IN THE RUNNING
There are at least 11 candidates in the race for Georgia superintendent so far, according to campaign finance reports and others following the race. Some of those candidates have filed reports indicating how much money they’ve raised. A few have not filed a report. Here is how the money race is shaping up so far:
Fitz Johnson: $265,226.82 raised, including $147,400 in loans; $237,767.45 balance on hand
Alisha Thomas Morgan: $78,626.75 raised; $74,980.55 balance on hand
Nancy Jester: $21,481 raised, including $12,600 in-kind contribution; $8,309.94 balance on hand
Kira Willis: $20,990 raised, including $200 in-kind contribution; $12,692.76 balance on hand
Matt Shultz: $2,650 raised; $403.38 balance on hand
Richard L. Woods: $1,000 raised; $1,000 balance on hand
Doeford Garfield Shirley: $331.38 raised; $200 balance on hand
Billy Woods: $0 raised; $0 balance on hand
Rita Ann Robinzine: no report filed
Mary Kay Bacallao: no report filed
Drew Evangelista: no report filed
Source: Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission
The race for Georgia superintendent is getting more crowded by the week.
There are at least 11 candidates in the race so far, according to campaign finance disclosures and those running.
Each candidate comes to the race with specific goals for solving Georgia’s problems, which include graduation rates and standardized test scores among the lowest in the nation.
But not long after being sworn-in, whoever wins is likely to face a stark reality: The job of superintendent in Georgia is more bully pulpit than nuts-and-bolts power broker.
The General Assembly crafts and passes legislation including, of course, the state budget. The governor signs or vetoes that legislation. The state Board of Education – whose members the governor appoints – has final say over policy actions of the state Department of Education.
The superintendent hires and fires department staff, oversees day-to-day department functions, directs policy and signs on to national education initiatives. But the superintendent’s office does not lend itself to making the sweeping changes office-seekers sometimes promise.
The limitations of the job are, in part, why its current occupant, John Barge, is running for governor instead of for re-election as superintendent.
Since 2002, state lawmakers have given local school districts $7.6 billion less than they were supposed to receive through the state’s education funding formula.
Lawmakers said the recession forced them to cut or withhold funding to various areas of the state budget, including public education.
School district officials have said the limited state funding, combined with a recession-fueled drop in property tax revenue, has resulted in financial calamity. Districts have furloughed teachers, left some teaching positions vacant and gotten special permission to increase class sizes and shorten their academic calendars. Many teachers have not had a pay raise in five years.
Even now, with the recession technically over, some districts will have to make painful decisions to produce the balanced budget required by state law. The Cobb County School District, for example, faces a budget shortfall of nearly $80 million.
Barge, a Republican who earned $127,499 as superintendent last year, has repeatedly called for lawmakers and the governor to give local school districts more money.
That call is the central theme of his campaign for governor.
Not only are superintendents limited in what they can do, but they are often blamed for the state’s poor academic performance.
Fitz Johnson, a retired U.S. Army veteran and former business owner who is running to succeed Barge, said a superintendent can move the needle on academic performance.
“A superintendent can affect graduation rates and test scores through leadership and by making those exact issues a cornerstone of all their initiatives,” he said. “Part of that leadership is surrounding yourself with experts who will work with you to achieve those goals.”
More money, said Johnson, a Republican, “can’t always be the answer.”
Fellow Republican candidate Matt Shultz, a member of the Bartow County School Board, said the state’s funding formula, called Quality Basic Education or QBE, needs to be “fixed.”
“We either have to fund it fully or redo the formula,” he said.
Gov. Nathan Deal has said he will lead an effort to change the formula, but not until 2015 — if he is re-elected.
The state superintendent can make suggestions on how that formula is changed, but he or she won’t be an official part of the process of making that change.
Shultz said he’d use the bully pulpit of the superintendent’s office to have a say.
“This job is more of a sales job,” he said. “You sell the vision of where you want to go.”
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