Semler to Challenge Bergeson for OSPI Post
| October 29, 2007 | Posted by Wa State Pol under Candidates for Office, Education, Election 2008, Elections |
Richard Semler, the Superintendent of the Richland School District, is running against Terry Bergeson, the long-time incumbent, for the post of Superintendent of Public Instruction. Semler is an opponent of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL), which is a cornerstone of Bergeson’s tenure at OSPI.
Semler has been the Superintendent at Richland since 1997. Prior to that, Semler was Assistant Superintendent at Issaquah and the Superintendent at Vashon Island. Semler announced his retirement from the his Richland position at the October 23, 2007 School Board meeting.
Analysis: Bergeson has statewide name-recognition, a proven track record of winning statewide elections, and a well-oiled campaign machine. Semler does not have statewide recognition, but may be able to ride a wave of anti-WASL sentiment that has been strengthened by recent setbacks to Bergeson’s WASL goals. Semler has a big hill to climb.
A look at past Superintendent of Public Instruction elections involving Terry Bergeson:
1992–Terry Bergeson challenged incumbent Judith Billings and lost
Judith Billings: 1,027,574=52.26%
Teresa "Terry" Bergeson: 938,885=47.74%
1996– Terry Bergeson defeated Ron Taber (Billings did not run)
Teresa "Terry" Bergeson: 1,260,885 votes= 63.36%
Ron Taber: 729,080 votes= 36.64%
2000–Terry Bergeson ran unopposed in the general election, after winning over 50% of the vote in the September primary election:
Teresa "Terry" Bergeson: 611,578 votes= 57.20%
Donald B. Crawford: 165,632 votes=15.49%
Arthur Hu:150,240 votes= 14.05%
David Blomstrom: 85,134 votes= 7.96%
Neil T.B. Helgeland: 56,652 votes= 5.30%
2004–Judith Billings challenged incumbent Terry Bergeson and lost
Teresa "Terry" Bergeson: 1,293,560=55.50%
Judith Billings: 1,036,912=44.49%
Sources:
Washington Secretary of State: Election Results
2004 General Election: Statewide Offices : Results–From the Secretary of State’s website
Seattle Times, Oct. 26, 2007
Richland’s Semler running for state superintendent–Tri-City Herald, Oct. 24, 2007
5 Responses to Semler to Challenge Bergeson for OSPI Post
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Last election Judy Billings campaigned for all of two months and still came close enough to make Terry nervous. Both Terry and Judy have started campaigning (as per the PDC’s web site), so hope fully we’ll have a new state Superintendent when all’s said and done. OSPI is too corrupt under Terry and wasting oodles of taxpayer dollars. As a a long-term OSPI employee (under both administrations), I can attest to illegal contracting, numerous ethics investigations (by the Executive Ethics Board), WEA protests, high turnover, low morale, and excessive spending.
The WASL is extremely expensive and of very little use. It has virtually no diagnostic use. In August of 2006 Dr. Bergeson announced we had a state-wide system failure in math. That is almost a decade worth of WASL math tests – why did she not see this coming and enact improvements?
The Collection of Evidence for WASL passing is an incredible waste of dollars, time and effort.
Hopefully Dr. Semler can clearly demonstrate to the public that the Empress is unclothed.
He is interested in the MAP test which is cheaper and far more useful than the WASL. He is also interested in Washington State end of course testing in High School.
I am the co-founder of Where’s the Math. If anyone has information on illegal contracts, I will guarantee your anonymity if you contact me. s.backman@comcast.net
Rich Semler’s
Richland School District was awarded School District of the Year
in the category for school districts above 5000
by the Washington School Director’s Association
on November 16, 2007
Please let me know how I can support your campaign over here on the west side of the Cascades. Few have heard of you and I want Bergoson OUT!!!!