Richard L. Woods
Age: 51
Political experience: Candidate, Georgia State Superintendent of Schools, 2010
Occupation: Teacher, administrator, Irwin County Schools
Family: Wife, Lisha
Richard L. Woods and his Republican opponent in the race for Georgia school superintendent, Mike Buck, both have long track records in public education.
Both taught. Both worked as assistant principals and then principals.
But the similarities stop there. Where Buck has embraced some of the sweeping changes that have altered the education landscape in Georgia, Woods, a longtime educator in Irwin County, decries them.
Indeed, Woods, 51, opposes just about every major education initiative or change that has taken place in Georgia over the past several years.
He opposes Common Core, the national set of academic standards some political conservatives say is a federal intrusion into state control of public education. He opposed Georgia’s acceptance of a $400 million grant through the federal Race to the Top education improvement program. He opposes the state’s new system for grading schools and districts. He opposes the state’s new standardized test. And he opposes the state’s new teacher and principal evaluation system.
Woods’ positions make him a darling of tea party activists, who agree with him that the changes taking place in education in Georgia fly in the face of state and U.S. constitutional principles.
“I believe anyone seeking elected office should be well-versed in constitutional knowledge, and I was pleased to find out that Richard had a firm understanding of not only the Constitution, but of the principles that went into the drafting of the document,” state Sen. William Ligon, R-Brunswick, said in explaining why he supports Woods.
Tanya Ditty, state director of the conservative activist group Concerned Women for America, also mentioned Woods’ constitutional principles in saying why she supports Woods.
“What has drawn me to Richard is his understanding of the Constitution, not only the U.S. Constitution but the Georgia Constitution with the understanding that it is Georgians who should control education in Georgia,” Ditty said.
Woods, who declined to be interviewed for this story, is making his second run for Georgia superintendent. In 2010, he lost in the Republican primary to John Barge, who went on to win the general election.
Buck has worked under Barge as the chief academic officer at the Georgia Department of Education. He not only supports many of the education initiatives and changes taking place in Georgia, he has been a part of making those changes.
Steve Dolinger, president of the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, a policy group that has not endorsed a candidate in the race, agreed with Buck that moving away from Common Core would be a mistake.
“It could be really damaging for the progress we’ve made in education,” Dolinger said.
While Woods touts his extensive experience in public education, Irwin County, where he worked, has had academic struggles. Data from the Georgia Department of Education indicate that Irwin’s performance grades at the elementary, middle and high school level were all lower than state averages in 2012 and 2013. The district’s 2013 graduation rate of 66.7 percent was also lower than the overall state rate of 71.5 percent.
Woods’ policy prescriptions for the state include:
-ending teacher furlough days and encouraging districts to return to a 180-day school calendar
- reducing standardized testing
-auditing the Georgia Department of Education
-developing a voluntary purchasing pool to help districts reduce costs
In a recent open letter to Georgians, Woods said education gains have been made despite work at the Georgia Department of Education, an obvious shot at Buck and Barge, who mounted an unsuccessful campaign for governor.
“The truth is that many of the recent successes we have seen in education fall solely on the quality of our communities and our teachers,” Woods wrote. “They have managed to make the best of a difficult situation and have done so without the support they need from the GaDOE’s leadership, who sometimes seems more interested in pursuing political ambition than meaningful reform.”
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