The Times endorses
Bergeson for state school superintendent

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Education is a top priority here. It is mandated in our state constitution. More than half the state's general-fund budget is devoted to schools. It is critical to have someone at the helm like Bergeson, who has spent the past eight years making good on the promises of education reform.

All but one of Bergeson's opponents in the six-way primary are one-issue candidates with no experience running large-budget agencies. The only opponent who comes close is Judith Billings, superintendent in Washington from 1989 to 1996. Billings was a good superintendent but her main contribution to education now is as a dissenter. We can't go backwards.

Our students are doing better than we think. The Seattle School District is posting some of the highest SAT scores in recent memory. On the Eastside, most school districts soared above the national average in the verbal and math portions of the SAT. We're on the right course.

In tough budget times, Bergeson has been aggressive in finding money for critical education needs. She pooled state and federal funds to pay for improvements at focus schools. These schools had failed to meet average yearly progress, some for several years in a row. The superintendent rightly moved beyond identifying them as struggling to helping them succeed.

Under Bergeson's stewardship, $100 million in competitive funds such as grants have been awarded to pay for reading, mathematics, science, special education and advanced-placement programs.

Bergeson's high expectations and sense that everyone, from teachers to parents, must share in the responsibility of education have garnered her some critics. Among the harshest has been the state teachers' union. But as Bergeson has worked to gain flexibility and additional funding in the No Child Left Behind law and sought alternative means of assessment, she is proving her critics wrong.

There is much work to do. Student performance on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning test must dramatically improve if this year's incoming freshman class is to pass the test and graduate in 2008. Funding for K-12 education must be stabilized.

A third term by Bergeson is the best way to achieve this.