Pundits and policymakers are forever wondering what’s on voters’ minds. Based on the huge turnout for this election, they no longer need to wonder about some issues. Let’s put the following ideas on our state’s political scrap heap.
Turning back the clock on education reform: We could have had no clearer mandate for staying the course than Terry Bergeson’s overwhelming re-election as state superintendent of public instruction.
Bergeson’s race against former SPI Judith Billings was a clear choice between the current course – holding schools and students accountable to higher learning standards – and retreating out of fear that some students won’t be capable of meeting them.
Bergeson’s landslide victory (58 percent to 42 percent) vindicates her firm belief that educators and students have it within them to shine. It’s time to move past fear and get on with the work of preparing all of our children to succeed in a competitive world.
Passing the Washington Assessment of Student Learning in reading, writing and math will be a high-school graduation requirement starting with the Class of 2008, and Bergeson vows to work with lawmakers to ensure that students who need it will be offered a reliable alternative. But voters have made it clear: There’s no turning back.
Charter schools: Three strikes and you’re out. Voters have said no to three different charter-school measures, and that’s enough.
Slot machines: Even the carrot of a property tax cut couldn’t keep Initiative 892 from getting trounced. Gambling has exploded in this state over the past decade, and voters clearly don’t want more.
Party declarations: Washington voters are fiercely independent, and most resented being limited to one political party’s ballot in this year’s primary. So by a 3-2 margin, they approved a new primary that allows them to vote for any candidate they wish.
A legal challenge to Initiative 872 by the parties seems likely, though, and that would be the ultimate show of contempt toward voters. No matter how clearly the electorate speaks, some people just don’t want to listen.
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