Issues

Issues

Thank you for visiting my website and taking the time to research my candidacy.

As a former state legislator, experienced superintendent, and a mom of three school-aged children, what happens in public education is not only my calling, it is personal to me. I’ve dedicated both my personal and professional life to public education that levels the playing field for children regardless of their zip code.

Below, you can find information about where I stand on the issues and my overall vision for public schools in Georgia.

There are numerous issues facing our children, educators, parents and stakeholders within public education. As parents, my husband and I are most concerned about School Safety. We want the security of knowing that when we send our children off to school each day, they will return to us safely.

School Safety

After Uvalde, my husband and I sat at the kitchen table with our 15-year-old to check in with her about how she was feeling and what she and her peers were thinking. She uttered the words that would fuel me the rest of this campaign. She told us, “All the kids are talking about it, but we know no one is going to do anything”. 

Assuring her that we – as a part of her village – would do something about it, my team and I also immediately took action. 

We held School Safety Roundtables in different parts of the state. We brought together law enforcement, mental health professionals, students, parents, clergy, educators and community leaders to discuss local solutions to this national crisis. 

Here are some of the solutions from the Roundtables:
  • Ensure there is a local plan between law enforcement and local schools;
  • Engage mental health professionals at a much greater level to provide preventative services to students and educators;
  • Engage parents in understanding the safety protocols schools undertake, so they understand how to operate in the event of an emergency;
  • Address facility issues, considering policies such as single-entry school campuses to reduce the number of individuals who have access to schools;
  • Partner with members of the clergy as part of the mental health services provided to students and educators;
  • Provide support to schools to leverage federal and state grants to upgrade security systems, invest in mental health services, and create safety plans; and
  • Provide resources for school districts to hire School Resource Officers that are equipped with the proper, child-focused training.

When elected, we will continue to hold these School Safety Roundtables to hear local solutions that keep our students and educators safe, and also to provide support and guidance from the Department of Education.  We will communicate in a transparent, reliable process to all those who participate where we are in implementing these local solutions.  Most of all, we will evaluate and analyze in a consistent, ongoing way our measurable effectiveness in having students, parents, and teachers feel and experience a new level of school safety.

more on school safety

Teacher Burnout

Across the nation, states are dealing with major teacher shortages. Georgia is no different. Recent studies show that Georgia’s teachers are experiencing burnout. 

The problem: this is not a new issue. It’s one we have been facing for at least ten years. 

My stand:  I will DO SOMETHING about it. 

As a former superintendent, this was an issue I faced walking into the schools I was to lead. The first thing I did was listen to teachers to get an understanding of what they needed. Then, I decided to DO SOMETHING about it. 

Here are some of the things we did:
  • Purchased curricular materials to provide support for teachers in their classrooms;
  • Designed a compensation system that paid them for taking on additional work;
  • Provided each teacher with a $500 Professional Development budget, empowering them to choose PD that was most relevant to their needs and interests;
  • Created reward systems and held an annual celebration for all returning and new teachers called “Signing Day”;
  • Created a feedback system in which teachers felt heard, and worked to address their needs immediately; and
  • Redesigned our teacher recruitment and hiring process.

These actions moved our Teacher Retention Rate from 25% to 75% during my tenure. 

As a candidate for State School Superintendent, I have been across the state listening to teachers, hearing their concerns, and figuring out what we can do together. 

I believe that the best way we can address the teacher shortage and recruitment issue in our state is to: focus on retaining our teachers.

As State School Superintendent, here is what I will DO:

  1. Create the Office of the Teacher Advocate. In this office, full-time staff will focus solely on addressing teacher burnout. They will listen to teachers, create partnerships with community and business organizations to provide resources to teachers, and they will ensure teachers are involved in EVERY policy-making process of the DOE. This is my commitment to teachers, and my ongoing dedication to retaining – and then attracting – teachers to Georgia schools.

  2. Work with the legislature to raise the starting salary for teachers across the state to 65k. Teachers should not have to work two jobs, and I am committed to working with the state and local districts to identify the funds to do this.

