Opinion: Washington Superintendent Reykdal advocates for politics over students

Meg Goudy
Mountain States Policy Center

Will Washington state leave federal tax dollars on the table? It will if Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal gets his way.

Meg Goudy

Governor Ferguson is currently just one of 16 Governors who remain undecided on opting into the new Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program. The program gives taxpayers the opportunity to claim a dollar-for-dollar tax credit of up to $1,700 when donating to a scholarship granting organization (SGO) of their choice.

SGOs are qualified by participating states to use the donations to provide private, public, and charter school K-12 students with tuition, technology, tutoring, after-school programming, special needs therapies, and transportation services.

Taxpayers in every state may donate, but State Superintendent Reykdal does not want Washington students to benefit. If Governor Ferguson fails to opt in by January 1, they won’t.

In an open letter to Governor Ferguson printed in the Seattle Times, Reykdal claims, “Washington cannot in good faith participate.” But saying no to billions in supplemental education support, like tutoring, is hard to justify, especially given that over 26% of Washington public school students are performing below grade level in English language arts and over 33% in math.

In September, Reykdal laid out his budget priorities, which include 2 billion in additional funding requests, when Washington state public schools already spend approximately $20,300 to $21,900 per student. To justify rejecting the federal tax credit while simultaneously requesting more state money, Reykdal’s reasoning centered on the lack of power and control over the donor-directed funds.

In contrast, other democratic leaders across the country are happily signing on to the federal choice program. Democrat Governor Polis of Colorado said that the state shouldn’t determine which organizations are “worthy” of receiving money from the program.

Another pro-participation statement released by Democrat Governor Hochul of New York specifically credits the fact that public schools will be helped without taking a single dollar from state or local budgets, and she is “not going to leave money on the table” when it could help kids.

Reykdal also argues that opting in would cost state taxpayers. However, if the state remains in a limited administrative role, as the federal government intended, the cost to register non-profits and annually recertify would be minimal compared to the funding windfall. The Democrats for Education Reform estimates Washington could receive donations of between $757,417,320 (at 15% taxpayer participation) and $1,514,834,640 (at 30% participation).

If Washington doesn’t step up for kids, another state will gladly accept our state taxpayers’ donations, and our students will suffer.

Superintendent Reykdal’s one-sided, 4-page letter was unconvincing and reads like it was ghostwritten by the Washington Education Association (WEA). Considering that the WEA and their PACs contributed over $880,000 in outside expenditures in his last two elections (according to the PDC), one wonders if the Superintendent is representing the needs of students or instead the demands of union leaders.

The teachers' union has strongly opposed the program, even though public school students will likely be the primary beneficiaries, based on the number of public school students. The WEA can’t afford to allow a sliver of education choice in Washington, since its membership has become optional.

It is past time for Reykdal to put students over his union allies. Governor Ferguson should also follow the example set by Governor Hochul and commit to working with education leaders across the state to make sure these resources reach students in every community.

Regardless of the state, neighborhood, or district you live in, or what type of school you attend, our students deserve access to the education benefits the Federal Tax Credit Scholarship Program will bring.

Meg Goudy is director of the Bill & Milly Kay Baldwin Center for Education at the Mountain States Policy Center, an independent research organization based in Idaho, Montana, Washington and Wyoming. Online at mountainstatespolicy.org.