Community Education Government

Conservative, progressive values collide in state superintendent race

As K-12 schools have become a battleground for culture wars, it’s no surprise that the 2024 race for state Superintendent of Public Instruction, a nonpartisan position, is fraught with political overtones.

David Olson, a longtime Peninsula School District board member, hopes to unseat incumbent Chris Reykdal, seeking a third term as head of the state’s K-12 schools in the Nov. 5 general election.

Both say the state has fallen behind in its mandate to fully fund public education. Both advocate directing more resources to struggling students and districts. And both are concerned with student mental health.

But on the campaign trail, the candidates have made clear they are ideologically worlds apart on two key issues: diversity in schools and parents’ rights.

Overview of the issues

Olson is running as a champion of parents’ rights. He supports school choice and parents’ access to information on their children’s school records. Conservative groups see him as a torchbearer for their cause. Reykdal pledges to keep “our public schools public” and warns on his campaign website of “extremists” seeking to destabilize public K-12 schools while draining taxpayer funds.

Reykdal is a strong proponent of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). Olson in a speech at the Washington State Republic Party Convention in April, spoke out against DEI, calling it a “controversial social issue” and “horrible stuff.”

Olson says, if elected, he would work to give more local control to school boards, a stance applauded by conservatives, according to an article in the Washington State Standard. Reykdal and others warn more local control could lead to weakening of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Candidates’ bios

Reykdal, 52, is a former high school teacher and school board member. He has held executive positions for the state community college system. A Democrat, he served three terms in the state House of Representatives for District 22 in the Olympia area. In 2016, he was elected to lead the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and retained the post in 2020.

Olson, 65, is a retired U.S. Navy diver with 28 years in the military followed by a career in finance. He has served on the Peninsula School Board for more than a decade. He was elected in 2013, and re-elected twice.

Washington public schools serve more than 1 million students in 295 districts.

A primary upset

Olson bumped aside Reykdal’s other challenger, Democrat Reid Saaris, in the Aug. 6 top-two primary. Saaris outraised both his opponents with $358,779 in campaign funds, according to the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission.

Reykdal got 39.3% of votes cast; Olson got 31.22%, and Saaris trailed with 23.94%.

Not surprisingly, Reykdal dominated in blue-leaning metro areas along the I-5 corridor and greater Puget Sound region, while Olson had strong support in counties to the east and south of the state that typically lean red.

Election dynamics

Conventional wisdom would have it that Reykdal will pick up most of Saaris’ votes. But Olson thinks he can appeal to moderate Democrats around the state based on his showing in a “purple school district” in the 2021 school board election, he told fellow Republicans at the convention. That year, Olson got 57.33% of the vote for District 5 director, according to the Washington Secretary of State’s elections division.

Voter turnout in the 2024 state primary was 40.91%. Washington’s turnout in the 2016 general election was 78.76%; in 2020, it was 84.14, the highest in the state’s recorded history.

Campaign finance

Reykdal has raised $331,668 to Olson’s $127,469, according to the PDC. Independent expenditures in favor of Reykdal total $287,072, with $258,300 coming from the Washington Education Association (the state teachers’ union) PAC and $27,989 from FUSE Washington, a progressive organization. His endorsements include dozens of Democratic organizations, multiple educators, individuals and other organizations, according to his campaign website.

The PDC reports no independent expenditures for or against Olson. Among his contributors are several Republican organizations. His endorsements include more than 50 school board members from across the state, including three of the four other Peninsula school board members, according to his campaign website. The Washington State Republican Party and other Republican organizations endorsed him.

Dueling endorsements

In a Facebook post earlier this year, the state GOP said Olson would bring “fresh blood and new ideas” to an education system failing with Reykdal at the helm. In a post Sept. 24, the party accuses Reykdal of “prioritizing indoctrination, not reading and math.”

“A proven leader, Olson will champion parents and students alike — in contrast to his partisan rival, current WA superintendent Chris Reykdal, under whose failed leadership students are struggling academically,” the party said.

Washington Education Association President Larry Delaney, in a statement to Gig Harbor Now, said educators across the state overwhelmingly endorse Reykdal’s reelection.

