The four candidates for state school superintendent hope parents shopping for class supplies this week find time to vote in Tuesday’s runoff.
The candidates have been running from one end of the state to the other to propel voters to the polls. They dashed last week from Atlanta Press Club debates to the Georgia Association of Educational Leaders conference at Jekyll Island.
The crowd favorite at GAEL was Mike Buck, as evidenced by applause for several comments he made during his 10-minute presentation. Several school leaders told me, “Mike has been there for us.” Along with his current job as chief academic officer for the state Department of Education, Buck has led schools in Oglethorpe and Columbia counties and the Rome City Schools.
GOP candidate Richard Woods is also an educator. But the former Irwin County administrator has alienated peers with his objections to Common Core State Standards. Districts have been training their teachers on the new standards and are not eager to see their efforts and investment in materials and training upended.
Buck targeted that concern, telling the GAEL audience, “You want stability. You want to stay the course with something to see if it works. You want to know it is not going to change from one year to the next.”
As a result of Common Core, the GOP runoff election offers voters a clear choice. Buck will continue Georgia’s alignment with Common Core and the development of new tests reflective of those standards. Woods said he wants to review not only Common Core, but the tests being developed around the standards, the Georgia Milestones that roll out in December.
“We must be allowed to personalize education and not standardize education,” said Woods. “I continue to have concerns about Common Core. We must be able to have flexibility. These standards continue to be too broad. We have to do some adjustments so they are more quality-centered and less quantity-centered.”
In the nine-candidate Republican primary in May, Buck led the pack with 91,000 votes. But it must be noted that Woods, who came in second with 78,000 votes, and college professor Mary Kay Bacallao, who ran third with 71,458 votes, both oppose Common Core.
The GAEL attendees seemed less settled on the Democratic candidates, former Georgia School Boards Association president Valarie Wilson and state Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan, D-Austell. In the Democratic primary in May, Wilson earned more than 96,000 votes while Morgan collected 78,000, setting up Tuesday’s rematch.
While several educators told me they supported Wilson, they acknowledged Morgan is impressive. However, Morgan still faces residual resentment for her role in the passage of the 2012 charter schools amendment. Morgan makes no apologies for her stand in favor of the amendment, and points out 59 percent of Georgia voters sided with her.
Morgan won over some educational leaders this year with her crusade against Senate Bill 167, a rabid anti-Common Core bill that would have isolated Georgia from not only national standards, but from national tests.
“It was my honor to stand with you shoulder to shoulder,” Morgan told the GAEL audience. “Our fight for Common Core is a great example of what we can do when we work across racial, political and all kinds of lines.”
Educators at GAEL appeared to give more credence to Wilson because of her role with the school boards association and her management background. Wilson oversaw 300 employees as director of the Human Services Department in Fulton County.
Wilson blasted the $8 billion in state education cuts since 2003. “What has been happening in this state is tragic,” she said. “They have used the recession as the excuse, but during the same time legislators were cutting education, they were providing tax cuts to millionaires and tax breaks to billion-dollar companies.”
Which candidates prevail in Tuesday’s runoff will depend on which voters show up.