  3. Address the high stakes testing issue by working to align our testing system with districts so that we aren’t over-testing, which has added too much pressure on educators and students.

  4. Work with the legislature to enact three laws:
      1. A law that gives teachers uninterrupted planning time during the school day that cannot be interrupted with staff or other meetings, so that teachers can focus on planning, preparation and collaboration. 
      2. A law that gives teachers with children time off so they can attend parent-teacher conferences or other school-related activities for their own children; and 
      3. A law that, by working with the legislature to identify funds for school districts, will offer mental health days for teachers.

  5. Partner with faith, business, and non-profit leaders to create a campaign to restore the level of respect and admiration for the field of education and educators.

  6. Create statewide celebrations and an award system for teachers to show appreciation constantly and consistently for teachers, including an annual event to celebrate teachers across the state for: great subject teaching, relationships with students, going the extra mile, and educational excellence.

  7. Stand up for teachers, as a former state legislator (the only candidate for this office to serve in the legislature in at least 20 years), when I see bills being introduced that will instill fear or frustration in teachers. I will serve as a champion for teachers both in the legislative process and the rule-making process at the state board level. Far too long, teachers have not had a champion serving in these roles.

  8. Provide a training program for principals to teach best practices for leading and managing schools. We know that school leadership impacts teacher retention. I believe developing school leaders who create a supportive and positive environment for teachers will greatly impact teacher satisfaction as well.

I believe that these efforts will significantly address teacher burnout of current teachers as well as change the way we view education and educators. Once we do that, Georgia teachers can feel pride in their profession again, and we will dramatically increase the number of teachers in our pipeline.

Re-Imagine Public Education

If you were to Google what public schools looked like in the 1800s, you would see that those school classrooms look almost exactly like our public school classrooms in 2022. I believe this points to one of the contributing factors to the decline we have seen in student achievement, especially in Math and Reading. Students overall no longer feel excited about learning, because we continue to deliver a “Telegram Education” to a “TikTok Generation.”
As State Superintendent, I want to connect with students, educators, parents, business, faith and community leaders to re-imagine what public education can be in 2022 and beyond. This reimagining of a system that works for every student in every corner of our state could include:
  • Access to high quality teachers and courses in different districts through the use of technology (Think: a student in Macon County taking an AP Physics class from a teacher in Chatham County);
  • Apprentice and Pre-Apprenticeship programs that students can access in EVERY school district across the state;
  • Curriculum that embraces the diversity of Georgia’s public school system and is relevant to the world we are in – as well as the world we are preparing our students for; and
  • Smaller schools, different types of schools, that meet the needs and interests of all students (Think: magnet, dual immersion, Montessori, public charter, performing arts, single gender)
  • Offer Innovation Grants for schools and districts to foster new ideas for school and program redesign
While we have pockets of outstanding public education happening in our state, there is still a lot of work to DO to ensure ALL of our students in every corner of our state have access to a high-quality public education.
Here are some additional priorities I have when elected State School Superintendent:
  • Normalize mental health in schools. Ensure students at every school have access to mental health services. Work with professionals to rewrite the job descriptions for School Counselors, Social Workers and School Psychologists to enable them better serve the mental health needs of students.
  • Addressing the challenges in Special Education, including how we can meet the needs of all students and ensure schools have the resources they need to do so;
  • Working with rural districts to accessing broadband in every corner of the state;
  • Working with the legislature and stakeholders to finally revamping our funding formula;
  • Establishing a uniform research-based practice in reading instruction that includes: obtaining resources that districts can use; providing ongoing training to educators to effectively teach reading; working with our Schools of Education to align that priority; providing evaluation and timely feedback; addressing the costs to obtain a Reading endorsement so it is more affordable and prioritized;
  • Creating the Office of Equity so that all students have the resources they deserve based on their individual needs;
  • Expanding access to Georgia Pre-K by securing more funding to enable more young learners to participate in the program (More than 40% of eligible 4-year-olds do not have access to the program due to funding); and
  • Partnering with the faith and business communities to help in fostering relationships across the state with individual districts and schools.

Thank you for visiting my website and taking the time to research my candidacy. 

