History prof and retired engineer campaign to unseat Kennewick schools VP
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- Kennewick school board VP Micah Valentine faces two challengers on Aug. 5.
- Candidates differ on culture issues, curriculum goals, and board priorities.
- Voters must submit or postmark ballots by 8 p.m. on election day.
Kennewick School Board’s vice president has attracted two challengers looking to oust him in the Aug. 5 primary election.
Micah Valentine is seeking a second term to the school board this year. But first he’ll have to fend off history professor Robert Franklin and retired engineer Michael Luzzo.
The primary responsibilities of a school board include hiring and evaluating the superintendent, setting the vision and goals of the district, reviewing and adopting school policies, passing annual or biannual budgets and serving as a community representative.
The Kennewick School District has entered an era of transition with the retirement of Superintendent Traci Pierce and other top administrators.
School board members will play a critical messaging role next year as the district goes back out to the voters to renew its much-needed operations levy.
Voters backed a $72 million measure in 2023 that funded crucial programs — such as security, special education support and athletics — that were not covered by state revenues.
It came after a double levy failure left the district with no levy and state match to collect in 2023. Administrators were able to plug the $34 million hole with one-time COVID relief money, budget cuts and reserves.
Micah Valentine
Valentine is a marketing consultant and business owner who has children in the Kennewick School District.
He was first elected to the seat in 2021 on a platform to open public schools and give students mask choice in the wake of the COVID pandemic.
“Over the past four years, we’ve made real, measurable progress,” he said in a statement to the Herald.
“We adopted state-of-the-art curriculum, implemented new testing and measurement software protocol, budgets are balanced — in fact, we have excess — and our schools are safer than they’ve been in years,” he continued.
He said he’s championed student safety and fairness in Kennewick schools.
In March, he and Kennewick School Board President Gabe Galbraith led the charge in filing a Title IX complaint to challenge the state’s laws allowing transgender students to compete in sports and use the restrooms of their choice.
Valentine also led an effort to get “critical race theory” out of public schools and revised district policy requiring educators to teach “factual U.S. history.” Administrators, both locally and on the state level, have repeatedly emphasized that schools don’t teach CRT.
He also highlighted his support for getting a levy passed that included funding to install armed safety officers in Kennewick’s elementary schools and played a key role in hiring new Superintendent Lance Hansen.
“As the current vice president of the board, I’ve driven fiscal responsibility,” Valentine wrote in the voters’ pamphlet.
“Kennewick maintains the lowest tax rate among the Tri-Cities’ three largest districts, while having the highest financial health indicator score. I’ve helped save taxpayers millions by buying down bonds, and our district used federal ESSER funds to update curriculum, ensuring sustainable success,” he continued.
But Valentine says there’s more work to be done, and that now is not the time for a fresh face. He believes Franklin, specifically, would “undo our amazing progress” if elected.
He wants to push the district to “eliminate processed foods, dyes, seed oils, and sugars” from school meals in order to foster a healthier environment.
Valentine says his experience on the board will also prove crucial as the district goes out for levy funding renewal next year and as unions begin contract negotiations.
While the position is nonpartisan, he is endorsed by the Benton County Republican Party.
Voters can learn more about Valentine’s platform online at micahvalentine.us.
Robert Franklin
Franklin says while politics touch many parts of people’s lives, they should draw the line at schools.
If elected, he promises to keep “divisive culture wars” out of the classroom and refocus work on educating every student.
“We should be leading by our values, not by our politics,” he told the Herald.
Franklin, who moved to the Tri-Cities a decade ago, works as an assistant professor of history at Washington State University Tri-Cities. Since 2015, he’s also served as the assistant director, archivist and historian of the Hanford History Project.
He was raised in Alaska and his mother was a distinguished teacher. Her work instilled in him a “deep respect” for public educators, but he also saw the long hours she spent grading and teaching to different learning styles.
“My mother warned me against going into teaching, saying that while she didn’t regret it, she felt that the pay was not commensurate to the effort involved,” he writes on his campaign website.
“She, like any parent, wanted success and financial stability for her son. Yet her passion sparked my interest in teaching—my initial career path was to go into teaching history in the high school—but I was steered into graduate school and decided to stay in academia as a teacher there,” he continued.
He says he’s running because he has a passion for teaching, and a desire to support students has driven him to want to more actively contribute to the learning of Kennewick students. He also has an incoming 1st grader and a preschool-age child.
“I also believe that ideological diversity is our strength, and that the consideration of different perspectives is crucial for sound decisions and policy,” he said.
“I will not bring my political beliefs or culture war battles to the board; rather, I acknowledge that I share a different ideological perspective than the incumbent, and that our students, teachers, and parents deserve a diversity of opinions and perspectives in their governing board,” Franklin continued.
Franklin believes an educator’s perspective on the board is needed. He says he was “utterly dismayed” to hear board comments demeaning Olympia lawmakers and peer-reviewed research.
“That the current board gave themselves an ‘A’ in interpersonal board relations during their most recent self-assessment is no surprise — they seem to be in ideological lockstep,” he said.
Franklin has been endorsed by the Washington Education Association, the state teacher’s union, as well as Moms Demand Action, a national organization that advocates for stricter gun control laws.
Franklin is the only candidate in this race to report campaign contributions so far. He’s reported about $4,300 in contributions and $2,400 in expenditures, according to Washington PDC records.
Voters can learn more about Franklin’s platform online at robertfranklinforksb.org.
Michael Luzzo
Luzzo served on the Spokane County Solid Waste Advisory Committee for two years beginning in 2001.
He told the Herald he’s running for school board because he’s recently taken an interest in local school politics. He ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Richland City Council in 2021.
When asked his priorities if elected to the school board, Luzzo pointed to two issues: school funding and simple majorities for capital bond measures.
He worked 20 years as a bioenvironmental engineer and previously served in the U.S. Air Force as an aircrew life support, according to the voters pamphlet.
Luzzo’s financial affairs statement was not immediately available. His most recent filing was received by the PDC in 2019; forms older than 2020 are available only by request. He is also subject to an upcoming PDC hearing for missing a May filing deadline.
Ballots mailed
Ballots have been mailed to registered voters in Benton County.
Voters can register for the first time or update their registration online until Monday, July 28. After that, registration changes must be done in-person at the Benton County Election Center, at 7122 West Okanogan Place in Kennewick.
Washington has a jungle primary system, which means the two candidates who receive the most votes will move on to the Nov. 4 general election.
Voters have until 8 p.m. on election day to submit their filled-out ballot into a county drop box. Ballots can also be returned by mail without a stamp, but must be postmarked by election day, Aug. 5.
The winner in this race will be elected to a four-year term and serve along five other elected officials on the Kennewick School Board.
