OLYMPIA, Wash. — Did Dave Reichert say Washington’s teachers are overpaid, as an ad from the Bob Ferguson campaign claims?
Reichert, a Republican, is facing off with Ferguson, a Democrat, in the Washington state governor’s race.
The words “Reichert: public school teachers are overpaid” appear without quotes on-screen during a Ferguson campaign ad that includes interviews with teachers.
“When I heard Dave Reichert say that public school teachers are overpaid, I was disgusted,” said Rebecca Lewis, who is identified in the ad as a Washington teacher.
“Never said it,” said Reichert in a KING 5 interview. He said he does not believe teachers are overpaid in Washington.
Washington teachers rank fourth-highest in the U.S. when it comes to annual average salaries - just under $87,000.
“I never said I want to reduce teacher’s pay,” said Reichert.
Reichert said the Ferguson campaign took comments Reichert made during an interview with The Seattle Times out of context.
In June when speaking with Times' Editorial Board, Reichert was asked how he would fix inequities in school funding in the state.
“It’s not a revenue problem, it’s not, It’s more of a spending issue,” said Reichert. “We really need to evaluate where the spending within our educational system is being applied. I know that teachers’ unions may not like to hear this, but we have some of the highest paid teachers, didn’t used to be that way, but we do today. And I think we need to take a look at, first of all, prioritizing spending.”
Reichert never said teachers were overpaid, but Ferguson said Reichert didn’t have to.
“Humans have multiple ways of communicating something,” said Ferguson, who said the campaign did post video of Reichert’s entire quote on the campaign’s social media accounts in July.
Ferguson said the campaign sees no need to clarify or add context to the ad.
“I’m sorry, there’s no way you can look at what he’s saying in response to that specific question,” said Ferguson, “Where he says, ‘We have a spending problem,’ and gives one example of how we need to reprioritize spending and the only example he gives, is teacher salaries.”