Hello, I am Courtney Bryant, news anchor at Fox five in Atlanta.

Welcome to the Atlanta Press Club.

Loudermilk-Young Debate Series from the studios of Georgia Public Broadcasting.

The 2026 debate series was made possible by grants to the Atlanta Press Club from the Arthur Blank Family Foundation and the Robert Charles Loudermilk Senior Foundation.

This is the debate for candidates running for Georgia Superintendent of Schools.

We have two journalists who will question the candidates.

Martha Dalton is an education reporter at the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Ty Togami is the bureau chief for Capital Beat News Service.

I'll kick off today's debate by asking each of the candidates to introduce themselves and tell viewers why they should be the next Georgia superintendent of schools.

Candidates will have 60s to introduce themselves.

They'll go in alphabetical order, starting first with Lydia Powell.

Hello, Georgia.

I am Dr.

Lydia Powell.

And for over 26 years I have served as a educator right here in this great state.

I believe that every child, every child deserves the opportunity to succeed, no matter their zip code or family income.

I'm running for state Superintendent of schools to put our children, our teachers, and our public schools first.

My my priorities are clear.

I want to expand Georgia pre-K, modernize our outdated QBE formula, reduce the overreliance on standardized testing, and provide access to our rural Georgia students.

Georgia is recognized as the number one place to do business, and we need to make sure it's the number one place to educate our students.

This election is more more than politics.

It is about priorities and the values for our children's future.

I am Dr.

Lydia Powell, and I believe that public education is a public responsibility.

All right.

Richard Woods, you may now introduce yourself.

Since day one, as both a teacher and as state school superintendent, my focus has been on making the dreams of our students a reality to prepare them for life.

During my tenure in office, things have been challenging.

We have faced the Great Recession, pandemic, chronic absenteeism, and some political challenges as well.

But yet, through the whole process, we have seen amazing growth in progress in the state of Georgia.

Our graduation rate has risen 70-88 0.5%.

Our career tech graduation rate for pathway Completers is over 98%.

We have Stem, steam and fine arts opportunities exploding across the state.

Our students are seeing record milestones, performance in math, but also as we look as we continue to move forward, you know, we want to make sure that we're providing for each and every kid.

Each and every kid is a unique individual.

We want to diversify our education system once again to make sure that their dreams do become realities.

Thank you, Richard Woods.

And for the full set of debate rules, visit Atlanta Press Club dot org.

Our panel will now ask a question to an individual candidate.

We'll start with Martha Dalton, who will ask a question for Richard Woods.

And once again, you'll have 60s for your response.

Superintendent Woods, the first question is about literacy and whether or not there's a literacy crisis in Georgia.

Some lawmakers have said there is, and a statistic that they cite a lot is that two thirds of Georgia third graders aren't reading on grade level.

Um, your office, your department has a different way of configuring reading level.

Um, do you believe that there is a literacy crisis?

And can you distinguish between those two numbers, your number and their number?

Well, you know, when you look at literacy across the state of Georgia to say a crisis, you know, is a bit of a harsh word, especially in light of hearing that only 33% of our students can read.

But I think we look at education.

Is that is there room for improvement?

Absolutely.

Currently, when you look at the metric that we use across the state is something we called our milestones or score.

Uh, and what you find out is that this is only one test.

The only test that we test every single third grader in the state.

Uh, and we do that once a year.

We are seeing roughly a 65% graduation rate, but we have now made some improvements.

We have actually added new standards.

And again, I'm very excited and very encouraged about what I'm seeing so far.

Uh, you know, we put literacy coaches into our lowest performing schools with our federal funds and seeing some great, great gains with that, roughly about a 29% increase.

Yes.

Do we need to improve?

There is no doubt about that.

But we are moving in the right direction.

All right.

Ty.

Tegami, please ask a question for Lydia.

Powell.

Bis.

Powell.

We just heard the superintendent talk about math score gains.

There was also on the S.A.T.. He mentioned milestones.

We chronic absenteeism was is still high, but it's been steadily declining over the years since Covid.

Um, I'm wondering why you think it's time for new leadership and where you would take the states.

The schools.

All right.

So we need new leadership because we can't we, we can't ignore what's really happening.

We can't come up with this narrative that what we see happening is not happening.

