One local man hopes that fellow educators rally together Tuesday when they head to the polls.
Tharptown teacher Bart Moss has been appointed to head the state’s Educators for Newt Gingrich committee.
Moss believes Gingrich’s views on education policies more closely align with Alabama teachers than any of the candidates in the party primaries.
“He supports getting rid of “No Child Left Behind” which has been a failure and disaster,” Moss said.
“It leads teachers into a bureaucratic system that really doesn’t lead to students learning the material, they just learn to be good test takers.”
Moss also agrees with Gingrich’s ideas that families should take more responsibility in a child’s life.
“If a teacher has a problem with something the child has done, then the parent should have a problem with the child too.”
Republican Sen. Jabo Waggoner, of Vestavia Hills, appointed Moss to the position and he hopes to spread the message that Gingrich is an ally of educators.
“There is a mindset that Republicans are anti-education and that is just not the case at all,” said Moss, who has been contacting Republican leaders in counties throughout the state encouraging them to spread the message that he believes in.
Moss’ decision to help the Gingrich campaign ended speculation that he would run for county schools superintendent as an independent. Though he won’t run in 2012, Moss said he would seek office within the next two to four years.
“Sometime in the next two to four years I plan on running for something that will allow me to have a greater impact on education and job creation,” he said.
“Those two things are not separate and we need to work to make sure that one helps the other.”
Moss also said that Franklin County is unique in the fact that so many county residents vote as Republicans in statewide and national races, but only vote as Democrats in local races and he hopes to see that change in the next couple of years.
“We need to be a two-party county,” he said. “Every voter should be able to vote for the person they think will do the best job, regardless of the party that candidate represents.”
In the meantime, Moss will continue to do what he can to help the Gingrich campaign, especially in the next couple of days leading up to Tuesday’s party primaries.
“Newt has an uphill battle but he has a great conservative team behind him and hopefully he will finish strong.