Reid Saaris
Reid Saaris ran for election for Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction. He lost in the primary on August 6, 2024.
Saaris completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Reid Saaris was born in Washington. He graduated from Interlake High School. He earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard in 2004 and a graduate degree from Stanford in 2010. His career experience includes working as an educator and founder and CEO of Equal Opportunity Schools.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction election, 2024
General election
General election for Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction
Incumbent Chris Reykdal defeated David Olson in the general election for Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Chris Reykdal (Nonpartisan)  | 53.0 | 1,614,175 |
 | David Olson (Nonpartisan) | 46.4 | 1,413,626 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.6 | 18,454 | ||
| Total votes: 3,046,255 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction
Incumbent Chris Reykdal and David Olson defeated Reid Saaris and John Patterson Blair in the primary for Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction on August 6, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Chris Reykdal (Nonpartisan) | 39.3 | 702,227 |
| ✔ | | David Olson (Nonpartisan) | 31.2 | 557,822 |
 | Reid Saaris (Nonpartisan) | 23.9 | 427,788 | |
 | John Patterson Blair (Nonpartisan) | 5.1 | 91,410 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.4 | 7,404 | ||
| Total votes: 1,786,651 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Chad Magendanz (Nonpartisan)
- David Spring (Nonpartisan)
- Brad Klippert (Nonpartisan)
- Vincent Perez (Nonpartisan)
Campaign finance
Endorsements
To view Saaris's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Saaris in this election.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Reid Saaris completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Saaris' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I’m a father to three, and a fourth-generation Washington public educator. I’ve dedicated my career – as a teacher, administrator, national nonprofit founder and CEO – to the unmatched power and promise of public education.
The current level of struggle faced by our students and teachers is unacceptable. The mismanagement of $2.9 billion in federal relief dollars by our schools chief has seriously set us back and is reason enough to replace him, but there are more. Washington has slid academically down the state rankings to behind Mississippi; 15% of adolescents are considering suicide; 20% of educators are leaving their schools; and budgets are in disarray, with closures happening statewide.
The Seattle Times, who has gone on to endorse me, has described the incumbent as a “lackluster” superintendent who is “cheerleading mediocrity.”
I’m not a career politician. I'm a leader who has worked with tens of thousands of educators serving millions of kids nationwide, closing opportunity gaps and ensuring the promise of public education reaches all kids. I'll ensure every school has the resources to connect students in need with: (1) effective mental health care; (2) tutoring; and (3) great career and college opportunities.
- We need to ensure every student has access to great learning opportunities Based on the Nation’s Report Card, two-thirds of WA elementary students aren’t proficient in reading, and two-thirds of middle schoolers aren’t proficient in math. Our teachers and families are working so hard and need additional support now. Let’s surpass pandemic recovery and close long-term gaps by ensuring students in need have access to tutoring support and teachers have the resources to teach for success. It's unacceptable for us to have fallen out of the top set of states, and behind Mississippi in reading and math.
- Invest our limited resources in the highest-impact initiatives I’ve worked with schools, districts and states accomplishing incredible things for students, teachers, and families. With limited resources, we need to focus on what makes the biggest difference in the lives of students and educators. I have conducted a comprehensive analysis of the research literature and identified the most impactful and affordable areas for additional investment. We need to invest in diverse teacher recruitment, teacher retention, and effective teacher-led professional learning.
- Prepare each student for the future of their choosing Too many of our graduates are not yet prepared for their after-high-school goals, with a stubborn gap between the skills students are gaining in school and the skills they need for Washington’s jobs. I have worked with education, civic, business, and public policy leaders to begin to develop a no-cracks approach with real pathways into career and higher education opportunities for every WA grad.
Fully facing and addressing the mental health crisis is my number one priority. 58% of our teens struggle with anxiety or depression, with fifteen percent of Washington adolescents seriously considering suicide this year. However, there are proven, affordable solutions that can be locally controlled by parents and communities to quickly address these challenges. I built a policy with the Children's Alliance that the Seattle Times profiled as a strong approach to the crisis. We also need to implement the Surgeon General's guidance on youth mental health and social media, support more phone-free spaces, and expand recess so our kids can play together more in the real world.
It's most important to start with the facts and evidence -- community voice and research both -- and collaboratively build solutions to our most pressing challenges. We shouldn't say that things are "more equitable than ever" when the achievement gap has been widening every year the incumbent has been in office, and we spend 16% less money on the education of low-income students. We shouldn't say we're "doing incredible" on youth mental health when we're 40th. And we shouldn't say three-quarters of the covid recovery money for schools went to "other" when we're facing a crisis that deserves our closest attention and most effective action. When you acknowledge the most pressing challenges, you can build strong, evidence-based solutions with community that can effectively address these challenges, and build the needed support to resource this work. Then you have to keep closely engaged with local leaders in support of getting the job done. I'm proud to have the endorsement of so many school, district, and state leaders, including many superintendents of the year, and the support of former US Secretaries of Education. They have seen that I know how to work at all levels to ensure we get great work accomplished, with urgency, for our kids. They deserve the best from school leaders.
My first real job was delivering papers for the Seattle Times every day - after school during the week, and mornings on the weekends. My best friend and I often walked our routes together, talking about the news stories, and what we think should happen in the world. It seems like I was quite different then. At times, I had bright purple hair or black clothes head to toe (it was the 90s grudge scene in the Seattle area). And yet we always had a smile on our faces when we wrapped up for the day, glad to have made a little money delivering the news of the day to the neighborhood.
Twenty years later, the Seattle Times took on our campaign mantra as a headline -- "Reid Saaris for Superintendent of Public Instruction" -- and wrote about me as a "genuine leader for change." It was truly a moment to reflect on. I only wish I'd been up early enough to thank the person who delivered it. But, tired from a big week by Sunday, the three kids, Natalie, and I were sleeping in.
The Seattle Times, frm. US Secretary of Education John King for President Obama, Susan Enfield - WA Superintendent of the Year, Rep, Tana Senn, Rep. Larry Springer.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
Saaris’ campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
My Key Priorities 1 Ensure every student has access to great learning opportunities Based on the Nation’s Report Card, two-thirds of WA elementary students aren’t proficient in reading, and two-thirds of middle schoolers aren’t proficient in math. Our teachers and families are working so hard and need additional support now. Let’s surpass pandemic recovery and close long-term gaps by ensuring students in need have access to tutoring support and teachers have the resources to teach for success.
58% of our teens struggle with anxiety or depression, with one in ten suicidal. However, there are proven, affordable solutions that can be locally controlled by parents and communities to quickly address these challenges.
Too many of our graduates are not yet prepared for their after-high-school goals, with a stubborn gap between the skills students are gaining in school and the skills they need for Washington’s jobs. I have worked with education, civic, business, and public policy leaders to begin to develop a no-cracks approach with real pathways into career and higher education opportunities for every WA grad.
I’ve worked with schools, districts and states accomplishing incredible things for students, teachers, and families. With limited resources, we need to focus on what makes the biggest difference in the lives of students and educators. I have conducted a comprehensive analysis of the research literature and identified the most impactful and affordable areas for additional investment. We need to invest in diverse teacher recruitment, teacher retention, and effective teacher-led professional learning. [2] |
” |
| —Reid Saaris' campaign website (2024)[3] | ||
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 5, 2024
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Reid Saaris for Superintendent, “Priorities,” accessed July 23, 2024
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