The Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, or OSPI, is the

state education agency A state education agency or state department of education is the state-level government organization within each U.S. state or territory responsible for education, including providing information, resources, and technical assistance on educationa ...

for the

State of Washington Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

. The agency is bound by the

Washington State Legislature The Washington State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a bicameral body, composed of the lower Washington House of Representatives, composed of 98 Representatives, and the upper Washington State Sena ...

to implement state laws regarding education, including the 1993 education reform act which mandated the controversial WASL

standards based assessment In an educational setting, standards-based assessment is assessment that relies on the evaluation of student understanding with respect to agreed-upon standards, also known as "outcomes". The standards set the criteria for the successful demonstr ...

. The Superintendent of Public Instruction is sixth (behind the

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

, Secretary of State,

Treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury ...

Auditor An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting and a ...

, and

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

, respectively) in the

line of succession An order of succession or right of succession is the line of individuals necessitated to hold a high office when it becomes vacated such as head of state or an honour such as a title of nobility.Governor of Washington The governor of Washington is the head of government of Washington and commander-in-chief of the state's military forces.WA Const. art. III, § 2. The officeholder has a duty to enforce state laws,WA Const. art. III, § 5. the power to either a ...

. The current Superintendent of Public Instruction is Chris Reykdal. Like all members of executive branch, the Superintendent of Public Instruction was established as a partisan position by the Washington State Constitution in 1889. However, an initiative to the people in 1938 made the position nonpartisan. Initiative 126 passed 293,202 to 153,142 and is codified as Chapter 1 Laws of 1939. Pearl Wanamaker became the first nonpartisan superintendent when she was elected in November 1940. The agency is headquartered in the Old Capitol Building in Olympia.

Superintendents of Public Instruction

References

External links

Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
official website. * Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction State departments of education of the United States {{Washington-stub