State school superintendent plays politics while students continue to struggle

The results from this spring’s student assessments recently came out, and they’re not encouraging.

Out of the 1.1 million students in Washington’s K-12 schools, the number who met grade-level standards in English and mathematics continues to be down by around 100,000 compared from 2019, pre-pandemic.

The outlook is even more concerning when you pull out the test results for students from lower-income families and those from specific ethnic groups.

Unfortunately, this won’t light a fire under our state’s superintendent of public instruction, Chris Reykdal.

The former Democrat legislator has a history of downplaying student test scores, to the point of recently accusing an unnamed “elite group” of misusing assessment scores to aid in what he called the “vilification” of public schools.
But if anyone is playing politics with test scores, it’s Reykdal. One of my sharp-eyed colleagues noticed that his agency is reporting the latest statewide assessment results under a new label.

Instead of “met grade level standard” — students achieving levels 3 and 4 — it’s now “students showing foundational grade level knowledge and skills or above.” That lets in the level 2 scores, which are not at grade level.
The new label excludes only level 1 results, meaning the lowest. It’s like counting everyone who didn’t flunk, when the count used to be everyone who got a C or better.

This has the effect of significantly inflating the percentages so that 70.9% meet the new definition in English and 63.3% in math. Staying with the met-grade-level heading of past years shows 50.8% in English and 40.7% in math, which is almost the same as the 2024 assessment results.

Skewing the assessment reporting is not just misleading; it does nothing to restore the trust parents have lost in our state’s school system in recent years.

Reykdal has had a big part in alienating parents, between his bungled K-12 response to the COVID-19 pandemic and repeatedly denying the extended and scientifically unnecessary classroom closures had caused tremendous learning loss.

Then again, Reykdal already is known for putting a low priority on the needs of Washington schoolchildren and their parents, in favor of accommodating the wishes of his union political backers.

After releasing the latest test scores, Reykdal says he wants $10 million from legislators to put toward math-related teacher training and software.

Not only is he years late in saying that, but it also does nothing to offset his recent declaration that our state should refuse an offer of educational assistance from the federal government that could be life-changing for lower-income students in particular.

This assistance would come from the federal budget-reconciliation act passed in July. The law includes a provision that would let individual taxpayers lower their federal income-tax bill through tax credits they receive by contributing to nonprofit organizations that grant scholarships.

Each state gets to decide whether its residents may participate. I expect this will be debated during our 2026 session.
Instead of waiting until then to weigh in, Reykdal chose to play politics now by blasting the federal offer as a “school privatization scheme” that will benefit wealthy families by funneling public dollars to private schools.

I don’t see where the new federal policy diverts tax dollars away from traditional K-12 schools. Also, common sense tells us wealthy families don’t need such scholarships.

By urging legislators here to say no to tax-credit scholarships, Reykdal is saying no to the families of the students who are struggling most in our state.

His opposition indicates he is worried that more parents would pull their children if given the chance and add to the enrollment declines that have exposed financial weaknesses at many Washington public school districts.

People don’t fear competition when they are confident that their service or product is the best on the market. Bring it on, they say.

Reykdal would have no reason to fear tax-credit scholarships for Washington students if he was confident that the K-12 schools his agency oversees are providing an education that is consistently superior to what’s available at a private school, religious school or public charter school.

Perhaps Governor Ferguson, who graduated from the private, religious school his teenagers attend now, will be more appreciative about what the new policy would mean for Washington students.

Senate Republicans are working to improve the lives of Washington’s children, and it appears this federal offer is right in line with that.

Because it wouldn’t divert public funding for K-12 schools, our Democrat colleagues in the Legislature should also be open to saying yes — unless they, too, fear our school districts couldn’t handle some competition.

After Governor Ferguson loudly and repeatedly condemned the federal Republican budget-reconciliation act, I responded with a call for him to deal in facts rather than partisan fiction.

The same goes for Reykdal’s recent remarks. Let’s ignore the rhetoric and focus on the truth about how this new opportunity could change the lives of struggling students. That’s how we can do better.

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Sen. John Braun of Centralia serves the 20th Legislative District, which spans parts of four counties from Yelm to Vancouver. He became Senate Republican leader in 2020.