Education advocate takes on new role
Tuesday, November 27, 2007 6:39 AM PST
By Carrie Pederson
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E-mail this articleTo make change as a member of the Longview School Board, Ted Thomas has been an advocate for change at the state and federal levels.
It's from those levels, after all, that most school funding comes.
"Goals and vision at local level depend on state's ablity to deliver resources," said Thomas, who has served on the Longview School Board and in Washington State School Directors’ Association for more than 10 years.
Next year Thomas will take his service to a new level as the president of WSSDA, which represents 1,482 school board members statewide. His swearing-in ceremony took place Nov. 17 in Seattle during the association's annual conference.
As president, Thomas will continue communicate with the state's board of education and federal legislators. He will help to educate new school board members and lobby for changes in the Legislature. In effect, for one year he becomes one of the state's leading advocates and spokesmen for public schools.
"State funding is insufficient and inequitable," he in a recent interview. "A great opportunity remains to deal with the inequity in funding."
Thomas can point to changes he's already helped to bring about as a member of WSSDA's legislative committee. The passage of the simple majority rule in the election this month, for example, will mean school districts will only need 50 percent of the vote plus one to pass school levies.
Thomas was the chairman of WSDDA's legislative committee from 2001 until 2004 and has served on the committee for almost as long as he's served on the Longview School Board.
Thomas' first step into politics was unsuccessful, when he lost a race for a state Senate to Joe Zarelli in 1996. But the loss marked the beginning of Thomas' work as an advocate for education.
The passion and concerns about education that came up during the campaign didn't leave, he said.
With two daughters entering Longview schools at that time, Thomas' interest in education intensified. In 1997 he earned a seat on the Longview School Board.
"(Thomas) will be a very strong leader," said Roy Parsons, Kelso school board member and Thomas' colleague in WSSDA. "He is very dedicated to WSSDA and the students of our state."
Next year's WSSDA president will come from the east side of the state. Martha Rice of Yakima is president-elect.
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