SEATTLE (AP)- Terry Bergeson is asking Washington voters to give her four more years to finish reforming the way the state educates its children. Randy Dorn, a former legislator, teacher and principal, who is executive director of the Public Schools Employees of Washington, says she's already had 12 years and it's time to give someone else a chance.

Dorn is promising to replace the Washington Assessment of Student Learning and fire the education department's upper management if he is elected.

Bergeson says her top priority is fixing the way the state pays for education and supporting struggling students to meet higher standards.

She stands by the WASL, as does Gov. Chris Gregoire, but wants to work with the next administration in Washington, D.C., to make the federal No Child Left Behind law less punitive and more supportive of students with special needs and those learning English as a Second Language.

Bergeson says her fourth term will be her last.

The incumbent captured the most votes in the August primary - 39 percent to Dorn's 34 percent.

Bergeson has had little trouble keeping her job since first being elected in 1996 but is less of a sure thing this fall. Independent pollster Stuart Elway found in mid-September that Dorn was leading Bergeson 28 to 21, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percent and more than half the voters undecided.

Elway said this race has always been hard to predict based on polling because there seems to be little general interest in the nonpartisan contest.

"We had similar numbers four years ago," he said. In 2004, Bergeson handily defeated a well-known and well-liked former superintendent, Judith Billings.

"I wouldn't know how to run a race like this," Elway said, noting that neither candidate has raised enough money to buy the kind of TV advertising that could move many votes.

Dorn is making his second try for the job - he briefly entered the race for superintendent in 1996 but dropped out when Bergeson decided to run - but doesn't have Billings' name recognition.

Most of the rhetoric in the race has been about education standards and the WASL, but both candidates say there are many more issues.

Perhaps the most pressing issue is school finance reform. The state will be defending itself in court next March if the Legislature doesn't approve a new plan for paying for education. A committee of lawmakers, government officials and other citizens spent this past spring and summer studying the issue and hearing various proposals.

Bergeson says her proposal would completely redesign K-12 finances: a new way of paying teachers; a new process for determining class size and for shrinking classes in high poverty areas; more money to help struggling students, and more dollars to help pay for books and keeping the lights on and other administrative costs.

She estimated it would take about six years to find the money to pay for her proposal.

Dorn supports a school finance plan written by a coalition of teachers, principals, superintendents, school boards and unions.

His plan would give money to schools on a per pupil basis, taking into consideration the needs of individual students. So a school with many children in poverty or students learning English as their second language would get more money than one filled with average, middle-class learners.

While serving in the Legislature, Dorn was a sponsor of the state's major school reform act that started Washington on its path toward higher standards and high stakes testing in 1993. House Bill 1209 did not provide any new cash to pay for the work aimed at reaching higher standards.

"Unfortunately we've never really addressed that and that's one of the reasons I'm running is to address those needs that are already in law," Dorn said.

He said it's time to get education off the "back burner" and make it the Legislature's top priority, even if they have to cancel other spending.

He wants to replace the WASL with a less expensive, more standardized test developed by another state or a testing company. A test that doesn't require written answers would require fewer people to administer and cheaper to score. Dorn says more than 50 lawmakers have endorsed him because they have confidence in his ability to solve big problems like school finance reform.

School reform continues in the state and both candidates have strong opinions on how to fix the way students are taught math.

More than 12,000 teachers were trained this summer to use the state's new math standards and Bergeson says the feedback was positive. She says a good balance has been reached between teaching the mechanics of math and teaching how to think and how to use math to solve more complex problems.

Dorn disagrees. He thinks the new math standards still don't put enough emphasis on math facts and he was disappointed with some of curriculum recommendations being discussed. He also is unsure all Washington students should be expected to pass algebra two or an equivalent.

"We have to ensure that we have changed the math to match up with what we truly want," Dorn said, adding that we shouldn't forgot the other things that keep kids in school and expand their minds, like art and music and athletics.

Bergeson says she is stubborn about higher standards.

"If they don't get that knowledge and skills ... we are leaving them in the lurch and we're leaving ourselves in the lurch because we're going to have to have very smart young people to get us out of the mess that we have left for these kids," she said.

Dorn says these next few years are going to be tough for the state and strong leadership will be needed in the superintendent's office.

"Education has to be No. 1. That's what we have to spend and prioritize our money on and those are tough decisions," Dorn said.