Republican Richard Woods comfortably won his reelection bid for state school superintendent, the highest K-12 educational office in Georgia.
Challenger Alisha Thomas Searcy, a Democrat, trailed Wednesday by more than 300,000 votes out of about 3.9 million votes cast with all precincts reporting.
Woods will lead the Georgia Department of Education, which is responsible for a third of the state budget. The agency distributes state and federal funding to schools while monitoring their academic performance and their compliance with laws and regulations.
Woods has helmed the office for eight years. Searcy is a former state representative from Cobb County who led a small charter school network after leaving the Legislature.
Woods was initially hampered by an antagonistic relationship with then-Gov. Nathan Deal but in his second term found an ally in Gov. Brian Kemp, who has gradually replaced the policymaking state education board with appointees more friendly to Woods.
Deal criticized Woods for his position on accountability. But Woods and Kemp have collaborated to reduce pressure on teachers, convincing lawmakers to pare the number of standardized tests. Woods also wants a less intense teacher evaluation process and an alternative to the state Milestones tests. Both he and the governor backed a GOP measure during the last legislative session that restricts classroom discussions about race and other topics deemed by the new law to be divisive. Democratic lawmakers, some teachers and other critics say the law is vague and undermines the teaching of history.
Searcy, who is now an educational consultant, was critical of that measure and of Woods, who she said was delivering a “telegram education to a TikTok generation.”
While campaigning, Searcy, 44, repeatedly noted that she has three children and that Woods, 60, has none, suggesting that as a mother, she had a better grasp of key issues.
She cited safety and teacher burnout as top concerns and said students need more mental health support.
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