Georgia governor race: Bottoms and Jackson say they’ll raise teacher pay

Here’s what they had to say on literacy, funding and teacher burnout.

Q: Georgia’s education system tends to rank in the middle of the pack compared to other states on a wide variety of metrics, including academic achievement, graduation rates and teacher salaries. What facets of education would you focus on improving in the state? What steps would you take?

Keisha Lance Bottoms: As a mother of four, I know every parent wants their child to have a great teacher, a great school and the opportunity to succeed.

As governor, I will fully fund our public schools, modernize the funding formula, guarantee pre-K for every 4-year-old whose family wants it and make literacy a statewide priority so students get help before they fall behind. I will also invest in the people who make our schools work by raising teacher pay and eliminating the state income tax for teachers to help Georgia recruit and retain the best educators.

We also have to expand access to school-based mental health services, counselors and early intervention. And I will create a path to free technical and community college so students can graduate ready for college, a career or a good-paying job.

Unfortunately, the Trump administration has cut millions in funding that would support Georgia’s schools, including $500,000 to train teachers across the state and nearly $3 million to provide students with career and technical education while our current leaders sit on the sidelines. As governor, I will always stand up for Georgia’s schools and protect our students from the chaos coming from the White House.

Every child in Georgia deserves to get a strong start, a great education and a real opportunity to build the future they choose.

Rick Jackson: My mother only had a sixth grade education. I understand that nothing is more important. Literacy needs to be a top priority. Right now, too many Georgia third graders are not reading proficiently. You learn to read until third grade, and then you read to learn. If a child misses that window, math gets harder, science gets harder, history gets harder, life gets harder. Almost everything else we measure traces back to that one thing.

So first, we finish the job on early literacy: structured literacy grounded in the science of reading in every classroom, real training for the teachers already in those classrooms, screening every child early enough to do something about it and reading coaches where the need is greatest.

Second, we back great teachers. Raise pay, and get the paperwork off their desks so they can teach.

Third, we report results publicly and often. In business, you learn fast that you do not get what you expect; you get what you inspect. Every parent in Georgia should be able to see how their child and their child’s school are doing on reading, by grade, on a regular schedule, in plain English.

Fourth, we stop pretending there is one path. Some students go to a four-year college. Some go to technical college. Some learn a trade. Some start a business. All of them deserve a system that believes they can succeed.

Q: Advocates have long called for reforms to the state’s education funding formula, and local districts have been dealing with tax changes that would limit their ability to collect local revenue. How would you address education finance?

Bottoms: Georgia needs to reform how we fund our schools so it reflects the real needs and challenges school systems face today, not the reality of decades ago when the funding formula was first written. As governor, I will fully fund our public schools and work to modernize the funding formula so the state shares responsibility more fairly with local districts. That includes permanently building an “opportunity weight” into the formula so additional resources follow students with greater needs in a predictable, recurring way. We also have to make sure changes to local tax policy do not undermine school districts’ ability to provide a quality education for every child.

Jackson: I have been clear that I will lower property taxes, and I reject the premise that Georgians must choose between keeping their homes and funding their schools. That framing assumes government spending is fixed, and family budgets are flexible. It is backward. And before we talk about putting more money into the system, parents deserve to see where the dollars already go. They deserve to know how much reaches a classroom versus how much goes to administration, and what the return is on those investments.

Q: What steps would you take to address burnout in the teacher workforce?

Bottoms: Great teachers can be the difference between our students excelling in the classroom or falling behind. A recent study from the Professional Association of Georgia Educators found that two-thirds of teachers reported burnout, even as most of those same teachers said they were fulfilled by their careers. As governor, I will eliminate state income taxes for teachers, while increasing starting pay for teachers to $60,000 per year and providing support for training, certifications and continual learning. Additionally, I will support K-12 school systems and higher education in providing mentorship programs, early-career support and programs that grow the talent that is already in our communities and classrooms. I want Georgia to show educators that we understand the value of the work they do and inspire future educators to join the school system because they know our state will support them.

Jackson: Start by listening to what teachers actually say. Pay is part of it, and I will raise teacher pay. But that’s not the only issue we need to address. We keep asking teachers to do everything except teach.

So, we have to do more. Starting with getting unnecessary paperwork off their desks and having their backs on classroom discipline. More than half of Georgia educators say disruptive behavior is a major problem in their building. A teacher who does not have the backing of her principal and her district when she removes a disruptive student is a teacher who will leave the profession. I’ll support our teachers — full stop.

Q: State leaders have prioritized efforts to improve literacy rates in Georgia. What steps would you take to continue that work, or what area would you want to prioritize instead?

Bottoms: Literacy is a foundational skill for our students from elementary school through high school, and Georgia needs to treat it like that. As governor, I will make literacy a statewide priority by investing in early reading, evidence-based instruction and intervention so students get the support they need before they fall behind. I’ll also invest in literacy coaches, focus on early intervention and support educators with resources in literacy instruction, while supporting early screening for reading proficiency so educators can intervene before a problem gets worse.

Jackson: As governor, I intend to make Georgia a national leader in literacy. The Early Literacy Act passed this year was a real and significant step in the right direction. But passing legislation is not enough. We have to make sure we implement these reforms and get the job done. In business, I learned that you don’t get what you expect; you get what you inspect. So, we need to measure results every year and drive results. Additionally, we will implement best practices in early childhood, so children enter kindergarten and first grade with the foundational skills to read.

Q: What does Georgia’s education system already do well?

Bottoms: This year, the state passed legislation that made an important investment in increasing the number of literacy coaches, signaling its commitment to early intervention and supporting educators with resources in literacy instruction. There is still more work that we can do. As governor, I will build on this by treating literacy as the critical skill that it is. I will invest in early reading, resources for our teachers and support for families who may need additional help to ensure their students are strong readers.

Jackson: Georgia was one of the first states in the country to offer voluntary pre-K to every 4-year-old, and other states still come here to study how we did it. The HOPE Scholarship changed what was possible for a generation of Georgia families and kept talent in this state that otherwise would have left.

Our college and career academies and our dual enrollment programs are genuine national models. A Georgia student can walk across a graduation stage already holding college credit, a technical certificate or an industry credential. That is one of the reasons site selectors keep naming Georgia the No. 1 state in America to do business.

Our graduation rate has climbed steadily over the last decade, and that is real progress worth defending.

And this year the General Assembly passed a major early literacy bill unanimously.

Most of all, we have great teachers. I meet them in every county I visit, and I want to make sure they get paid what they deserve.