If they don't, they don't receive improvement grants from the state. The superintendent and the Board of Education have strengthened academic standards, such as adding one unit of math to high school graduation requirements and revising the state's Quality Core Curriculum for the first time since 1985. On Mrs. Schrenko's watch, Georgia's performance on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills and the Scholastic Assessment Test has improved. Mrs. Schrenko is the first state school superintendent to fully support the establishment of public charter schools, which allow educators and parents to set up experimental schools that aren't constrained by traditional rules. She has strengthened local control of schools by granting systems waivers to state regulations.
Communities now have the flexibility to tailor their schools to their children's needs.
Her opponent, Democrat Joe Martin, has served on the Atlanta Board of Education for 20 years. He is a thoughtful candidate who, like Mrs. Schrenko, has not been satisfied with the state of Georgia's public schools. Georgians sent Mrs. Schrenko to Atlanta four years ago to abolish the education status quo that kept the state mired in the bottom fourth of the nation. Georgia is beginning the slow climb toward respectability, but it's going to take more prodding by reform-minded educators. Mrs. Schrenko established a climate of change.