“We know he shares our commitment to excellent public schools for every student, and that he will stand against efforts to funnel taxpayer money to unaccountable private institutions,” Delaney said.

He highlighted Reykdal’s commitment to “ensure that all students feel safe and supported included at school” in contrast to Olson’s convention comments on DEI.

“We are concerned that Olson, who referred to diversity, equity and inclusion as ‘horrible stuff’ (and then later said he got ‘carried away’) may be more concerned with scoring political points than doing what’s best for our state’s kids,” Delaney said.

Reykdal on DEI

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, in schools, businesses and government, seeks to ensure full participation and freedom from discrimination for all, especially groups historically marginalized on the basis of race, gender, disability, gender identity and others with protected status under state and federal law.

Reykdal in a statement to Gig Harbor Now said: “I am in strong support of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work and am supportive of including all racial, ethnic, religious, gender, and sexual identities in this work. Our students deserve to see themselves in their curriculum and reading materials, and our students and educators deserve to learn and work in an environment free from racism and harassment.”

Reykdal on LGBTQ+ rights

On his campaign website, Reykdal lists “protecting LGBTQ students” as a priority. He advocates teaching “the importance of gender diversity” either through direct lesson plans or through classroom materials that feature LGBTQ characters.

“We must also ensure Title IX laws are being protected with gender inclusive bathroom access and inclusion in sports and other activities,” he says.

In a campaign debate covered by the Washington State Standard, Reykdal said he would seek more funding for OSPI’s civil rights division and “go after districts that are ‘defying the civil rights of kids, particularly trans youth and LGBTQ+ youth.’”

Olson on DEI

Olson’s position statement on DEI to Gig Harbor Now is: “I strongly believe ALL students should feel safe and welcome in school.  Free of intimidation, harassment, and bullying. There should be no room for hate in schools. Here locally, as you are aware, there has been a rise is online bullying and intimidation against marginalized students. And, unfortunately, we have seen rampant antisemitism in many Washington schools that is not being handled very well. More needs to be done to get these issues under control.”

This summer, Olson issued a statement denouncing “antisemitism, hate speech and any student walkouts that support such ideologies.” He did not mention the war in Gaza.

Olson’s school district is undertaking an anti-bullying campaign after being deluged last school year with complaints from students, parents and community members that blatant discrimination against minority and LGBTQ+ students is not being taken seriously.

For Olson, however, protecting marginalized students comes with a caveat.

Convention comments

Speaking at the State Republican Party Convention in April, he said: “I’ve been through the battles of Covid, critical race theory, wars, Black Lives Matter, all that stuff that we had to put up with during that horrible time. And during that time, I was the first school board, as board president, the first school district in the state to ban controversial social issues such as critical race theory, DEI and all that horrible stuff.”

Olson was referring to his role in ensuring Peninsula School District did not teach critical race theory through a resolution passed in 2021.

“That’s a big, proud moment for me and my school board, that we were able to ban those horrible, socially divisive programs that tell our children to be divisive and that they’re oppressive and victims. We eliminated that,” he said.

Olson on LGBTQ+ rights

Olson at the convention added, apparently on trans athletes, “I also support not allowing boys against girls. I think that’s a common theme. We all agree with that.”

Asked to elaborate on that statement, Olson told Gig Harbor Now: “This is a complex issue. As a father of a daughter who played sports in high school, I do not believe from a safety and privacy perspective, biological boys should compete against girls. I have traveled all over the state these past eight months, and many mothers – liberal, independent, and conservative – have told me they adamantly oppose biological boys competing against their daughters. No one has told me they support it. It is not the role of OSPI to change laws, that responsibility falls on the legislature.”

While that is true, the Superintendent of Public Instruction has strong lobbying power to effect changes that align with their platform.

The 2021 resolution

In 2021, amid the nationwide reckoning over race, the Washington Legislature passed SB 5044, requiring training for school staff in cultural competency, diversity, equity and inclusion. Cultural competency means having knowledge of norms and values of different cultures, “adapting instruction to student experiences,” and identifying cultural contexts for individual students.

The bill called out the “important work of dismantling institutional racism in public schools” and cited the importance of DEI and “antiracism” training for staff throughout the K-12 system.

