Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

State Superintendent

An ultra-conservative landlord, a former teachers union president and a King County councilman have risen to the top of a colorful crowd of candidates vying for the state’s top education job.

Eleven people want Judith Billings’ job as superintendent of public instruction.

Voters have plenty of choices, from Democrat Terry Bergeson, an educator for 30 years, to Chris Vance, the Republican councilman who says he’s the ultimate outsider.

Their main competition is Republican Ron Taber, an outspoken critic of public education who favors letting parents use tax money to send kids to private schools.

Taber, 54, is an Olympia multimillionaire who is funding his campaign with more than $380,000 of his own money. He routinely rankles rivals, talking about caning student drug dealers and calling Spanish the language of fruit pickers and dishwashers.

Bergeson and Vance wouldn’t make substantial changes in a system that strayed too far from teaching the basics, Taber insisted.

“They teach world citizenship, concern for the environment, concern for international harmony and one-world government,” he said.

Bergeson, 53, who also lives in Olympia, calls Taber a dangerous man who wants to dismantle public education.

The school vouchers initiative Taber helped get on the November ballot would whisk away money public schools desperately need to thrive, she said.

Bergeson recently directed the state commission that’s writing learning standards and redesigning the state’s testing system. As superintendent, she said she could help usher in those changes.

Vance, 34, says he’d have the edge when it comes to successfully lobbying for important changes in law, given the three years he served as a state representative.

“It’s just not reasonable to expect people who built the current system to change it,” Vance said. “They don’t think there is a problem.”

If he were superintendent, Vance said, he’d give local schools more authority while auditing them to make sure they’re not overspending.

“I want the state to set minimum academic standards in core subjects, but free up local schools to use whatever methods they want to get them there.”

Other candidates include Gloria Guzman Johannessen, a Tri-Cities resident who has served as a field representative for the state teachers union; Raul de la Rosa, who heads the state’s instructional services division in Olympia; and Dan Leahy of Olympia, who teaches in the master’s of public administration program at Evergreen State College.

Also running are Nancy Hidden-Dodson, a psychologist in the North Kitsap School District; Jerome “Jed” Brown, an education consultant from Poulsbo; Earl LaBerge, a Gig Harbor resident and former Catholic priest; Richard Fuller, a Pullman custodian; and Mae Lovern, a schoolteacher from Tacoma.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: THE JOB The state superintendent of public instruction supervises the kindergarten-through-12th-grade education program, overseeing the expenditure of almost $9 billion every two years. The superintendent serves a four-year term and is paid $86,000 a year.

This sidebar appeared with the story: THE JOB The state superintendent of public instruction supervises the kindergarten-through-12th-grade education program, overseeing the expenditure of almost $9 billion every two years. The superintendent serves a four-year term and is paid $86,000 a year.