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Marion Barnes
Ballotpedia provides comprehensive election coverage of the 100 largest cities in America by population as well as mayoral, city council, and district attorney election coverage in state capitals outside of the 100 largest cities. This board member is outside of that coverage scope and does not receive scheduled updates.
Marion Barnes was the District 1 representative on the Richmond County Board of Education in Georgia. He was first elected in 2000. Barnes won re-election in the general election on November 8, 2016.[1] He did not seek re-election in 2020.
Elections
2016
Five of the 10 seats on the Richmond County Board of Education were up for general election on November 8, 2016. District 1 incumbent Marion Barnes defeated challenger Brian Green, while challenger Wayne Frazier defeated incumbent Barbara Pulliam in the District 4 race. District 10 incumbent Helen Minchew won her re-election bid against challenger Tony Whiteside. District 5 incumbent Patsy Scott and District 8 incumbent Jimmy Atkins won without opposition in 2016.[1]
Results
| Richmond County School System, District 1 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Marion Barnes Incumbent |
69.63% | 4,919 |
| Brian Green | 30.37% | 2,145 |
| Total Votes | 7,064 | |
| Source: Georgia Secretary of State, "General Election November 8, 2016," accessed November 8, 2016 | ||
Campaign themes
2016
Ballotpedia survey responses
Marion Barnes participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 survey of school board candidates. In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on May 4, 2016:
| “ | Improve schools[2][3] | ” |
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues based on how they should be prioritized by the school board, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. Each ranking could only be used once.
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in Georgia. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| “ | N/A[3] | ” |
| —Mr.Marion E.Barnes (May 4, 2016) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer nine questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are highlighted in blue and followed by the candidate's responses. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions. The candidate was also provided space to elaborate on their answers to the multiple choice questions.
| Should new charter schools be approved in your district? (Not all school boards are empowered to approve charter schools. In those cases, the candidate was directed to answer the question as if the school board were able to do so.) |
|---|
| No. |
| Which statement best describes the ideal relationship between the state government and the school board? The state should always defer to school board decisions, defer to school board decisions in most cases, be involved in the district routinely or only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| The state should only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| None |
| How should the district handle underperforming teachers? Terminate their contract before any damage is done to students, offer additional training options, put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve or set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district? |
| Offer additional training options. Put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Rarely |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Marion Barnes' 'Richmond County School System'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Georgia Secretary of State, "Qualifying Candidate Information," accessed April 18, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Marion Barnes's responses," May 4, 2016
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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