The bill did not call for teaching students Critical Race Theory, a field of higher education intellectual study examining how racial oppression shaped the legal system in America. Nowhere in the bill is CRT mentioned.

But nationwide, an ideological tug-of-war was building over how the history of race in America should be taught. Calls to incorporate the painful realities of racism into age-appropriate instruction were countered by criticism that would be divisive and harmful to children. CRT became a catch-all term in the debate.

Responding to those rumors, Olson’s school board passed a resolution clarifying that the district does not teach CRT to students. The resolution affirms the district’s dedication to “an environment that is inclusive and continuously works to model and create an environment free of discrimination.”

Oppressors and victims

As a guest in 2021 on the conservative talk show hosted by Dori Monson, Olson explained: “We have a lot of our people who are definitely adamant about this (CRT) curriculum, especially as it was tied to the recently passed Senate Bill 5044 by the governor. A lot of parents were concerned that training teachers across the state could then creep down into the classroom. As their voices got louder and louder, our school board decided it was time to take action.”

Olson, at the 2024 convention, took credit for shepherding the resolution, which includes this paragraph that he highlighted in the Dori Monson interview: “All students, teachers and support staff are equal as individuals and no one race, gender, ethnicity or religion is superior or inferior as it relates to another, and no student, teacher or support staff member should be taught that they are the oppressor or victim based on their race.”

Advocates of DEI say that stance stifles what can be taught in the classroom and will have a chilling effect on open discussions of race and gender.

The district’s DEI committee, which included community members, was dissolved shortly after the resolution passed, according to Joy Stanford of the group Gig Harbor for Racial Justice.

Curriculum challenge

Olson’s position on teaching about diversity is similar to one delivered to the Peninsula School Board over the summer by parents and others opposed to a pilot English language arts curriculum. Leading the charge was Sarah Garriott, chapter chair of the conservative parents’ rights group Moms for Liberty Pierce County.

Garriott described books and other materials used in the Wit & Wisdom curriculum as divisive, age-inappropriate and traumatizing. She said they “promote a skewed and racist view of history and portray one race as superior to another.” The nonprofit that developed the curriculum calls materials “authentic and content rich.”

Similar curriculum challenges are playing out in front of school boards across the county. Many of the materials challenged are by or about minorities or LGBTQ+ individuals.

The school board doesn’t respond during meetings to community comments, so Olson didn’t make any public statement on the parents’ complaints. He voted with the rest of the board to approve the pilot along with one other test curriculum.

Garriott is also affiliated with Informed Parents of Washington, a parents’ rights group opposing the state’s sex education standards, including how students are taught about gender identification. That group on social media has shown support for Olson.

Seeing race, seeing diversity

Reykdal on his campaign website says education absolutely should acknowledge historic discrimination.

“Everything OSPI does to approach 100% graduation rates has an acute eye to the populations that have been systematically denied opportunity in our past and still today,” he states on the website. “Embracing diversity is not an exercise in being color blind. Quite the opposite; it is absolutely about seeing race, seeing diversity, having crucial conversations and strategically investing in our communities to cultivate a greater passion about our public schools and to set high expectations for all students.”

Seeing red flags

Gig Harbor for Racial Justice, whose members have pressured the Peninsula School Board to address discrimination in its schools, gave a statement on Olson’s candidacy. The group “supports the values and practices of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. We are for policies that meet the needs of ALL students. David Olson seems to always be at odds with the values we hold high. He has gone on record with policies and practices that harm marginalized and mainstream students and we do not support this.”

Western States Strategies, a nonprofit whose stated mission is “defending our democracy,” sees red flags in Olson’s alignment with views of groups like Moms for Liberty, labeled an extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Spokeswoman Kate Bitz said his comments about DEI show “a stance that risks further marginalizing families and educators of color, as well as LGBTQ+ students and teachers who already face bullying and discrimination.”

Opportunity gap, achievement gap

Both candidates say the state is falling short of its duty to fully fund education. Both favor a revamp of the state’s school funding formula. Where Olson sees an “achievement gap,” Reykdal sees an “opportunity gap.” But both pledge to direct resources to struggling students and districts.

Olson has outlined plans to maintain high academic standards, along with AP classes and highly capable programs. He would offer incentives to experienced teachers to work in struggling school districts, provide additional funding for tutoring and prioritize getting the state to fully fund special ed.

