Democrat State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) Randy Dorn recently announced he would not seek re-election in 2016. Dorn, first elected SPI in 2008, stated that his decision is, in part, because he does not expect to be a popular person after the next legislative session.
Dorn stated in an interview, “I think I’ve been tough on the Legislature, but I think I’m going to have to get even tougher, maybe to the point of being brutal.”
Since his election in 2008, Dorn has lambasted the state Legislature for underfunding education. His concern would be laudable, if it were not so hypocritical.
Dorn was part of the problem
Dorn was a Democrat member of the State House of Representatives for seven years during the 1990’s. In other words, he was part of the problem in producing Democrat-controlled budgets that have underfunded public education for a generation.
As Shift has pointed out time and time again, Democrats have been ignoring their constitutional duty to fund our public schools since taking control of Olympia in 1985. They have controlled at least one house of the Legislature in 28 of the last 30 years and had complete control of the Legislature in 14 of those years.
Further, a Democrat governor has signed every state budget since 1985. Under these heavily Democrat-controlled budgets, the ratio of new education spending versus non-education spending was 1:2 (in other words, the Democrats’ priority was two dollars for bigger general government for every new dollar of education funding).
One could brush off Dorn’s past, giving him a pass with the notion that he hasrealized the error of his ways. But, that excuse does not fit Dorn’s behavior as superintendent—particularly the way in which he has attacked charter schools in our state.
Dorn is a known opponent of charter schools
Beyond working to defeat the voter-approved charter school initiative two years ago, Dorn made his dislike for public charter schools known when he issued 119 pages of administrative rules on them and the families that support them prior to the Memorial Day weekend this year. Dorn posted the notice on an obscure website and scheduled a hearing the day after Memorial Day weekend in hopes of drawing as little attention as possible.
Dorn’s rules threatened families with children at the nine charter schools that opened this fall in Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane, Highline, and Kent. Of course, in the end, Dorn’s rules were not needed. The state Supreme Court did his dirty work for him and struck down charter schools as unconstitutional—a decision which Dorn applauded.
Dorn’s wish to do away with charter schools should come as no surprise. Dorn was the Washington Education Association’s (WEA) candidate in 2008. The Democrat appears to have been in the pocket of the WEA ever since.
We’ve been “Dorned” enough in this state and it is time for him to go away. He is a typical hypocritical democrat that makes a mess out of things he touches and then elevates himself to a higher level and covers up the mess with partisanship to self aggrandize his shortcomings. In short, he is the perfect example of the peter principle!!! Watchout, there is another version of Dorn in the making in Ross Hunter-does his path of ascendency look familiar to Dorn? Stay tuned-