Georgia schools superintendent candidates talk race, funding at Macon forum

Candidates for Georgia school superintendent come from different backgrounds and have divergent approaches for how to be champions of the state’s public school students.

Richard Woods, the Republican incumbent seeking four more years in office, touted a record of success and the relevance of his roots as a student and teacher in Irwin County public schools.

Democrat Otha Thornton Jr., who mentioned he has lived in three foreign countries and six different states, said he has “seen best practices that can really make a difference here in Georgia.”

At a public forum Tuesday night at Mercer University, Woods and Thornton fielded questions on topics ranging from local control to the state’s 33-year-old funding formula to the flight of white students from public schools.

The funding formula, used to determine how much funding each of the state’s 180 school districts will receive, has been a hot topic of discussion in recent years.

Thornton said “it’s critical that we properly fund our school districts” and the formula should be updated because, among other reasons, technology has “quadrupled” over the last three decades.

Thornton mentioned a school district in California that installed Wi-Fi hotspots on school buses to provide students access to the internet in transit.

Woods, an advocate for moving away from standardized tests, said he recalled teaching in 1980s when there was a chalkboard but no computers.

“Much has changed” since the days when the formula was adopted, Woods said, adding that he wants an updated formula that allows for more flexibility on spending because each district has different needs. “Right now, it’s one-size-fits-all.”

In Macon, Georgia and across the country, there is a trend of fewer white students and more black students attending public schools.

The candidates were asked if they thought the “de facto re-segregation” of public schools was a bad thing and if so, what should be done.

Woods, who is white, said he remembered desegregation in Georgia and “much has changed in the way in which we see individuals.”

“This is a world where segregation does not do us a lot of good,” he said. “We have to raise the quality of our schools that way make sure everyone wants to attend the school that’s closest to them.”

Thornton, who is black and retired from the U.S. Army, said in combat, color did not matter, just “do they have my back?”

It should be the same way in education, he said.

Thornton, the first black male president of the National Parent Teacher Association, said he would work to try to eliminate or reduce funding for private schools.

“We have to work together, period,” Thornton said. “By 2045 most of the state of Georgia will be black and brown.”

Early voting ahead of the Nov. 6 election is underway.

This story was originally published October 16, 2018 at 8:59 PM.