Democrat Tonya Chestnut (left), the incumbent District 5 representative on the Alabama State Board of Education, faces Republican nominee David Perry (right) in the November 5 election. (Left: Courtesyo Tonya Chestnut; Right: Curtesy Davis Perry)
The single competitive race on the Alabama State Board of Education this year will feature an incumbent seeking her second term on the board and a Republican challenger.
Democrat Tonya Chestnut, currently representing District 5 on the board, faces Republican nominee David Perry, a pastor and community activist.
The district, taking in most of Alabama’s Black Belt, is expected to lean Democratic.
Chestnut, one of two Democrats on a Republican-controlled board, said that one of her priorities is continued focus on struggling readers, especially those beyond third grade.
Alabama’s 2019 Literacy Act aims to have all students reading on grade level by the end of third grade. In recent months, education leaders including State Schools Superintendent Eric Mackey have called for funding to address older students who need reading support.
“So all of the efforts have been put in training, K-3 teachers, but minimum support has been provided to teachers grades four through eight, (teachers’) focus is not on teaching them to read, but making sure that the kids are reading for comprehension,” she said.
Perry said that core curriculum, or framework that all students are expected to take, was interfering with teachers’ ability to teach.
“Let these teachers teach,” he said. “If you let them teach, you wouldn’t have no problem with the curriculum.”
The State Board of Education sometimes takes over local school districts in response to challenges. The Board took over Sumter County schools last year and Bessemer City schools this past summer.
Chestnut said that she sees state intervention as a last resort for school districts and not as a standard.
“If we can focus more attention on prevention and making sure that if there is an identified deficit, that we provide the support to make sure that all school systems can be successful,” she said.
Perry said that he did not currently have thoughts on state takeovers.
Chestnut also said that school security was one of her priorities but it generally falls at the local level. She said, as a state board member, she wants to provide opportunities for local boards to apply for grants.
“Every school district knows what’s best for them, and the needs are so diverse, until just making sure that we are cognitive of the fact that funding for school safety needs to be a priority, and then give those local districts, the opportunity to evaluate and assess their specific needs on an individual basis,” she said.
Perry said that school security should be addressed with having psychologists in schools. He claimed that the school system turned out “murderers and killers instead of doctors and lawyers.”
“You’re just dealing with a whole lot of children that are angry. So, I mean, you really should have clinical psychologists in every school,” he said.
On a career technical education path versus a college path, Chestnut said students should have three options: employment, college or military.
“I really think that just the stigma of the career tech option as being less than is definitely an error that kids have the opportunity to be successful in both routes of education, and so it’s just a matter of preference of the children because we see high students with high academic intellect also choosing career tech,” she said.
Perry said that students should be tested in a way to “lead them toward their gifts.”
“Why would you want somebody that is gifted as a surgeon to be flipping burgers?” he said. “Some of these kids are not getting a chance because they need to succeed, because the curriculum does not actually afford them a chance to hone their gifts in.”
Through Oct. 18, Chestnut reported contributions of $27,880 and expenditures of $16,228. She finished with $21,934 on hand. There were no campaign finance filings from Perry available on the Alabama Secretary of State’s website as of Friday.
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