Electing Superman

On Thursday, I enjoyed attending the Candidates Forum for Georgia State School Superintendent. Each of the three contenders--Republican, Democrat, Libertarian--demonstrated impressive credentials and a sincere desire to improve the way Georgia's kids are educated.

The issues are formidable and the proposed remedies complex, just the right grist for an engaging and informative debate.

Declining State lottery revenue is putting the squeeze on funding for two popular programs, the Georgia Pre-K and the HOPE Scholarship. All candidates agreed that Pre-K should take priority for these funds.

Joe Martin, Democrat, explained how a child's ability to read by 3rd grade provides a reliable predictor of his/her chances of graduating from high school and even being incarcerated, proof that early education pays off.

Dr. John Barge, Republican, suggested that we could save money by putting the HOPE scholarship award on a sliding grade scale. The better a student's grades, the larger the scholarship. Martin wants to add a financial means test to make sure that the neediest students receive priority.

Not only is the HOPE Scholarship suffering from funding problems, it also has seen over 60% of its recipients fail to maintain the required minimum "B" grade average after their Freshman year in college. This clearly points to a grade inflation problem in the high schools.

Kira Willis, Libertarian, suggests a remedy for both of these problems with HOPE: change it from a scholarship to a program that reimburses college students at the end of each academic term, provided they maintain a "B" grade average. No pressure on high school teachers to give students the grades they need for the scholarship.Interesting.

Surprisingly, none of the candidates are enthusiastic about school vouchers. Given a general interest amongst Conservatives and Libertarians in providing more choice and wielding the use of market competitive forces, I thought this topic would introduce more controversy.

Barge observed that to introduce genuine competition we would first have to level the playing field for public and private schools. As for now, private schools enjoy much more freedom to choose who they teach, what they teach, how they teach, and how they staff their classrooms.

As for ways that the State can help school districts hire and keep the most qualified teachers in their classrooms, both Barge and Willis oppose the tenuring of teachers. Willis wants to give the schools more flexibility in removing underperforming teachers, saying that "we all know who the good and bad teachers are."

Really?

Martin is in favor of teacher tenure and thinks that it is necessary to create a professional career track for teachers who wish to further develop and practice their talents in Georgia's schools.

Barge and Willis also share the view that the budgetary priorities of the new Commissioner can be covered under the existing level of State funding, if they achieved cost savings from streamlining operations and removing certain unnecessary mandates for school districts.

Martin takes the view that the new Superintendent must lobby State Legislators and the new Governor for more funding. We currently "do not have an education culture in GA," and recent Education cost cutting in GA has been more severe than it has been in other states. He said that the State can find these additional funds by improving they way it collects corporate income taxes and sales taxes.

Each candidate wants to reduce the current reliance on standardized testing. Willis said the State has not fulfilled past promises to eliminate some of the State-mandated tests and also observed that a great deal of costs could be reduced by doing so.

Kira Willis has the most interesting ideas and relies on a mantra of "restoring local control" to the school systems and their teachers. I like how she sees inherent problems with mandated programs and the way they tend to create unintended administrative and financial burdens for the schools that diminish their ability to provide for the classrooms. Willis seems a bit too dogmatic, and her skills as an the executive of a large organization are unproven.

Dr. Barge didn't offer much evidence that his leadership would introduce much innovation, and he seems more interested in running a better austerity program for the State.

I favor Martin, because he has the most experience and ability to collaborate with the widest range of political colleagues. We need his moderate approach to solving these problems.

The debate was very well-organized, thanks in part to the help of Common Cause Georgia. They are a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that advocates for openness, accountability and ethics in government at our state and local levels. Common Cause deserves our support!