Education

Empowered Educators ★ Classroom Technology ★ Parental Involvement ★ Leadership

Unlike other candidates, I fundamentally believe that we must take immediate action to dramatically transform our public school systems. We cannot keep doing the same things and expect different results. And we must abandon the Republicans' artful-but-empty-promise approach which has failed to provide the necessary resources for our public schools and its teachers.

There is a very practical, day-to-day connection between educating our work force and attracting good jobs to the state of Georgia. In these difficult economic times, we need to be expanding educational opportunities across the state, not cutting back.

As your Governor, I will work with educators, parents and students to transform our public schools into 21st Century centers of learning. Working together, we will enact an education policy that recognizes empowered leadership as the basis for motivation and accountability in our schools.

The Poythress Plan: Four Steps to Creating a 21st Century Educational System For Georgia

1. Stop Cutting Education Funding for Public Schools
   
   • Reverse Governor Perdue's outrageous "austerity" cuts of nearly $2 billion to K-12 education
   • Oppose any private school voucher program in Georgia
2. Protect the Institutions That Make Public Education Work
   
   • Safeguard the HOPE Scholarship program
   • Encourage increased participation in our outstanding voluntary Pre-K programs
   • Support our historically black colleges and universities
   • Prevent merger of community and technical colleges
3. Invest In Our Educators
   
   • Seek the advice and counsel of public school educators as significant stakeholders in decision-making regarding educational reforms
   • Expand continuing professional development for our state's teachers
   • Preserve fair dismissal procedures for public school employees
   • Recruit and retain highly qualified teachers, particularly in math and science
   • Maintain current defined benefit retirement system for educators
   • Ensure the safety of students and educators in our schools and on buses
   • Persuade more Georgians to pursue careers in education in Georgia
   • Push for the official recognition of Veterans' Day in public schools
4. Invest In a 21St Century Education for Our Children
   
   • Invest in technology in the classroom to empower teachers to be 21st Century educators
   • Expand character education in public schools to reinforce the values of responsibility, citizenship and respect for authority
   • Reduce K-12 class sizes, especially in suburban and metropolitan schools, and leverage technology to give teachers more quality/mentoring time with individual students.
   • Implement a comprehensive drop-out prevention program
   • Promote parental participation in the education of their children
   • Sustain the important role of the arts in education
   • Work to end the tyranny of "AYP" and high-stakes testing and scrap "No Child Left Behind."  As the son of a Georgia public school teacher, I recognize that teachers are the solution to our education challenges.
   • Encourage educational leadership that instills discipline in the classroom, unleashes the creativity of educators and welcomes the community to participate in the life of our schools
   • Protect the health of our students by advocating sound nutrition and routine exercise
   • Advance the use of local agricultural products by our public facilities
   • Provide increased opportunities for vocational and technical education at the high school level
   • Increase before- and after-school tutoring and mentorship opportunities

To achieve significant progress Georgia needs a Governor with a clear vision and plan - a leader who will collaborate with our state's educators, parents and community leaders to turn the plan into action. I am the leader you can count on to move Georgia forward.

I want to hear the voice of Georgia's educators. Please contact me if you'd like me to meet with a group of your friends and colleagues. To schedule a meeting, email Listening@PoythressforGovernor.com or call (770) 446-2010.