Who will lead the agency that oversees Washington schools?

Plus some recommended reading

Three candidates are raising money and making waves in the race for the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the office that oversees public K-12 education in Washington—newcomer Reid Saaris, two-time incumbent Chris Reykdal, and Peninsula School Board member David Olson. 

​Here's a really interesting wrinkle in this race playing out this weekend. Although the Washington Education Association has twice endorsed Reykdal, Saaris is actually a member of the union by virtue of his job as a long-term substitute at Seattle's Rainier Beach High School, where he was covering another teacher’s maternity leave. It’s a position he took at roughly the same time he announced his candidacy. The powerful teachers union holds its endorsement convention Saturday.

Superintendent of Public Instruction candidates Chris Reykdal and Reid Saaris. (Photos courtesy of the campaigns.)

For voters, the race will likely be a referendum on public education four years after COVID-19 upended student learning and mental health. Reykdal was reelected in Nov. 2020 as school shut-downs, remote learning, and feuds over masking policies complicated education.