Nancy Jester Republican Georgia State Superintendent Official Campaign Site

Question 2
All of us are interested in our own counties. The issues that are important to me, of course, are right here. Number one, do you think that charter schools are an answer to pulling some of the money down on the local level and getting from the bureaucrats and administrators down into the classroom?

Number two, are you in favor of or against cell towers on school property?

Kira Willis
I think that implementing school choice in and of itself, whether it be charter school, home school, community home schools, private school, whatever is best for that specific child, is where we need to go. And that to me is school choice. We can start with public school choice and we can move from there. I think charters are a wonderful thing as long as the charter you are writing to the state are being met with fidelity. That to me is very important. You can't have a charter and then not follow through with what you said you were going to do. I have never thought about cell towers on school property. I don't have a problem with it. Matt Schultz I think we don't have the luxury in Georgia anymore to pick and chose what kind of education we think is worthy. So, I think we need more charter schools. We need more online opportunities for our students. My approach is, ultimately what I'd like to see us get to, is the money follows the student. I think we're going to have to have a step process to get there, but that money should be whatever that FTE spend in that county is, that money should be available to parents, so they can direct how their children go to school. I think ... that should be our end goal, but there's going to take some steps to get there.

I think one of the things that I'm certainly a proponent of the charter amendment, but one of the things that fell a little bit deaf for some folks around the state is that they have no opportunities. There is no physical choice. They don't have another city system. So, I think in those areas we have to do more to bring virtual options so those parents can pull their kids out of bad opportunity too. That's going to take some cooperative work between the department of education and the private sector and the department of community affairs, but we've got to get our technology infrastructure improved, so real choice exists for everybody.

I think cell towers, I don't have a problem with that. That's one of those things that should be left to local school systems and schools to determine if that's appropriate for their communities.

Fitz Johnson
Yes, in answer to your question. I do believe in charter schools. I believe charter schools are another tool we put in our kit back, another choice that local districts can use. As long as charter schools are living up to what their charter says, and the promises they are putting forward. One of the things we gotta understand, talk about trust, we have to trust that when we put these things before the board, they get approved for their charter, that if the charter doesn't work, that we are able to close it down. It's not any different than business. If you go out and try something and if it doesn't work, you can continue to beat your head against the wall, after a while it starts to hurt, so we have to stop. So, I do believe in charter schools.

For cell towers, as long as there's not an interruption in student work and student achievement, I don't have a problem with cell towers. You gotta understand, revenue from cell towers again, is something we can use, the individual districts can use as they see fit to lower the costs for their students.

Nancy Jester
It's just that. It's a tool in the toolkit. He's exactly right. I support educational freedom in all aspects, whatever facet or option, whether it's charter school, public school choice, private school, whatever. I support that. That's a conservative principle. I'm a principled Republican running and those are the types of values I will bring to the office.

Unlike, I guess, anybody here, I have voted about this very issue, on cell towers at schools. So, I'm on the record. I voted against it because that's what the community said. The community did not want the cell towers on the campuses. In DeKalb we have small campuses. Lot's of small pocket schools in neighborhoods, so you were essentially thwarting zoning rules and being able to put a cell tower right next to a resident who had lived in our community for 50 years right next to a school. That's what they were going to look out and see when they open their door. So, i certainly support the local area. They should be able to decide exactly what they want. If they want cell towers, fine. But, in the case of DeKalb, I voted it against it because that's not what they wanted. We don't have big tracks of land where we have our schools sitting on. That's where I stand on that.

Charter schools is just one thing. We do need to simplify our funding formula and folks have addressed that up here. That will be another thing. Drive that money to the parents and let them make decisions, because they are the ultimate advocate for what's best for their child. It's a tool. Sadly we have not had enough of the state charter schools approved. I'm a bit disappointed in the new charter commission. We need to see more of those, because kids need more options.

Mary Kay Bacallao
I have been interested in school choice for the last 20 years. When I wrote my dissertation, my topic was school choice back in 1996. I've been following it since then and when it first started, we had companies like Motorola having charter schools. They had that for their employees. And, it's really expanded. I love the idea of choice. In fact, we have the Educational Freedom Coalition. One of the key principles is parents get to choose because parents have the responsibility for their kids. They should be the ones to make the choices about where they go to school.

I'm concerned about, when I look at the charter school movement, where it is right now, I'm concerned about it used to be businesses partnering to help educate and now it seems to be businesses profiting from education. If you really want school choice, charter schools as they are right now, and I have the legislation right here, HB 797, it is Common core. There's no choice. You're really not getting a choice. You're going to another school, it seems like you're getting a choice, but it's all Common Core. According to HB 797, it says the department quote shall assist in securing federal and other institutional grants funds to establish the charter school commission. It's part of the federal takeover of education. It's part of the big Christmas light mix-up that we're trying to separate, so we can have true freedom.