Chris Reykdal is running for his 3rd term as State Superintendent of Schools. In his tenure we've seen spending on schools jump dramatically. The McCleary decision resulted in ~52% of he entire state budget going to schools. The latest compiled data from the feds shows: Average per-student funding in Washington state is $18,175, according to 2021-2022 school year budget numbers from fiscal.wa.gov, the state’s revenue and expenditure data website. That compares to the national average of $14,418 per pupil to fund K-12 education, according to Education Data Initiative statistics from last year. We found another site showing more current data: … [Read more...]
High School graduation rates go up during the pandemic? Ready to buy the bridge in the desert?
Ok...if you tell people something and swear it's true they must believe it...right? So today we get an email from the WA State Superintendent of Schools with this headline: "Graduation Rates Rise for the Class of 2020". Following is the text from that article...however...read between the lines. It appears they lowered the requirements to graduate which caused the graduation rate to increase...right... This comes from Chris Reykdal...State Superintendent...who is quoted as saying that online learning is a disaster and use "colorful language" to describe his feelings. If everything is so good why the problems? Change the rules to get a better number and spin like crazy. Here's a link to … [Read more...]
State Superintendent of Schools Election – Chris Reykdal: What are his positions on issues? Investigative report
Let’s start out by making it clear that we asked Mr. Reykdal multiple times to respond to questions regarding his positions on key issues. He chose not to respond no matter how many times we reached out. His opponent, Ms. Espinoza, did respond. So...we’ve decided to research what he’s said and done in the past 4 years and share that with you. To be clear this is an investigative report and analysis because he didn’t want to respond. Why wouldn’t he respond? Perhaps because he felt that his answers would hurt his re-election? Perhaps he thought he wouldn’t get his responses posted as he wrote them? In any case we believe that people have the right to know where he stands on key issues that … [Read more...]
K-12 Education alternatives in times of crisis (updated March 25th)
As we write this article the Governor of Washington State has canceled all K-12 classes/schools effective immediately through April 24th (which means Monday April 27th would be the first day back at school). That's 6 weeks or ~30 school days. Whether one agrees with the decision or not it's a done and we need to deal with the consequences. To that end we will keep this article front-and-center for the duration in a hope that the information shared will be useful. It's clear that neither OSPI's Superintendent of Schools Chris Reykdal nor the Governor nor School Board nor School Districts have any contingency plans for continuing education during times of crisis. Lots of planning and … [Read more...]
Public schools can’t suspend students for disobeying teachers?
California law says: public schools can’t suspend students for disobeying teachers. Joke? Nope. Take a read or listen to the news report from KRON TV. Will this creep to Washington State? Based on his past actions and his being a self proclaimed "social warrior" State Superintendent Chris Reykdal probably loves the idea. Wait...during his 3 year tenure he has put new rules in place that make it dramatically harder to discipline students or suspend them. Instead, if there are issues and a student should be suspended, they are now placed in a special classroom. This way the school district still gets money; the district and state can say there are fewer suspensions and use that to tell … [Read more...]
Comprehensive Sex Ed (CSE) in Washington State – drawing a line in the sand
On Monday evening, October 28, 2019, the Battle Ground School Board held a regularly scheduled meeting at which the 2nd reading of the proposed CSE was being voted on. The Battle Ground School District/Board requires that before any new or changes to curriculum occur that two "readings" need to be done. During the 1st reading the details are provided and questions asked. The public can comment during "citizen communications" sessions. If the Board Directors majority votes Yes the 2nd reading is held at the next scheduled meeting. If the Board majority votes Yes at the 2nd reading the curriculum is adopted. On October 14th, following citizen comments and the 1st reading of the CSE the … [Read more...]
Gender Unicorn coming to a school near you
As we start the 2019/2020 school year in Washington State we will see the 2nd attempt by Democrats and the State Superintendent of Schools Chris Reykdal to pass legislation that will REQUIRE teaching gender identity starting in kindergarten. HB 5395 was stopped this past spring when hundreds of parents turned out in Olympia...however...they are getting ready to try again. When Mr. Reykdal ran for State Superintendent of Schools in 2016 he made it clear he's a "social warrior" and fully supports LGBTQ's agenda and, as part of his reforms, wants gender discussion to be part of the sexual education curriculum...which will start in kindergarten. Today we bring you an article that cites a … [Read more...]
Camas School District – Sex Education: Peeling the Onion
There is a concerted effort being led by the State Superintendent of Schools, Chris Reykdal, to overhaul the Washington State student sexual health education curriculum. Mr. Reykdal asked the legislature to sponsor legislation this last session that would create a Comprehensive Sexual Health Education program. My Reykdal testified in front of the legislature demanding a total revamp. Among the changes: teaching gender identity starting in kindergarten. He is urging school districts across the state to adopt his changes and, in so doing, implement significant changes. Locally the Camas School District implemented a process to gauge the interest of some of their parents in expanding sex ed … [Read more...]
MTSS-B /PBIS – Coming to your school
Oh boy...another acronym! OSPI (Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction) and it's "leader" Chris Reykdal announced, via their newsletter, on June 28, 2019, that they are looking for people to become "Master Trainers" to help implement "MTSS-B/PBIS" Here's their description: "OSPI is recruiting for a Master Trainer cadre to support districts in implementing the Multi-Tiered System of Supports for Behavior (MTSS-B). The train-the-trainer series will prepare candidates to be Master Trainers in Tier 1 of MTSS-B, also known as PBIS. Training on Tier 2 will begin in 2020. These trainings are free to master trainer applicants, as well as School Climate Transformation districts, ESDs, … [Read more...]
SB5395 – Mandatory Sex Education K-12 (Updated March 13th)
Update: March 13th. Hundreds of parents braved the weather leaving their homes as early as 4am to drive to Olympia so sign in to testify to the House Committee reviewing SB5395. Some 66 signed to testify with another 77 signing in but not testifying. Dozens of letters were turned in to the committee. The Planned Parenthood people were out in force. Each person got 90 seconds to speak and even then only part of the 66 signed up got to testify. The meeting started at 8am and didn't start taking testimony until almost 8:12am closing at 8:57am. So the Committee didn't make allowances for all the people who turned out! Here is the letter I personally submitted: SB5395 Vote No WA House Reps … [Read more...]