Elections Yield Mixed Results For Education

By Bess Keller

Voters may put education at the top of their list of concerns, as poll after poll shows, but how that plays out based on last week's state elections is a tricky business.

Washington state voters approved a ballot measure to scrap a car tax—a proposal that virtually every education group in the state had condemned because, they said, the resulting loss of revenue would put pressure on lawmakers to cut school spending. In Virginia, the Republicans took control of the legislature for the first time in more than a century, after a campaign in which GOP candidates talked a lot about education but avoided sharp debate on the issues.

The closely fought Mississippi governor's race, as of last week, seemed headed for resolution in the legislature. Both Democratic candidate Ronnie Musgrove and Republican candidate Mike Parker focused their...