YAKIMA, Wash. — He's going out a winner.

Superintendent Ben Soria says he's leaving the Yakima School District on such a high note that "it's beyond my wildest dreams."

The passage of a $114 million school bond measure last week by more than 69 percent of the voters has capped his career here, and he wants Yakima residents to know how grateful he is.

"Always in my heart I felt it would happen (the bond would pass), but the worry was that this wasn't the right time.

"It was a huge gamble on my part because I didn't want to go out a loser."

So, loser he isn't.

Today, Soria is being honored for his service to the district for the past nine years at a community reception at the Yakima Convention Center.

"He (Soria) was exactly what we needed at exactly the right time," Yakima school board president Vickie Ybarra says.

"I wish he had a whole bunch of years left here," adds Rick Linneweh, CEO of Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital. "He was a really good thing for us."

Linneweh praises the superintendent for a number of accomplishments, including guiding the community in appreciating the diversity in Yakima.

RAISING PERFORMANCE

During his nine-year tenure, Soria raised academics, was a firm advocate for disadvantaged children and worked mightily on keeping students in school, according to many in the community.

One of his great strengths was budgeting, says Becky Scholl, who heads up health services for the district. That became apparent, she points out, when the district didn't have to lay off any teachers earlier this spring, even in the face of funding restrictions.

"He's brilliant," Scholl says. "He made the commitment not to cut people, and he didn't."

Soria himself points to progress in student performance as one highlight.

He said when he arrived in 2000, the district was serving 30 percent of the students well and 70 percent, not so well. The high achievers were the only ones thriving, he says.

He tackled that early on, believing that every student could attain more.

"We showed everyone that all kids can learn given the right strategies," he says.

Reading is an example. In the year before he arrived, 40 percent of fourth-graders, 24 percent of seventh-graders and 44 percent of 10th-graders met standards on the WASL reading test.

Last year, those numbers increased to 60, 54 and 69 percent, respectively.

Attention to early learning was also emphasized, resulting in all-day kindergarten, a pre-kindergarten academy and a robust partnership with Ready by Five, the proposed early learning center being funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

At the other end of the age spectrum, Soria points to an improved retention rate in the high schools, partly by adding more home visitors and offering more options, such as increased choices at alternative schools, an online school and a distance learning program linked with Mexico.

"Over the years, we've brought back several thousand kids," Soria says.

The district drop-out rate for 2006-07 (the latest year available) was 7 percent; in 2003-04 it was 20 percent.

Soria gives credit to strong support from those around him.

"I was extremely fortunate in having terrific boards, a top-notch cabinet, wonderful community relationships and a great alliance with the faith community."

Ultimately, says Ybarra, it was Soria's "great leadership ability," that influenced his legacy. "Yakima was a perfect fit for him, and we instantly got our worth from him, and that has lasted his entire time."

ADVOCATING FOR ALL

Soria made special efforts to convince state officials that Yakima and several other school districts in the Valley face challenges addressing the needs of children living in poverty, especially those who speak only Spanish.

Two years ago, he served as lead writer on the seven-page "white paper" report for the education committee of the Legislature. The report included several recommendations, among them that non-English-speaking students be allowed to demonstrate mastery in their primary language.

Although that recommendation has never reached fruition, Soria still believes it's inherently unfair to test children in an unfamiliar language.

But even with his vociferous criticism, he's no WASL foe.

"I fought the WASL not because I don't believe in assessments. They kept our feet to the fire, and I don't want to back off on high standards. But it's unrealistic to hold students with limited English comprehension to the same standard."

He contends that transitioning from one language to another can't be rushed and that students need seven or eight years in a dual language program before they can be fluent in English.

He knows of what he speaks: born in Mexico, he knew no English when he moved with his family to Kansas as a 10-year-old. He went on to become a teacher and, later, educational administrator in San Francisco, Albuquerque, N. M., and Tacoma.

But it was in Yakima, where he first became a superintendent, that he felt he could truly affect an entire district.

"I'd never been able to put my arms around a district before. In Albuquerque (where he was assistant superintendent), with 110,000 kids, you could hardly know the names of all the principals.

"But here, this is where I wanted to go."

WHAT'S LEFT TO DO?

As much progress as he believes Yakima students have made, he's well aware the new superintendent -- Elaine Beraza, who begins July 1 -- will face several challenges immediately.

He points to the area's high poverty rate, the number of students whose first language isn't English and keeping parents involved in their child's education.

Another hurdle is, simply, space -- the city has very little land left on which the district can expand. He foresees more night utilization of facilities as one possible answer.

Two experiments he wishes had worked better here were the year-round school calendar and a dual language program, with Spanish and English students taught side by side in both languages.

Both were good concepts, he says, but didn't work well for the district as a whole.

Although he says he'd do most everything the same way again, he has two regrets from his time here.

First, he laments he didn't make more inroads in improving math achievement. The dramatic improvements in test scores have been in reading and writing, but not math.

Second, he's sorry he never developed a close working relationship with the Yakima Education Association.

Noting that they wish him well in retirement, Vicki Dwight, association president, says, "We've had our disagreements ... however, in the end it's always been about what's best for kids."

Although he's retiring from full-time work, Soria, who is 68, is leaving the door open a notch for the possibility of consultant work.

"I'd like to keep my hands in education; I think could still do some good somewhere," he says.

He and his wife, Kathy, are not leaving Yakima. After all, this is where the grandchildren are.

Their daughter Lindsey, who is studying to be a teacher, lives here with her husband and two children, and their son Steve lives in Puyallup, Wash.

Yakima has been good to him, Soria says, with the years just flying by.

"This really has been the best experience, the most rewarding, of my life."