As a former state legislator, experienced superintendent, and a mom of three school-aged children, what happens in public education is not only my calling, it is personal to me. I’ve dedicated both my personal and professional life to public education that levels the playing field for children regardless of their zip code.

Below, you can find information about where I stand on the issues and my overall vision for public schools in Georgia. 

There are numerous issues facing our children, educators, parents and stakeholders within public education. As parents, my husband and I are most concerned about School Safety. We want the security of knowing that when we send our children off to school each day, they will return to us safely. 

Alisha Blue Logo (1)

Alisha's Focus on Safety for School Systems

After Uvalde, my husband and I sat at the kitchen table with our 15-year-old to check in with her about how she was feeling and what she and her peers were thinking. She uttered the words that would fuel me the rest of this campaign. She told us, “All the kids are talking about it, but we know no one is going to do anything”. 

Assuring her that we – as a part of her village – would do something about it, my team and I also immediately took action. 

We held School Safety Roundtables in different parts of the state. We brought together law enforcement, mental health professionals, students, parents, clergy, educators and community leaders to discuss local solutions to this national crisis. 

Here are some of the solutions from the Roundtables:

  • Ensure there is a local plan between law enforcement and local schools;
  • Engage mental health professionals at a much greater level to provide preventative services to students and educators;
  • Engage parents in understanding the safety protocols schools undertake, so they understand how to operate in the event of an emergency;
  • Address facility issues, considering policies such as single-entry school campuses to reduce the number of individuals who have access to schools;
  • Partner with members of the clergy as part of the mental health services provided to students and educators;
  • Provide support to schools to leverage federal and state grants to upgrade security systems, invest in mental health services, and create safety plans; and
  • Provide resources for school districts to hire School Resource Officers that are equipped with the proper, child-focused training.

When elected, we will continue to hold these School Safety Roundtables to hear local solutions that keep our students and educators safe, and also to provide support and guidance from the Department of Education.  We will communicate in a transparent, reliable process to all those who participate where we are in implementing these local solutions.  Most of all, we will evaluate and analyze in a consistent, ongoing way our measurable effectiveness in having students, parents, and teachers feel and experience a new level of school safety.

Teacher Burnout

 

Across the nation, states are dealing with major teacher shortages. Georgia is no different. Recent studies show that Georgia’s teachers are experiencing burnout. 

The problem: this is not a new issue. It’s one we have been facing for at least ten years. 

My stand:  I will DO SOMETHING about it. 

As a former superintendent, this was an issue I faced walking into the schools I was to lead. The first thing I did was listen to teachers to get an understanding of what they needed. Then, I decided to DO SOMETHING about it. 

Here are some of the things we did:

  • Purchased curricular materials to provide support for teachers in their classrooms;
  • Designed a compensation system that paid them for taking on additional work;
  • Provided each teacher with a $500 Professional Development budget, empowering them to choose PD that was most relevant to their needs and interests;
  • Created reward systems and held an annual celebration for all returning and new teachers called “Signing Day”;
  • Created a feedback system in which teachers felt heard, and worked to address their needs immediately; and
  • Redesigned our teacher recruitment and hiring process.

These actions moved our Teacher Retention Rate from 25% to 75% during my tenure. 

As a candidate for State School Superintendent, I have been across the state listening to teachers, hearing their concerns, and figuring out what we can do together. 

I believe that the best way we can address the teacher shortage and recruitment issue in our state is to: 

Focus on Retaining Our Teachers. 

As State School Superintendent, here is what I will DO:

  1. Create the Office of the Teacher Advocate. In this office, full-time staff will focus solely on addressing teacher burnout. They will listen to teachers, create partnerships with community and business organizations to provide resources to teachers, and they will ensure teachers are involved in EVERY policy-making process of the DOE. This is my commitment to teachers, and my ongoing dedication to retaining – and then attracting – teachers to Georgia schools.

     

  2. Work with the legislature to raise the starting salary for teachers across the state to 65k. Teachers should not have to work two jobs, and I am committed to working with the state and local districts to identify the funds to do this.
     
