German D. Garcia
German "Herman" D. Garcia was a Democratic candidate for an at-large seat on the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education in North Carolina. Garcia, Elisabeth Motsinger and Katherine Fansler faced three Republican candidates in the general election on November 4, 2014. German D. Garcia lost the general election on November 4, 2014.
Biography
Garcia was working as an assistant teacher with Petree Elementary School at the time of his candidacy. He served in the U.S. Army and retired at the rank of major.[1]
Elections
2014
German D. Garcia advanced from the May 6, 2014, Democratic primary against Elisabeth Motsinger, Donald Dunn, Katherine Fansler and Suzanne Carroll. Garcia, Fansler and Motsinger faced Republican candidates Mark Johnson, John M. Davenport Jr. and Robert Barr in the November 4, 2014, general election.
Results
General
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic |  Elisabeth Motsinger Incumbent |
18.4% | 52,582 | |
| Republican | Robert Barr |
17.1% | 48,789 | |
| Republican | Mark Johnson |
16.9% | 48,418 | |
| Democratic | Katherine Fansler | 16.8% | 48,115 | |
| Republican | John M. Davenport Jr. Incumbent | 16.5% | 47,125 | |
| Democratic | German D. Garcia | 14.2% | 40,636 | |
| Total Votes | 285,665 | |||
| Source: North Carolina Board of Elections, "2014 General Election Results," accessed December 30, 2014 | ||||
Primary
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Elisabeth Motsinger Incumbent |
33% | 11,233 | |
| Democratic | Katherine Fansler |
22.2% | 7,561 | |
| Democratic | German D. Garcia |
17.7% | 6,038 | |
| Democratic | Suzanne Carroll | 14.5% | 4,918 | |
| Democratic | Donald Dunn | 12.6% | 4,278 | |
| Total Votes | 34,028 | |||
| Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections, " 05/06/2014 OFFICIAL PRIMARY ELECTION RESULTS - FORSYTH," May 13, 2014 | ||||
Funding
Garcia reported $199.00 in contributions and $99.00 in expenditures to the Forsyth County Board of Elections, leaving his campaign with $100.00 on hand as of April 30, 2014.[2]
Endorsements
Garcia received the endorsement of the Winston-Salem Journal for the primary election.[1] He and Katherine Fansler (D) shared a joint recommendation from the paper for the third at-large seat up for election in the general election.[3]
Campaign themes
2014
Garcia provided the following statements regarding his campaign themes on his Democracy.com campaign page:
| “ | While the NC General Assembly fights over the education budget, recruiters from the Houston School District (yes, in Texas) are back in NC.
NC educators have not had a meaningful raise in six years, and budget cuts have caused a deficit in resources, such as textbooks. Currently, NC's education spending per child is 49th in the nation, even though our cost of living is approximately average. Tens of thousands of educators have taken early retirement, moved to other states, or left the profession. Educators should be treated as valuable professionals, and children deserve a high quality public education. But NC budget cuts have made it difficult to attract and retain highly qualified teachers, and in many schools, there are not enough textbooks and other educational resources. It is a shame that recruiters from other states are aggressively recruiting experienced, highly qualified teachers away from NC... Statistics for WSFC Schools: 42 percent are white, 29 percent are African-American, 22 percent are Hispanic, 4 percent are multiracial. According to statistics available from WSFC website, we have a diverse student population, with 42% white, 29% African American, and 22% Hispanic. German believes that all students and their families deserve representation on our school board. With several of the current school board members retiring this year, this upcoming election is an excellent opportunity to elect a highly qualified Hispanic member to our Board of Education. German is an educator (named Classified Employee of the Year at Petree, and a language teacher at FTCC) committed to being an advocate for all students and educators... The NC General Assembly is still debating the education budget for this coming fiscal year. After six years without giving educators a raise, the House wants to give a 5 to 6% raise, while the Senate wants to give a higher raise by firing half of our teacher assistants. Teacher assistant positions have been reduced for the past several years due to budget cuts, reducing the ability of elementary school educators to provide individualized instruction to young learners. It should not come as a surprise, therefore, that thousands of children are in summer school this year because they are not reading at grade level. NC has also lost many qualified teachers to other states, and fewer college students are choosing education as their major. Currently, we are 46th in teacher pay and 48th in spending per student. When we consider that our cost of living is approximately average (26th), it is not surprising that we are having difficulty recruiting and retaining teachers. All of our educators deserve a long overdue raise, and our students deserve a quality education which includes teacher assistants in elementary school classrooms. I am an advocate for our public schools because I believe that all children deserve the opportunity to get a great education. I have attended education rallies in Winston-Salem and Raleigh. I will continue to be an advocate for our schools and our children.[4] |
” |
| —German D. Garcia's Democracy.com page (2014)[5] | ||
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "German + Garcia + Winston + Salem + Forsyth + County + Schools"
See also
- Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, North Carolina
- Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools elections (2014)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Winston-Salem Journal, "Editorial: 2014 endorsements in school board primaries," April 22, 2014
- ↑ Forsyth County Board of Elections, "Local Campaign Report: Board of Education," accessed April 29, 2014
- ↑ The Winston-Salem Journal, "Endorsements 2014: WS/Forsyth school board races," October 21, 2014
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Democracy.com, "German (Herman) Garcia: Issues," accessed October 23, 2014