Reykdal claims “we are closing gaps in graduation rates faster than any time in our history,” but says there’s more work to do. He says the state should acknowledge barriers and tailor its allocations accordingly.

“All students and communities deserve a fully funded education system that recognizes that not all communities are the same,” Reykdal said.

Each candidate supports expanding career and technical education (AKA vocational ed). Olson said a comment he made at the Republican convention about wanting to see four-year colleges go bankrupt was facetious.

“It was a joke,” he told Gig Harbor Now. “As it turns out, it was not a very well received one.”

Funding for higher ed?

More questions were raised, however, by Olson’s response in a voter guide by the politically active Christian organization American Family Action Network, “I support the state of WA funding Pre-K through 12^th grade as outlined by the (Washington) State Constitution. I do not support the state (government) funding post high school education. I do support alternatives to public education such as private schools and charter schools.”

On other responses in the voter guide, Olson’s views closely align with the group’s vision of the family as the central unit of society and parents as the primary educators of their children.

‘A battle of values’

The candidates hold sharply differing views on issues central to the parents’ rights movement, namely school choice and access to student records.

Olson throughout the campaign has shown strong support for school choice, which allows some schools, including charter schools, to access public education funding.

Reykdal, on his campaign website, is explicit in his opposition. He says on the homepage, “… public education both in our state and nationally is now being targeted by extremists who attack the diversity of our children, attack our highly trained and professional educators, and they cravenly promote lies to destabilize confidence in public education in their attempt to drive taxpayer dollars to prop up their religious and for-profit schools.”

Under the heading “Keeping Our Public Schools Public,” he says “Our democratic republic is genuinely at risk and I think public education is part of the solution! It’s a battle of values between strengthening public schools (the common good) versus privatizing our constitutional duty.”

Access to student records

Olson has criticized Reykdal over OSPI’s response to Republican-backed I-2081, establishing a Parent’s Bill of Rights in Washington State. The initiative affirms certain rights that parents already have under state law and adds provisions strengthening parents’ access to their student’s mental and physical health records.

Reykdal in June issued guidance that school districts should pause implementing those parts of the new law pending the outcome of a legal challenge filed by the ACLU and other groups. Plaintiffs say the records access granted parents conflicts with student privacy laws and could stifle students’ comfort to confide in school staff information, such as gender identification, they may not be able to share at home.

In a Facebook post, Olson called out Reykdal for blocking portions of the bill.

“We must do everything possible to guarantee transparency, accountability and access for parents to be engaged in their children’s education,” he said. “I-2081 is a powerful tool to further these goals, and I will fight to support its full implementation.”

Olson on parents’ rights

In a statement to Gig Harbor Now on parents’ rights, Olson said: “Across the state, and I mean that literally as I have traveled 5,000 miles a month, parents in no uncertain terms tell me they want to be involved and know what’s going on in their children’s education and schools.  I strongly believe parents and families play a critical role in their children’s education. As the 14th Amendment states, parents are the ‘primary stakeholders’ in their children’s lives — not the school districts.”

Olson believes schools should “partner with and collaborate” with parents and guardians on all aspects of the educational experience, however, he said, “If the school has a credible concern where there is abuse or issues that could require notification of CPS or the police, then obviously those students need to be protected. However, in the majority of instances I believe parents should be notified by the school so they can work together to support the student.”

Reykdal on parents’ rights

As a parent, former teacher and former school board director, Reykdal said in a statement to Gig Harbor Now, he understands the importance of empowering parents and guardians.

“Parents directly elect their school boards and should be empowered to serve on curriculum committees, and to have access to their student’s official records,” he said. “Our office creates learning standards, districts and their elected school boards adopt curriculum, and teachers create lesson plans. Parents have the ability to opt their child out of any lesson they choose, no matter the subject.”

On I-2081, he added, “There are some student privacy protections in federal and state law for both medical and education records, and our job is to uphold the law, including those student privacy rights. The courts are currently considering the legality of some of the provisions of the recent parents’ bill of rights. We will follow the law and respect parents’ rights AND those student privacy rights that remain protected after a legal determination has been established.”