I am currently in the schools.

I'm an assistant principal in a school right now.

And I know that our students are struggling with reading.

I know for a fact that we there are some gains that we could make if we had funding, adequate funding to ensure that our students and our teachers are able to take care of the needs of the students.

When we look at our literacy rates.

Yes, students may be able to read words in isolation, but to pass that third grade assessment, you have to identify main idea.

You have to know how to do cause and effect.

You have to know how to write a narrative.

So when we look at those things, we need leadership that is going to fight to have that QBE formula updated so that teachers and schools can get the things that they need, especially our most economically disadvantaged students.

Martha, it is your turn now to ask a question of Lydia Powell.

Um, doctor Powell, on that topic of funding, you mentioned in your opening statement about, uh, an overhaul of the the state's funding formula.

And for those who don't know, the funding formula from the state and property taxes are sort of the two main ways that that school districts get money.

But what changes would you make to the state funding formula if superintendent, knowing that you wouldn't have the final say, but how would you influence that?

Yes.

And so we would influence it by ensuring that there's a poverty rate.

Currently, we have a way added.

If you have special ed students, if you have students that need Rep, which means they need remediation, if you have an Esol student, but over 70% of our children in Georgia are economically disadvantaged, we need a poverty weight added to the current QBE formula so that we are able to give those schools the things that they need, especially our schools in rural Georgia.

They are underfunded and at the end of each legislative session, we say schools are funded.

Yes, they are based on an outdated QBE formula.

Ty, you now have the last question of this round for Richard Woods.

Superintendent Woods, the one of the primary jobs of the state superintendent is fiscal oversight.

A couple months ago, the governor had to suspend the entire school board in Dublin over fiscal mismanagement.

How did that problem happen under your watch?

Why wasn't it detected sooner?

Well, I think we have to look at first the Department of Audits and again, as the mechanism that that they have to perform a service in which we saw and which once once they did inform us of deficiency, we were able to move upon that.

What you find out, again, not blaming the Department of audits, it was just an oversight and loophole loophole within, you know, our state law.

We work with state legislators.

And again, we met several times, uh, after we learned of Dublin City, we made the corrections.

We made recommendations.

And again, now we're moving forward with that.

Again, it is oversight.

Sometimes you find out, uh, you know, unfortunately on the back end that, you know, the laws do not necessarily cover everything.

But, you know, we're going to continue to work together.

You know, we've done a good job with that.

You know, the governor has responded correctly and we're moving forward.

We wish Dublin City and their new board the best, and we're going to continue to support them as we all have.

And because of our work, we kept them afloat.

And that concludes our first round.

Each candidate will now ask a question to their opponent.

You'll have 30s to ask the question, 60s to respond.

And the person who asked the question will get a 32nd rebuttal.

Lydia Powell.

Please ask a question to Richard Woods.

Superintendent Woods.

Do you support using public education dollars for private school vouchers, and how do you justify that investment?

While so many Georgia's public schools still need teachers, technology and adequate funding?

Well, as state school superintendent, my first and foremost responsibility is to the public education system of Georgia.

It is making sure that I advocate and I've continued to do so over the years to make sure that is a reality.

Of course, what we are looking at is that this is a legislative decision.

I know we actually have vouchers, you know, with our special needs students.

And of course, right now we're expanding those those opportunities.

But I think we want to you know, my focus is continue to be on, you know, making sure that we are fully funded in public education, expanding opportunities throughout the state, whether it's in transportation, making changes, which we have advocated across the board for our funding formula.

And again, two years ago, we actually had a poverty rate actually placed in our state budget.

And by doing so, we were able to make gains.

So it's an ongoing battle and issue.

But, you know, we need to make sure that even as we face property tax, that has a big impact on, on public education.

So I'm here to make sure that we are fully funded and fully supported in K-12 education.

All right.

Richard Woods.

Thank you.

Lydia.

Powell.

A 32nd rebuttal.

Okay.

And so when I look at us having a literacy issue in this state, and I looked at the current budget, which part of the superintendent's role is to be over the budget when that money is allocated?

And when I see $70 million is going to our literacy coaches.

Okay.

And ensuring that our literacy coaches are trained.

But over $100 million is going to private school vouchers.

