From The Executive Director
The Election is Nearing. Choose Wisely and Vote!
T
he Nov. 4 general election is critically important to education
Dr. Allene Magill
because we will choose a new state school superintendent and
governor. This issue of PAGE One is heavily devoted to that topic. There is no greater responsibility for educators than voting. It is not just a civic responsibility; it is a professional obligation, and one that will affect your job, your students, your school and even your entire career. If the past decade has taught us anything, it is that educators must not brush aside their civic and professional obligation to vote. To our sorrow, we know that we can no longer depend on automatic support from governors and legislators. We must hold them accountable for their support of public schools. Our votes count. PAGE has been strongly urging educators to become more knowledgeable about and more active in the political process. We work hard throughout each legislative session in support of teachers, students and schools; but we must work with the officeholders who are elected. Voters, during the past decade, have seen fit to elect state legislators and governors who look beyond the public schools for solutions to educating Georgia’s children. It does not seem to have dawned on many of these policymakers that the vast majority of our students (about 94 percent) are in our public schools. Yet the voters—and the non-voters— have rewarded them with virtually automatic returns to office. This process needs to stop. It needs to be replaced with
October/November 2014
a thoughtful and informed process by which educators take the lead in learning about, supporting and staying in communication with a new generation of policymakers who support our public schools. To that end, our cover story (which we encourage you to share widely) features a grid briefly outlining where the candidates stand on key issues. We also include candidate responses to questions posed by PAGE, as well as a report on the candidate forum held by the PAGE Foundation in September. You also have access via the PAGE website to the video of this forum. As I travel the state, I continuously hear concerns about the status and direction of public education in Georgia. The budget cuts, dramatic increase in students of poverty, continuing federal mandates and growing anger about over-testing and the over-interpretation of test results are all combining to bring things to a fever pitch in system after system. We can begin to do something about this, and that time is now. I urge you to inform yourself and as many others as possible before you vote in this election. Take our magazine along if you need reminders of where candidates are on the issues that matter most to you and your students. And by all means VOTE! Q
Voters during the past decade have seen fit to elect state legislators and governors who look beyond the public schools for solutions to educating Georgia’s children. It does not seem to have dawned on many of these policymakers that the vast majority of our students (about 94 percent) are in our public schools.
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