Now, the 36-year-old wants to take his efforts to the state level by running on the Democratic ticket for the District 39 state Senate seat. "As a father and a teacher, I see the difference an excellent education makes for our kids," said Balch. "But, our public education in Georgia is failing and until we fix that, we are shortchanging all our efforts to bring good jobs to Georgia, improve public safety and more because everything depends on education." Developing a fair process for evaluating teachers, paying teachers based on performance, reforming the teacher certification process and restoring funding cuts from the state budget are some of his objectives, if elected. "Our school calendar, certification process, tenure culture - these customs in education are 100 years old," he said. "We need to bring our education system into the 21st century by having an efficient administration system."
Guatemala RPCV Graham Balch left the lucrative consulting world three years ago to be a biology teacher at Grady High School in Midtown because he wanted to help fix education
Teacher wants to fix public education
By Laura Braddick
lbraddick@neighbornewspapers.com
Editor's note: incumbent Vincent Fort faces challenger Graham Balch in the July 20 Democratic primary election for the District 39 seat, which includes north and southeast Buckhead and Midtown.
Atlanta native Graham Balch left the lucrative consulting world three years ago to be a biology teacher at Grady High School in Midtown because he wanted to help fix education.
Now, the 36-year-old wants to take his efforts to the state level by running on the Democratic ticket for the District 39 state Senate seat.
"As a father and a teacher, I see the difference an excellent education makes for our kids," said Balch. "But, our public education in Georgia is failing and until we fix that, we are shortchanging all our efforts to bring good jobs to Georgia, improve public safety and more because everything depends on education."
Developing a fair process for evaluating teachers, paying teachers based on performance, reforming the teacher certification process and restoring funding cuts from the state budget are some of his objectives, if elected.
"Our school calendar, certification process, tenure culture - these customs in education are 100 years old," he said. "We need to bring our education system into the 21st century by having an efficient administration system."
Bringing more economic development to the state is his second priority.
"I want the economic development fund to be replenished from tax revenues by jobs brought to the state which will reduce our cost each year."
"We need to be more aggressive about bringing jobs to Georgia by increasing our economic development fund and it having that fund be replenished by tax revenues created by those jobs brought to the state," he said.
For transportation, Balch said he wants to help MARTA receive state funding and help get the Ga. 400-Interstate 85 interchange completed as soon as possible.
"We need to very quickly get the project on the Regional Transportation Plan and get it scheduled so that we can use the tolls from Ga. 400 to upgrade that interchange," he said, noting the toll plan is set to expire in 2011. "If we don't do that, the toll revenues may potentially go away and we Atlantans would bear the full cost of building the interchange instead of getting funds from commuters."
Balch lives in Midtown with his wife Simone and their 2-year-old daughter, Sierra. The former business consultant from Boston Consulting Group first first got his start in community activism when he created a recycling program in his neighborhood at the age of 15. He served in the Peace Corps in Guatemala and holds a bachelor's degree in environmental science from Middlebury College and a MBA in leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.
So far his campaign has raised $104,185, he said, and according to the State Ethics Commission Web site, he had $74,953.78 net cash on hand through March 31, the most recent disclosure report available.
Information: visit www.grahambalch.com.