For me, that just does not seem like our focus is in the right place, especially when we have a literacy issue.

Lydia.

Powell.

Thank you.

Now, Richard Woods, it is your turn to ask a question of.

Lydia.

Powell.

Okay.

Again, I would like to begin to thank my opponent again for her many years of service in public education.

I think for anyone that is in that role, uh, you know, deserves my hat's off to that.

Uh, you know, I understand that is a very hard job.

It is an amazing job, but I've been there, you know, since day one and almost 38 years to see what that life is like.

But again, I just want to say thank you to, uh, to Dr.

Powell, but I have no questions at this time.

All right.

Thank you to both candidates.

We will now go to the next portion of the debate.

You've been watching the general election debate for Georgia Superintendent of Schools.

We'll now go back to the panel, who will ask questions to the candidate of their choice.

Until we run out of time.

Ty Tagami, we start with you.

Miss Powell.

You mentioned a poverty rate in the funding formula.

There is a limited amount of money in the state budget.

Does that mean less money for schools that have lower poverty?

And if so, how would you help them adjust?

Well, when we look at the poverty rate, we are just giving students what they need.

So when you look at pretend, each student is getting $1.

But when you look at if you're Esol or if you're a special ed, you get $1.50.

We are just making sure we reallocate some of the funding, maybe from private schools, maybe from top heavy administration at the state level, funneling those funds back to the students, back to the students that deserve it and need it, back to the schools that have teachers that need that training as well.

We have some districts that are offering tax incentives for our senior citizens.

Those counties are suffering now.

If we had a poverty rate, we would not see that today.

All right, Martha Dalton, it's your turn to ask a question.

Okay.

Superintendent Woods, your department issued today a list of legislative priorities ahead of the 2027 session.

Um, and one of them is, uh, supporting property tax relief, but also securing funding for school districts.

And I'm wondering, how do you strike a balance with the two of those?

There have been a couple of bills that have been aimed at reducing property taxes, which is where a lot of big districts get the bulk of their revenue.

So, for example, Atlanta Public Schools gets 80% of its revenue from property taxes.

Um, how do you see the balance?

Where, uh, where would you support property tax relief versus money for districts?

Well, again, I rely on the wisdom of our members of the General Assembly as they, you know, continue to work that out.

That is something, again, we definitely want to be a part of that dialog.

Uh, as we continue to move forward.

You know, I'm very sympathetic.

I mean, I own a home, I own property, and I think that's a real topic for me.

And again, for most people throughout the state.

But that being said, anytime you have a major overhaul, because we not only were talking about, uh, property tax, but we were talking about sales tax, you know, this past session as well.

And I think there has to be some balance.

I think, you know, trying to look at priorities, whether it's looking at the overall state budget to make adjustments.

But, you know, at the end of the day, as we do make changes, we have to make sure that we are fully funding public education.

It is our constitutional right.

It is our duty as a state to do so.

I look forward to being engaged with the next governor and again to the General Assembly, uh, to make sure that, you know, they're hearing from our local districts and their concerns, not just us as as school systems, but also local municipalities as well.

Thank you.

Ty, we go back to you.

Superintendent Woods, uh, you have spoken frequently about a desire to increase or eliminate the cap on teacher pay raises.

Every year they get a pay raise until you're 21 and then they're capped out.

And indeed, today, Martha just mentioned you sent out some priorities, and that was one of your legislative priorities.

In fact, you said a longstanding legislative priority.

So I think the question is, why haven't you accomplished lifted that cap in the past, and can you commit to getting it done in 2027?

Well, I think, you know, over the years has not been lack of effort, lack of commitment.

But that is not something that I get to basically make a sole decision.

It does mean that I have to work with members of the General Assembly.

Uh, you know, I have to work with the governor to make this you know, we have seen over the past few years, Governor Kemp adding bonuses or when you're, you know, allocations to that.

I'm very encouraged that with the past year, we actually have a blue ribbon commission that is seriously looking at that.

And I think that's a strong signal across the board.

Uh, you know, as to, to why, you know, certain members have said no, I think, you know, it is trying to look at priorities.

School safety came up well, and I think that's a very valid point.

We had to make sure that our schools were extremely safe, you know, in making sure we were not vulnerable there.

