WASL

BLAINE - The two candidates for the office of superintendent of public instruction, Washington's only statewide non-partisan post, debated today at the Association of Washington Business' annual policy summit.

 In the hour long back-and-forth, moderated by the Seattle Channel's CR Douglas and the Tacoma News-Tribune's Peter Callaghan, incumbent Terry Bergeson and challenger Randy Dorn touched on a number of issues ranging from the role of career and technical education and the appropriate types of math to require to achievement standards, the idea of differential pay and how best to test Washington's students.

But mostly, it was a debate over whether to stay the course, as Bergeson suggested, or give the state a change in the visage of Randy Dorn.

The WEA, the biggest teachers union in the state, is now left with a Superintendent whom they have viciously attacked, a test that isn't so bad after all, and nobody to lead their parade.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson welcomed the news that more than 90% of high school seniors had passed the graduation requirements of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning.

One of her opponents, Randy Dorn, does not see it that way. He called Bergeson's celebration "shortsighted and off the mark." 

The WEA really doesn't want Terry Bergeson to be Superintendent anymore. But nobody else really wants the job either. Here's why.