Students taking a test in a classroom. (Phil Boorman/Getty Images)
As Democratic Gov.-elect Bob Ferguson looks to transform the delivery of public education in Washington by appointing rather than electing an overseer of the system, his strongest allies may be Republicans.
Ferguson campaigned on eliminating the superintendent of public instruction as an elected job and putting a person in charge of education policy in his cabinet in his first term.
Such a change will require voters amending the state constitution to remove the post as an elected position. Before that, it will take a two-thirds vote by the state House and Senate to approve putting the constitutional amendment on the ballot.
Leaders of the majority Democrats say this is not a priority for their caucuses but Republican leaders are interested.
“Where I think the governor-elect and I agree is that we should get rid of the Office of Superintendent Public Instruction, and, frankly, the state Board of Education,” Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, said in a recent interview.