School superintendent candidates put forth contrasting views

Incumbent defends record as challenger cites need for change.

People who watched a forum featuring the two candidates for state school superintendent heard two different depictions of Georgia’s school system: one already crumbling before a pandemic shook it to the ground and another that has emerged relatively unscathed and is doing “fairly well.”

The latter came from eight-year incumbent Richard Woods, a veteran educator and Republican who is seeking a third term. The dire description was from Alisha Thomas Searcy, a former Democratic state representative. She said she finds politics to be ugly and divisive but, as a mother of three, felt called to return to the fray by what she sees as a power vacuum in the Georgia Department of Education and an outdated approach to schooling.

“I am concerned that here in 2022 we are still trying to deliver a telegram education to a Tiktok generation,” Thomas Searcy said. “We desperately need change.”

She cast Woods as a lethargic, insulated leader who’s been away from the classroom too long to know what teachers need.

Woods defended his experience and touted his record. He said he’s eased the burden on teachers by cutting the number of Milestones tests and reducing the time they must spend being evaluated. He said he also helped open the door this year to retired teachers to work full-time so they can fill staffing shortfalls.

“If I was back in the classroom today I would be one of the most fantastic teachers that a student can have,” Woods said. “Once you are a teacher you are always a teacher.” He said teaching doesn’t require technology or “fancy catchphrases” because “that is something that does not change what’s in your heart.”

The state school superintendent leads the education department and is responsible for monitoring schools and distributing state and federal funding to them while ensuring they follow the law and use tax dollars as intended.

The event at Georgia Public Broadcasting in Atlanta Thursday was hosted by the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, a research and policy organization. The candidates were peppered with questions by a local superintendent, a lobbyist with a teacher advocacy group and an afterschool program leader.

TY TAGAMI / TY.TAGAMI@AJC.COM Georgia School Superintendent Richard Woods, the Republican incumbent, fields questions with challenger Alisha Thomas Searcy, a former Democratic state representative and charter school leader, at a Georgia Public Broadcasting forum.