Last Friday, Terry Bergeson, Washington’s long-time lion of education reform, gave her last “state of education” speech as state superintendent.

She said the two biggest challenges the state’s education system will face in the years ahead will be a lack of money and the punitive side of federal education laws. Well, you can say that again…and she did:

“Any cuts to our already strained and underfunded system will be devastating,” Bergeson told the Washington State School Directors’ Association at its meeting in Spokane. “Education is our paramount duty, regardless of the fiscal crisis that we face.”

According to the AP, Bergeson also congratulated Randy Dorn, who was elected to take her place as superintendent of public instruction. However, she spoke out against his plans to get rid of the WASL and said she continues to support the goal of higher education standards.

“As President-elect Obama says: ‘Mend it, don’t end it,’” Bergeson said. “I make no apologies for the Washington Assessment of Student Learning. It's an excellent test that uses a mixture of multiple choice and essay questions to gauge student achievement of our standards in a way that no 'off-the-shelf' test not aligned with our standards can possibly do. ... Can it be improved? Of course it can. The test will be considerably shorter in most grades this spring."

Terry, I think I speak for the great not-so-silent majority when I tip my hat and thank you for mending Washington’s education system for the past two decades. You’ll be missed.