The letter below appeared in today's Macon Telegraph and reflects not only the objection of a Georgia teacher to the GAE endorsement of Taylor, but also provides some important about their endorsement process. She makes it clear that Georgia teachers who are members of GAE were not surveyed and did not "vote" on this endorsement. The letter can be found here. Here's the full text:
Object to GAE endorsement
I am writing to express my discontent and downright anger with the Georgia Association of Educators for last week's announcement by representatives who declared their support for Mark Taylor in the Democratic bid for governor.
As a current member of GAE, Neither I nor any other members were ever surveyed about our opinions on the governor's race. Those in GAE who support Taylor are elected representatives and lobbyists who have done little or nothing to even present the candidates or a forum to discuss relevant issues to the teachers of this state.
Increasingly, GAE has become, I'm afraid, just another lobby group representing the political interests of a select few (most of whom no longer teach or work in school systems). As a classroom teacher with 22 years experience, I am supporting Cathy Cox and urge other educators to do the same. Unlike the other candidates who react and respond to the needs of "a select few" - elected boards, lobbyists, and the like - Cathy Cox has a real interest in the needs of everyday Georgians.
Carey Wooten Americus Sphere: Related Content
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8 comments:
I'm not surprised that the Taylor campaign places more stock in the opinions of the GAE officials than those of a 22 year classroom veteran. That's yet another reason to vote for Cathy Cox.
Why would teachers support her over Cox? HOPE, Pre-K.... not Cox's idea.
You go, Carey! As a retired teacher, I quite agree with you.
"Kimberly": Is it your position and the position of the Taylor campaign that Mark Taylor invented HOPE and Pre-K? Is that actually what you are claiming?
I also note that the GAE officials have liked Kathy Cox better on two occasions. The first time was over Barbara Christmas, a veteran, competent and far more qualified candidate. Her only "sin" was being associated with PAGE, a rival organization that does not endorse. Even in light of Kathy's evolution debacle, her apparent support of the 65% percent deception, and after exhibiting no real leadership that I can tell, GAE endorsed her again. Clearly, GAE plays politics and doesn't show any sense as far as I am concerned. So, I find their endorsement of Mark Taylor of little or no significance.
I'm not claiming that he invented HOPE but he did a lot more than Cathy did to get it going.
Cathy was there for the heavy lifting: voting to actually fund HOPE. It's easy to have ideas about education policy, much harder to actually find ways to pay for those ideas. Besides, I don't think that this election is a referendum on HOPE. Almost everyone likes HOPE. This election is a referendum on the future for this state, and Cox put forward a written plan for the furture of our schools. Where's Taylor's plan for the next big thing? All he seems comfortable doing is glancing in the rearview mirror at programs "invented" by Zell Miller. By the way, if Taylor were such a great floor leader for Miller, how come Miller endorsed Perdue? Gotta wonder.
The majority of teachers that will be voting in this primary will be voting with Carey. Teachers have been long thought to be in the Cox camp. When Taylor got the GAE endorsement, he got the endorsement of 12 people, not 40,000. Teachers tend to pay attention to elections and education issues. And Carey's not the only teacher whose voice is going to be hear loud and clear on July 18th when she disagrees with GAE.
I did find it interesting to read that the GAE president said that Taylor had the better plan for education. That's funny considering that, unlike Cathy's plan, I still haven't heard Taylor's, read it, or seen it anywhere. All I've seen from him is the usual, "I'm committed to improving education" spiel, with no particulars offered.
And I still think it's a mistake for Taylor to inflate his role in passing HOPE. With Miller endorsing Perdue, you can hear that twangy voice on commericals being planned now. He's going to blast Mark out of the water for trying to overplay his hand. If Mark's our primary winner, we're going to get nailed on this issue.
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