So it is a little bit of prioritization as we look at.

But for me, again, we want to keep and retain teachers.

And that means treating them as professionals.

And I think by doing so, it is not something that we basically affect the whole, you know, apple cart at one time.

All right, Martha, please ask another question.

Okay.

I'd actually like to hear from both of the candidates on this, if I may.

But we'll start with the incumbent, the superintendent.

Um, you mentioned math scores, and there have been some improvement in math scores recently, but still, roughly half of Georgia students are considered proficient in math or have scored proficient in math.

Um, what is your plan or what would be your plan to, uh, see that go up?

And how long do you think it would take to see real proficiency across the board?

Well, you know, I think the encouraging thing was we got rid of Common Core.

That was one of the things that drug us and also all the other states behind.

We have had roughly about three years of implementation now.

Uh, and so I think that's something that was very critical to see where we were succeeding or where we needed to do.

So I've instructed the staff to go ahead and begin reporting and, and looking into the data to see what are the needs we have.

Uh, one of the ways in which I think we could do that, as you know, we are implementing literacy coaches throughout the state.

And I think being able to phase that out will now be able to use our federal funds that we've used for literacy and put that in the area of math coaches as well.

So it is supporting that.

And again, we've done a lot of great work adding new resources for our teachers throughout the state.

Uh, you know, the math team that we have is new and kind of refunding or retooling in a couple ways, but the work will continue.

And again, I'm very encouraged about what we see.

We are seeing gains in not regression.

So that's the encouraging part right now.

Lydia Powell.

Now you have a chance to respond to Martha's question.

Thank you.

And so this year we saw a decrease in our math scores for eighth graders.

And we need to make sure that we prioritize those districts that consistently perform low.

We need to make sure that those school districts have funding.

We also need to ensure that certified math teachers are working at those schools.

We need to identify those priority schools.

We need to set measurable targets for those schools and at the state level, ensure that we have proper training for those teachers that are working in math, but also the math coaches a lot of times, and because I am actually in the schools, a lot of times we hire people for these positions and they are not ready to take on those positions.

They may not be certified, the school may not have enough funding to actually send those teachers to be properly trained.

So when you are talking about a math coach working in a school, that math coach is, um, have they have oversight over maybe 10-15 teachers.

We need to make sure that they are prepared to do the work for our students.

Tai Togami, your turn to ask a question of either candidate.

Uh, Miss Powell, you just mentioned hiring.

Um, your opponent has been in office for 12 years.

He's talked in the past about having used that time to build up the Department of Education, to hire experts.

I'm wondering if you were to win, would you be coming in to make wholesale changes to Doe or just tweaks?

No, I would look at who's there showing up every day doing the work.

We need to make sure we have a balance of experts.

We need people who understand how how to make and create policy.

People who have experience in that, people who have experience in the science of reading.

We need to look at our department and ensure that the coaches at the state level, who are responsible for training the 159 school districts, we need to ensure that those departments are, are, are at capacity.

Basically, I met the literacy coach for the state, and there is one person in our state, in our state house that is actually going out to the schools and training principals and assistant principals.

He needs a team of people.

If we're saying we have a literacy issue, we need a team of people to work with, work with these teachers and work with these administrators.

And so we also need to make sure we have a focus in our rural Georgia schools as well.

All right.

I would like to now ask a question of both candidates.

And here's the question what role should diversity, equity and inclusion play in classrooms across Georgia for K through 12 students?

Be specific in your answers.

Uh, we'll start first with you, Martha.

Lydia.

Sorry.

Lydia.

Sorry.

All right.

So, um, I'm blessed to be trained through Anti-Defamation League.

I'm a world of difference trainer, and I believe that it's important we do not teach one single type of person.

Our schools, by nature, are very diverse.

And so diversity, inclusion and inclusion that there is a place in school systems.

We need to make sure that children are able to be feel safe in having a difference in thought, a difference in opinion.

We need to present the facts to our students.

There are historical facts about our state and about our country that it's important for all students to know.

It is also important for students to be able to feel like they can have a conversation about these things.

And for our teachers and media specialists not to be fearful of teaching the truth in the state of Georgia, as we know, we had the opportunity to have advanced placement, African American studies, and for some reason we didn't get it.

