Superintendent Richard Woods attends a bill signing ceremony for notable education bills in 2026. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
State Superintendent Richard Woods has told lawmakers multiple times that reading instruction in Georgia is on the right path – but they’re not buying it.
Now that discontent has helped drag Woods into a June 16 runoff for the Republican nomination with Candler County Superintendent Bubba Longgrear as he seeks a fourth term leading the state’s K-12 schools. The winner will face Democrat Lydia Powell in November.
“We can’t be the greatest state in the nation if our children can’t read,” said state Senate Education Committee Chairman Billy Hickman, a Statesboro Republican and the first lawmaker to endorse Longgrear.
Woods, who frequently visits schools to praise their achievements, says he’s focused on helping teachers nurture students, “serving people over politicians.”
“This is what we’re about, building positive relationships and allowing our teachers to once again have the freedom in the classroom to get to know their kids, become difference-makers,” Woods told a March forum hosted by Christian conservative group Frontline Policy.
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Current tallies show Woods fell about 1,000 votes short of a majority out of 860,000 ballots cast in the May 19 Republican primary. Longgrear, who won 29% of primary votes, may face an uphill battle to defeat Woods, but says he’s ready to go. Longgrear is aided by superior funding, including $900,000 spent against Woods by the shadowy Conservatives for Strong Schools. Longgrear has been endorsed by GOP lawmakers including House Speaker Jon Burns of Newington, who has made improving reading instruction his top priority.
Longgrear says he would prioritize curbing student misbehavior, enhancing career development and reading.
He says Woods is inaccessible and doesn’t work well with lawmakers and local superintendents. House lawmakers insisted on cutting Woods out of decision-making on the literacy law passed this year.
“I definitely want to be viewed as a trustworthy partner and somebody that truly has the best interest of students and districts in mind,” Longgrear said.
Woods denies being hard to reach, saying “access has never been an issue.” He cites conservative achievements, including removing the multistate Common Core learning standards from Georgia by 2023.
“I delivered on Common Core, both reading and math,” Woods told Frontline Policy. “I delivered on cursive writing. I delivered on financial literacy. I delivered on ending the massive amount of testing we were doing.”
Woods easily won reelection in 2018 and 2022 after emerging from a nine-candidate Republican field in 2014. But dislike of Woods has been building for years among some legislators, and some local superintendents look askance at him because Woods never led a local school district.
Lawmakers and advocates rejected Woods’ effort to make Georgia’s school accountability system less based on test scores. And Woods’ ham-handed 2024 attempt to torpedo teaching of Advanced Placement African American Studies classes under Georgia’s divisive concepts law brought GOP as well as Democratic brickbats before he backed down.
But literacy is causing the most friction. Disputes have flared repeatedly, whether it’s a text from a Woods staffer asking a dyslexia advocate to help kill a 2023 literacy bill or a 2024 fight over which screening tests should assess student readiness.
Only 30% of Georgia fourth graders were considered proficient in reading on the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress test.
“Georgia is not making the mark, they’re not producing proficient readers,” said Missy Purcell of Lilburn, a dyslexia advocate. “Our data is stagnant, not going up. The only people that are confused about this are Woods and his election team, and all the districts that he’s misleading.”
Woods argues things aren’t so dire, with 65% of Georgia students reading at grade level according to a measure adopted by the state Board of Education.
“We have one metric that is used, and I can guarantee you, it is not 30%,” Woods told Frontline Policy attendees.
Holly Witcher, a White County special education teacher who was the 2025 Georgia Teacher of the Year, is among those who praise Woods for his attention to teacher needs and efforts to protect teachers from “pain points” in bureaucratic mandates.
“He has a genuine care and concern for the students and the teachers and the communities,” Witcher said. “It’s not politics, it’s ‘What do kids need?’”
But lawmakers pushing to improve achievement want a change.
“His leadership style has not been effective,” Hickman said.
