Espinoza seeks to shake up education

OTHELLO — It’s an unusual time for someone running a campaign for statewide office in Washington.

But that hasn’t stopped Maia Espinoza from showing up where she can, even if it’s only to drop off a few pens and snacks to nurses that include an old friend at Othello Community Hospital as a way of saying “thank you” on National Nurses Day, which was Wednesday.

“It’s been all phone calls and video conferences,” Espinoza said.

Espinoza, a 30-year-old mother of two, a teacher and a business owner, is seeking to replace Chris Reykdal as the state superintendent of public instruction this fall. She said she was inspired to run for the office following the passage of the controversial sex ed bill earlier this year.

“That was what really made me say enough is enough, we’ve got to do something about education,” she said. “I don’t think sex ed is a top priority, and actually the data shows that half of our kids aren’t passing our state standards in math, or science, and 40 percent can’t pass English standards.”

“I think we can do better,” she said. “As the tech capital of the country, we’ve got the tools to do it.”

The measure, Senate Bill 5395, which was signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee on March 27, mandates all schools adopt a comprehensive sex ed curriculum for K-12 students.

Espinoza said the real problem with the new law is that it takes away local control from districts, teachers and parents.

“The curriculum options in the bill are concerning to a lot of parents,” she said. “It’s OK to have options for school districts, but this is mandated statewide. Parents that look closely at those options aren’t happy with this.”

But more than simply opposing the recent sex ed law, Espinoza said she believes it is time to re-examine the entirety of K-12 education.

“I really want to take a fresh look at education in Washington,” she said. “American public education has not been updated since the industrial era; it was put together with a factory model, and we haven’t really looked at it since.”

Espinoza is also concerned that much of the money legislators appropriated for public education as part of the 2017 “McCleary Fix” has not achieved very much.

“We know that teachers got raises, and some of that was merited, but what have we gotten in terms of student outcomes? Nothing,” she said.

Espinoza also helps run her family’s manufacturing supply business, is the executive director of the Center for Latino Leadership, and is a part-time music teacher at her children’s school, the private Holy Family School in Lacey. She’s only been a teacher for a few years but said she fell in love with it enough to start working on a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction.

“I see all the kids, kindergarten through eighth grade, a hundred kids in a day,” she said.

She also ran, unsuccessfully, for a seat in the Washington state House in 2018, in the 28th District. The position is currently held by Rep. Christine Kilduff, D-University Place.