Then we turned around and we did get it.

But that period of time, we should have been able to have access to that.

Being that our U.S.

History books don't always tell the whole truth.

Lydia thank you.

Richard Woods your response?

Well, you know, I think really the the more valid question, you know, in a sense is, you know, are we supporting every single child?

And that is what we are about in education.

We want to leave no one behind.

That's why I've instituted policies and initiatives that prepare all students for life.

Uh, and, and, and whether it's, you know, working with special ed, whether it's working with, uh, you know, individuals of color or other minorities, you know, our poverty students, those are things that we have to focus on.

This is not, this is not just a one size fits all agenda across the state.

When you look at, you know, the, I guess, with the African American studies of what took place, uh, you know, is that I actually created the course number that allowed African studies and women's studies and Native American studies to be taught in Georgia.

Uh, you know, as state school superintendent, your job is to follow the law.

And I think that in that case, we were able to, you know, come to the AG, get clarification, and everyone can take that course.

And again, other courses throughout the state.

All right.

Richard Woods thank you, Martha.

Your chance to ask another question.

Uh, doctor Powell, I'd like to actually follow up on something that you mentioned about math and you mentioned hiring enough certified math teachers and math coaches, but the truth is, it's hard to find certified math teachers enough qualified math teachers.

So do you have a plan to recruit more math teachers?

Definitely.

So we we are we have wonderful colleges and universities here.

That's number one.

We need to make sure that we are recruiting from those colleges.

We also need to make sure our careertech pathways include the teaching and learning pathway.

There's.

We've seen a decrease in certain school districts that want to focus on just college prep and not understanding that career prep is important as well.

So we have a teaching and learning pathway we need to invest in students and encourage them to go into education as a career.

We need to make sure we incentivize them by ensuring that we have a salary that's a livable salary for people who want to go into education.

I know so many students that would be wonderful math teachers, but they're looking at careers like engineering because of the salary.

And so if we can ensure that teachers can make a livable wage, we can ensure that we pay for their certification, also offer loan reimbursement programs for these people.

We will have more students that will go into the workforce as math teachers.

Lydia.

Thank you.

And that is all the time we have for questions.

The candidates will now have 60s each for a closing statement.

Richard Woods, let's start with you.

What a Georgia.

It's been one of my greatest pleasures to actually be your state school superintendent.

Over the years, even though we faced a lot of obstacles, we have seen progress and we've seen performance.

We've seen success.

And what I'm asking you to do is to vote for me once again to ensure that we stay on track, to assure that we are moving forward, to assure that we are seeing success and we are seeing success.

When you talk about teacher recruitment and retention, well, we actually have something called Teaching the Peach, an initiative that we are again, once again working with our districts to make sure that we are getting the very best and filling in those holes, working with places like West Georgia to bring, you know, the teachers and to work with private public partnerships to, to fund undergraduate work, but also to expand opportunities for kids, whether it's Stem, steam, or fine arts.

We are unmatched.

Our CTA program is the finest in the nation.

And because of that, we are seeing kids, you know, come alive and with excitement.

So once again, check us out at woods.com.

And again, it's been a pleasure to be with you today.

All right.

Now, Lydia Powell, your turn.

60s for a closing statement.

So today's debate comes down to one fundamental question.

What do we value?

Who are we willing to invest in?

I respect our parents right to choose for each child.

However, I believe that our funding should go to public education.

My opponent has served as state superintendent for over a decade.

We need to make sure someone is in that office that has a urgency in modernizing this funding formula, so that our schools are truly funded, fully funded on a updated formula.

Public dollars should not go to private education, especially when we can measure 70 million going to literacy and 100 million going to private school vouchers.

My commitment is to every child in every classroom in the state of Georgia.

I ask for your support.

I am Dr.

Lydia Powell and my website is doctor Lydia powell.com.

Thank you.

And early voting is underway.

It runs through Friday, October 30th.

Election day is Tuesday, November 3.

We want to thank both of the candidates and our panel of journalists.

We'd also like to thank the Atlanta Press Club and Georgia Public Broadcasting for arranging today's debate.

I'm Courtney Bryant, thanks for joining us for the Atlanta Press Club.

Loudermilk-Young Debate Series.