  3. Address the high stakes testing issue by working to align our testing system with districts so that we aren’t over-testing, which has added too much pressure on educators and students.

     

  4. Work with the legislature to enact three laws:
    1. A law that gives teachers uninterrupted planning time during the school day that cannot be interrupted with staff or other meetings, so that teachers can focus on planning, preparation and collaboration. 
    2. A law that gives teachers with children time off so they can attend parent-teacher conferences or other school-related activities for their own children; and 
    3. A law that, by working with the legislature to identify funds for school districts, will offer mental health days for teachers.
  5. Partner with faith, business, and non-profit leaders to create a campaign to restore the level of respect and admiration for the field of education and educators.

     

  6. Create statewide celebrations and an award system for teachers to show appreciation constantly and consistently for teachers, including an annual event to celebrate teachers across the state for: great subject teaching, relationships with students, going the extra mile, and educational excellence.

     

  7. Stand up for teachers, as a former state legislator (the only candidate for this office to serve in the legislature in at least 20 years), when I see bills being introduced that will instill fear or frustration in teachers. I will serve as a champion for teachers both in the legislative process and the rule-making process at the state board level. Far too long, teachers have not had a champion serving in these roles.

     

  8. Provide a training program for principals to teach best practices for leading and managing schools. We know that school leadership impacts teacher retention. I believe developing school leaders who create a supportive and positive environment for teachers will greatly impact teacher satisfaction as well. 

I believe that these efforts will significantly address teacher burnout of current teachers as well as change the way we view education and educators. Once we do that, Georgia teachers can feel pride in their profession again, and we will dramatically increase the number of teachers in our pipeline. 

Re-Imagine Public Education

If you were to Google what public schools looked like in the 1800s, you would see that those school classrooms look almost exactly like our public school classrooms in 2022. I believe this points to one of the contributing factors to the decline we have seen in student achievement, especially in Math and Reading.  Students overall no longer feel excited about learning, because we continue to deliver a “Telegram Education” to a “TikTok Generation.”

As State Superintendent, I want to connect with students, educators, parents, business, faith and community leaders to re-imagine what public education can be in 2022 and beyond. This reimagining of a system that works for every student in every corner of our state could include:

  • Access to high quality teachers and courses in different districts through the use of technology (Think: a student in Macon County taking an AP Physics class from a teacher in Chatham County);
  • Apprentice and Pre-Apprenticeship programs that students can access in EVERY school district across the state; 
  • Curriculum that embraces the diversity of Georgia’s public school system and is relevant to the world we are in – as well as the world we are preparing our students for; and
  • Smaller schools, different types of schools, that meet the needs and interests of all students (Think: magnet, dual immersion, Montessori, public charter, performing arts, single gender)

  • Offer Innovation Grants for schools and districts to foster new ideas for school and program redesign

While we have pockets of outstanding public education happening in our state, there is still a lot of work to DO to ensure ALL of our students in every corner of our state have access to a high-quality public education. 

Here are some additional priorities I have when elected State School Superintendent:

  • Normalize mental health in schools. Ensure students at every school have access to mental health services. Work with professionals to rewrite the job descriptions for School Counselors, Social Workers and School Psychologists to enable them better serve the mental health needs of students. 

  • Addressing the challenges in Special Education, including how we can meet the needs of all students and ensure schools have the resources they need to do so;
  • Working with rural districts to accessing broadband in every corner of the state;
  • Working with the legislature and stakeholders to finally revamping our funding formula;
  • Establishing a uniform research-based practice in reading instruction that includes: obtaining resources that districts can use; providing ongoing training to educators to effectively teach reading; working with our Schools of Education to align that priority; providing evaluation and timely feedback; addressing the costs to obtain a Reading endorsement so it is more affordable and prioritized;
  • Creating the Office of Equity so that all students have the resources they deserve based on their individual needs;
  • Expanding access to Georgia Pre-K by securing more funding to enable more young learners to participate in the program (More than 40% of eligible 4-year-olds do not have access to the program due to funding); and
  • Partnering with the faith and business communities to help in fostering relationships across the state with individual districts and schools.