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Standing Up to Washington

Georgia-driven Decision-making over Washington Micromanaging
Superintendent Woods is committed to child-focused and classroom-centered decision-making that will put an end to Washington micromanaging. From pushing back on Arne Duncan’s high-stakes testing regime to keeping the Obama administration from setting bathroom policy, Superintendent Woods has stood up to Washington and federal overreach in education.

For years, Woods has raised concerns regarding the nation's school lunch policy. Georgia’s cafeteria and school food service workers are deeply dedicated to providing our children with tasty and nutritious meals, yet their flexibility to meet that mission was held back by federal overreach. Thankfully, common sense changes were recently adopted and Superintendent Woods looks forward to enacting those changes in school cafeterias across the state. 

One-size-fits-all mandates are not the answer to educational excellence and those closest to our children – parents, schools, and communities – are best equipped to make educational decisions.

Superintendent Woods has followed this example by ensuring Georgia-driven decision-making. He believes it is critical that Georgians have a voice in educational decisions being made at the state level and he is committed to listening and honoring the voters' voice beyond election day.  

Woods has directed a division-by-division audit of the Georgia Department of Education and as well as overseen a restructuring of  the agency to increase its efficiency and effectiveness. He's pushed back against creating new bureaucracy and called for a reduced duplication of efforts in order to streamline services to schools and students.

As Georgia's School Superintendent, he has advocated that state testing requirements be lowered to align with the minimum federal requirements and has supported legislation that affords districts maximum flexibility in the area of testing.

He has pushed for the maximum flexibility afforded by federal law to allow schools to spend funds to meet the needs of their students while supporting legislation to increase the transparency of school-level expenditures so taxpayers know how their money is being spent.

Under Superintendent Woods’ tenure, school districts across the state have seen red tape cut and relief from numerous state mandates – mandates that are often barriers to serving students.
Richard's Record
  • Pushed back on Arne Duncan's high-stakes testing regime
  • Stood up to the Obama administration on setting bathroom policy
  • Supported common sense changes to the nation's school lunch policy
  • Personalized education over one-size-fits-all federal mandates
  • Georgia-driven decision-making over Washington micromanaging
  • Conducting a division-by-division audit of the Georgia Department of Education
  • Advocating for state testing requirements be reduced to the federal minimum
  • Providing maximum flexibility to districts on how to spend funds as afforded by law
  • Increased school-level financial transparency for taxpayers
  • Pushed back against creating additional bureaucracy and duplication of services
  • Cutting red tape and freedom from numerous state mandates given to local districts