Bismarck Editorial

DPI head will be Democrat, and a teacher

There was a battle on a small scale during the 2007 Legislature, during which Republicans voted a solid party line to remove the legal requirement that the Superintendent of Public Instruction hold a current professional teaching license from the state.Republicans won, and Gov. John Hoeven signed the change to the Century Code.But as of the filing deadline Friday, not a single Republican - teacher or otherwise - indicated interest in running for the position held for decades by Democrat Wayne Sanstead. The Republicans adjourned their convention in Fargo without promising support for anyone for the Department of Public Instruction top job.So the GOP legislators won an empty victory during the session.It was widely rumored at the time that the change in law was tailored to make an opening for Rep. RaeAnn Kelsch, a Mandan Republican, chair of the House Education Committee. She isn't a teacher. But Kelsch has decided she wants re-election to her seat.It must make a few Republicans grind their teeth that while there will be a contest in the election, it will be won by a Democrat. Sanstead and science teacher Max Laird contended with each other in 2004, along with a high school principal from New Salem, Keith Jacobson, a Republican.There was a twist of events in 2004, because the Democrats approved a letter of support for Laird, turning their backs on Sanstead, a longtime political critter and superintendent since 1985.Sanstead got the final laughing rights by winning over Laird in the primary and easily besting Jacobson in the election.The contest officially is nonpartisan, but Democrats this year stated their support for the warhorse superintendent, who, at age 72, is raring for another race. Laird will run as an independent.While it won't affect this contest, there are petitions being circulated that, if the electorate approves, would imbed in the state Constitution language that the superintendent must be a certified teacher.Secretary of State Al Jaeger approved the language of the proposal in August, which gives supporters a year's time in which to gather no fewer than 25,688 signatures. Jaeger's office said Tuesday that the petitions are still in circulation.When Democrats and Republicans during the legislative session were debating changing state law, the Tribune suggested it mattered less that the superintendent be a teacher than a skilled manager. That argument was countered by the contention that to have credibility with teachers and their association, the superintendent should be one of their own.It's quite possible voters will have a say on those contentions in November. And if they decide the teaching requirement belongs in the Constitution, there it's likely to stay.