Hanson, Banks and Stephanie Henry are vying for the seat in the July 31 GOP primary. No Democrats have entered the race, so whoever wins the primary will likely be the one taking office in January.
Hanson lives in Post 5, though her home has a Roswell mailing address. Pope and Lassiter high schools are in Post 5.
Hanson, 50, said her goals include excellence in the classroom, fiscal conservatism and responsible leadership.
“I intend to bring ethical leadership to the board of education,” she said. “I will demand complete transparency and will not trade votes, support questionable education programs, or base my decisions on politics.”
The district’s budget is a priority for her. The district had to cut $63 million in expenses from its Fiscal Year 2013 budget.
“First, we must get control of our spending,” she said. “For example, spending $400,000 on a trip to Florida for professional development appears to be ill conceived.”
She would have rather spent that money on technology and conducted the training via video conference, she said.
She also does not favor bringing Teach For America staff to Cobb — and wonders why Superintendent Dr. Michael Hinojosa is spending time on fund-raising to cover TFA expenses, rather than more important issues.
Hanson will vote against the state’s proposed constitutional amendment on charter schools on Nov. 6. She believes the proposal would make local control of schools meaningless.
“Parents have the fundamental right to be directly involved in their children’s education. I also strongly question as to how the state will fund additional charter schools while they currently cannot fully fund our public schools,” she said.
Hanson, a mother of two, said she is enjoying campaigning.
“I’m very encouraged by the people that I’ve talked to who are really aware of the issues,” she said. … “What I’m hearing is that people are really disenfranchised with some of the things that are going on.”
She’s promoting her campaign online through a website and a Facebook fan page, and she has posted signs throughout northeast Cobb.
“I’ve been out there meeting with people, listening to people,” she said.
Hanson’s June 30 campaign finance report shows that she’s raised $4,150, $500 of which was in loans, and has about $1,000 on hand.
“My goals and priorities have been getting the message out, talking to people … not the fundraising necessarily, that will come later,” she said.
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To pander to the teachers by suggesting that the money in reserves be brought down to almost zero, simply puts the property owners at risk of higher taxes - if there is a fiscal bump in the road. It should be noted that a tax increase would not impact him, since he has had the senior school tax exemption for over 13 years. It is akin to playing poker with money that is not your own - it is fairly easy to make huge gambles.
I really do not care which calendar is used, we simply need wise leadership.
Not sure how anyone can honestly claim that Mr. Banks is really a responsible conservative.