WASL divides candidates vying for helm of state's schools

As she introduced the candidates for Superintendent of Public Instruction at a forum at Seattle's First Place School, executive director Doreen Cato declared the race as critical as the one between Barack Obama and John McCain.

Few would go that far, but it's clear the direction of Washington's school system is at stake in this election, with incumbent Terry Bergeson standing behind the state test known as the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL), and challenger Randy Dorn saying he'd work to get rid of most of it.

If re-elected, Bergeson says this term will be her last. She's been state superintendent for a dozen years and says she wants a fourth term to pursue some final goals, especially securing more state money for schools.

Dorn, executive director of the union that represents 26,000 teacher aides, bus drivers, janitors and other school employees, was briefly a candidate for the superintendent's job in 1996 before he pulled out and supported Bergeson. But he says he's become disenchanted with her leadership.

The math section of the WASL "was a disaster," Dorn said.

Dorn's union is playing a big financial role in the race. He has received a total of about $8,000 directly from local affiliates of Service Employees International Union (SEIU), including his own Public School Employees of Washington. In addition, the political action committee of the SEIU's national office has sunk about $400,000 into the race. Dorn sits on the SEIU national board.

That money didn't go directly to Dorn, but to an independent committee called Citizens for Washington, which has run ads supporting Dorn and opposing Bergeson. That's more than double the $189,275 that Dorn has raised to date.

Bergeson's campaign has challenged those ads with the Public Disclosure Commission, charging that they were coordinated with the Dorn campaign, which is illegal. The Dorn campaign flatly denies that. The matter is still under review.

Bergeson has raised about $260,000, with strong support from prominent members of the business community, which has also long backed the WASL. The Realtors Quality of Life political-action committee also has purchased about $29,000 worth of advertising supporting her candidacy.

The race has become heated in recent weeks, with Bergeson accusing Dorn in a fundraising letter of being "anti-public schools." Dorn took strong exception to that statement in a recent debate, noting that he's been a public-school supporter for all of his adult life, and his son is a public-school teacher.

Either candidate will need strong powers of persuasion because the Legislature and the governor directly control state school spending, testing and other important education issues. The job pays about $122,000 annually.

Dorn and Bergeson both started their careers as small-town teachers — Bergeson in Cape Cod, Mass., and Dorn in Buckley, Pierce County. They both talk with passion about students that needed — and weren't getting — a quality education. The desire to ensure a better education for all led both of them into politics.

Dorn served in the Legislature from 1987 to 1994 and, as chairman of the House Education Committee, helped write the sweeping education-reform bill passed in 1993 that called for new learning standards and a test to measure whether students were reaching them.

In 1985, Bergeson became president of the Washington Education Association (WEA) — the state's largest teachers union. She lost her first bid at the state superintendent's job in 1992, but won four years later after working as executive director of the commission charged with making education reform a reality.

In that job, she helped develop the WASL, the exam that now covers reading, writing, math and science and is given to students in grades three through eight and Grade 10.

As superintendent, Bergeson fought hard against lawmakers who sought to remove what many consider a key aspect of the education-reform law — that students must pass parts of the 10th-grade WASL to graduate.

She's "been through the fires," said Bob Watt, a retired Boeing executive who's also active in education issues. "She has a balanced view of what we need to do."

Bergeson says the state's schools have improved under her leadership. She points to the state's scores on the SAT college-entrance test, well above the national average, and the WASL, touting the fact that 93 percent of last year's seniors passed the reading and writing sections of the 10th-grade test.

Dorn, however, says the picture isn't nearly that rosy. He reminds voters that the 93 percent WASL passage rate doesn't include about 20,000 students who fell behind or dropped out before they reached their senior year. He also says that the state's SAT scores have long been high.

Bergeson, he says, has not carried out education reform the way he and others envisioned.

Dorn says he'd keep the writing part of the WASL, but thinks the reading, math and science test sections are too long, too expensive to grade, and don't do enough to tell parents and teachers where students need help. "The WASL," he says, "doesn't do its job."

It's not clear what tests he would use instead, although they probably would be multiple-choice exams, which are cheaper because they can be graded by machines. The WASL, which requires students to write out answers to many questions, must be graded partly by hand.

Bergeson, however, stands behind the WASL as an exemplary exam that does a much better job of assessing students' skills than the multiple-choice tests it replaced.

She has adjusted the WASL several times over the years, and says many parts of it will soon get shorter. She also received money from the Legislature last year to develop so-called diagnostic tests that teachers can use to see if students are on track to pass the WASL.

Dorn wonders why she didn't do that sooner.

He also charges that Bergeson has focused too much on preparing students for college, when not all of them want to go, or should go. He doesn't believe, for example, that all students need to take Algebra II, as Bergeson and the state Board of Education support.

All students need more math, he says, but some need the kind of math they'll encounter in occupational courses.

"We have to be realistic," he said.

In addition to the business community, Bergeson supporters include the Washington State Labor Council, former Gov. Gary Locke, and King County Executive Ron Sims. She lost support a long time ago from the WEA, which opposes using the WASL — or any one test — as a graduation requirement.

"She's willing to take on the status quo on behalf of kids," said Steve Mullin, president of the Washington Roundtable, a nonprofit-business group. "Sometimes that means saying and doing things that are not popular."

The WEA supports Dorn, as does the state Democratic Party, which has given his campaign $50,000 to date. Dorn's also been endorsed by 52 members of the state legislature — two-thirds of whom are Democrats.

"I have faith in his leadership skills," said state Rep. Dave Quall, D-Mount Vernon, the chair of the House Education Committee.

Some prominent education groups, however, are uncommitted.

"We just did not have enough enthusiasm about either candidate," said Lisa Macfarlane of the League of Education Voters, a nonprofit-citizens group that decided against backing either candidate.

Before the race, some of Bergeson's supporters tried to talk her out of running again, saying it might be time for someone new. Bergeson, however, says no one came forward that she thought could continue down the path she's forged.

Dorn, however, says it's time for a new path that he says will be closer to the original intent of education reform.

Linda Shaw: 206-464-2359 or lshaw@seattletimes.com