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Board candidates learn about job

Joshua Brown

ALBANY — Southwest Georgia school board candidates got a crash course about education in the state and the role of school board members Tuesday at a candidates forum.

Part of a series across the state, the forum is designed to provide candidates for local school boards and the state legislature with information about education in the state and local school systems, said Steve Dolinger, president of the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education.

“The purpose is to let these candidates understand more of the education issues before they start their campaigns,” he said.

Armed with the information learned from the forums, candidates can then take stronger and more-informed positions as they campaign, he said. While current school board members are welcome to attend the forums, the meetings are primarily designed to provide first-time candidates with information about school boards and the education system.

Presenters at the four-hour forum addressed everything from “the economics of education” to school finance and funding.

Three candidates for the Dougherty County Board of Education attended the event.

“It was really informative. I gained a lot of knowledge of the dos and don’ts (of being on the school board),” District 3 candidate Velvet Edwards-Riggins said about the forum. Edwards-Riggins is unopposed for her seat.

She said she felt best served by the presentation on school funding sources, a presentation at-large candidate Tommy Langstaff said he also found particularly informative.

“I thought that was probably the most interesting part,” he said.

District 1 candidate Laura Calhoun said she got a lot out of the presentation by Lee County Board of Education Chair Sylvia Vann explaining the role and responsibilities of a board member.

“I’m going to spend some time going through the primer,” she said. Forum attendees were given an “Education Policy Primer” that covers the gamut of issues, including policy making, educational choices and finance.

The final presentation, by Vann, explained the role of a board member. Her early years on the school board were served with other largely inexperienced board members and superintendent, she said.

She offered some practical advice to running a campaign — such as not promising to never raise taxes because one can never know what the future will necessitate — as well as gave an outline of how a board meeting proceeds.

Vann explained that board members are responsible for the end and delegates the system’s superintendent had the responsibility of making it to that end.

“As a board member you have a superintendent and you make sure your superintendent can do the things you expect him to do,” she said before reminding the candidates that “the whole reason we serve on the board is because of our children.”

School board candidates from several other Southwest Georgia counties attended the event.

Another forum is scheduled for today in Valdosta.

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