Incumbent Reykdal, challenger Olson ahead in primary race for WA schools chief

(The Center Square) - Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal will likely face conservative challenger David Olson in this November's general election.

Initial primary election ballot returns have Reykdal nabbing just under 40% of the vote, while Olson had 31%.

Despite raising nearly six times as much campaign money than Olson, left-leaning candidate Reid Saaris, who founded Equal Opportunity Schools in Seattle in 2007 after three years of teaching at a high school in Beaufort, S.C., got just 23% of the vote tallied Tuesday night.

The top two candidates advance to the general election.

Reykdal is seeking his third term. He was first elected in 201 and reelected in 2020.

As previously reported by The Center Square, Reykdal has come under fire recently for advocating that school districts resist the "Parents' Bill of Rights" law, Initiative 2081, that went into effect on June 6.

The measure approved by lawmakers back in March was introduced by voter initiative, as a way to ensure parents don’t feel left out of their child’s education and, among other things, have access to medical or counseling records if children are questioning gender identity or sexual orientation.

“If a student does not feel safe coming out to their family and they turn to a trusted adult at their school for support, they have a right to receive that support without fear of being outed by their school," Reykdal said in an OSPI news release.

Reykdal also cited conflicts with federal protections for student privacy.

The controversy is likely to be a central issue in the race between now and November, along with the ongoing fight over changes to the Title IX final rule that

“protects against discrimination based on sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics,” per the Department of Education.

Legal challenges have the final rule changes on hold in more than half of U.S. states, but not in Washington, where they took on Aug. 1.

Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or other education program that receives funding from the federal government.

The Biden administration claims the changes offer new protections for LGBTQ students and staff, but opponents claim they undermine free speech and due process rights.

Among other things, the changes eliminate the right to a live hearing to contest allegations and eliminates the right to cross-examine one’s accuser and witnesses.

Just ahead of the changes taking effect earlier this month The Center Square reached out for comment on the Title IX final rule from Olson.

He told The Center Square he was hopeful the rule changes won’t be fully implemented.

“As these changes take effect and more states sue to stop them, I think there will be a cascading effect of districts not complying with changes made by Biden to Title IX,” Olson said.