As a retired 39-year teacher/vice principal, mother of two wonderful children and pastor for two community churches, one of my main goals in life has been to ensure all children receive a high-quality education that wholly and adequately prepares them for life beyond high school.

It is with this experience and passion that I am supporting Chris Reykdal for Superintendent of Public Instruction.

I have had the pleasure of knowing Chris personally for 20 years. I’ve always known him to be highly intelligent, passionate about public education, kind-hearted, genuine and a strong leader. He has since dedicated his whole career to ensuring every student in Washington has the same opportunities that were available to him.

He began his professional career as a high school history teacher before earning his master’s degree in government finance, budgeting and performance management. He then worked for the state Senate as a fiscal analyst before going to work for our state’s community and technical college system. He was elected to his local school board in 2007 after witnessing chronic underfunding and how it affected both students and educators. Four years later, he ran for an open seat in the State House of Representatives, where he has served (currently as vice-chair of the House Education Committee) since.

Chris is committed to fully and equitably funding our schools, eliminating high-stakes standardized testing and drastically reducing standardized testing as a whole, re-committing to career and technical education programs, decreasing our reliance on local property tax levies to fund basic education, maintaining local control, and minimizing the ever-present opportunity gap.

K Bramstedt

Cosmopolis