Party, scooped up the votes in right-leaning strongholds.
Reykdal won by roughly 200,000 votes. Around 87% of the votes have been counted so far, according to The Associated Press.
The candidates largely agreed on many issues, including the pressing need to increase school funding. But Olson had a more conservative platform, advocating for police presence on campuses to deter school violence. He also said the state education department should be less involved in school district policies. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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