Nancy Jester Republican Georgia State Superintendent Official Campaign Site

Question 2
Each candidate just told us what he or she believes the K-12 education system in Georgia should look like 10 years from now. I want to ask you, if the people in Georgia elect you as State School Superintendent, what would you do in that role to make your vision a reality? I want to give you one caveat. We have a room full of charter school educators that are dedicated and they're also sophisticated. They know you can't appropriate money or pass a law as a State School Superintendent. What would each of you do in your role as State School Superintendent to make your vision a reality?

Kira??
OK. We've talked about the purpose of education, and it's to graduate self sufficient, independent people who can positively impact our society. But, what we need to remember is that the State School Superintendent doesn't pass legislation or make law. But, my vision, and I know I'm still in the school system. I'm still in with the kids. I speak teacher. I speak school. So, I know what laws are good that come down and I know what laws are not good that come down. I know what laws are good for our kids and I what laws are bad for our kids.

So, what we need to remember is that the State School Superintendent needs to align themselves with the Governor's vision. She needs to look at and align herself also with the legislative dotters, work along with the State Board of Education and partner with the local school boards themselves.

There's a 3 tier approach to that that we need to remember, that I would implement. The one is to work with the legislature to revitalize and revamp our state funding for education. Right now, the Quality Basic Education formula, you need a masters in finance to read it. It doesn't work, so we need to figure out, what is our ??? spending and go with that. Florida does and they've got this beautiful chart that you follow. So, that's one of the things. We either need to fund it or revamp it and work with the legislature to do that.

I also talked about implementing as much educational freedom as possible in support of the Governor's vision and the legislative dollars. But when we're talking about legislative and legislation and educational policy, we've got this broken down tiered system. So, we need to ensure the laws and the policy that are implemented are in accordance with the vision and intent of the law and follow the fidelity. So, we need to, instead of the state board interpreting the law and passing it down to the local board, who then interprets the law and pass it down to the community and specific schools that interpret the law. We need to make sure that that legislation that's being passed is a) good for our kids and need to make sure ???? determines that if it's not good for our kids and that those laws and legislation and policy are being upheld with fidelity.

Alisha Morgan [00:05:10]
I love this question. I appreciate your caveat. As someone who's served in the legislature and does make laws, and is a member of the appropriations committee. I also have an understanding of how it's passed??. Which is why it's critical to have a Superintendent who know that experience, who has the relationships necessary to, not necessarily to align anyone else's vision, but to have a vision for where education needs to be now and in 10 years and in 15 years and 20 years. It's usually those relationships that set appropriations that are necessary to meet the needs of students. It's making sure we have the laws in place and promulgate those rules, policies. Work directly with school districts. Working directly with local schools. Again, to make sure you're meeting the needs of students.

So, specifically, I want to talk about those three things that I mentioned. Number 1 is we talked about having great teachers and leaders in every school, and every class room in every school. Utilize the Eepartment of Education to ensure we are attracting and retaining the best and brightest educators. Whether it's in state or out of state, looking at our compensation model. Thinking outside the box. We know that in 10 years, 50% of our teaching force will be changing, so we've got to be prepared for that and have the right policies in place to attract and retain the best and brightest.

Secondly, we use the Department of Education as a resource for parents and community members. So, creating what I'm calling the Parent University Center where organizations and businesses can train and be certified so that they'll have the information they need to deliver to parents. So, rather than parents having to navigate going to a school system or going to the Department of Education to figure out all the acronyms, they'll be able to get that training and understand what Common Core is and how to use Khan Academy and all the other resources available for parents from people that they trust in their communities.

Thirdly, in terms of technology innovation, I've talked about creating the office of innovation within the Department of Education. So, I envision having educators having the opportunity to apply for grants to do innovative things in their class rooms and their schools. That's how I will identify the best ideas. That's how we're going to be able to replicate great things happening in our schools.

At the end of the day, what we need is an advocate. And I want to continue what I've done in the legislature was to work across the aisle. Work across racial and party lines and do what it takes to meet the needs of our students so that they're prepared for the twenty first century.

[00:07:51]

Fitz Johnson
To be an advocate. It's so true. The School Superintendent's job must be an advocate.