Promises Made. Promises Kept.

Forsyth County is a great place to raise a family, but it keeps getting more expensive to live here. When I ran, I promised to protect your wallet, and for the last four years I've done exactly that. We've tightened our belts, just like many of you.

We cut the millage rate by more than three mills, bringing it to its lowest level since 2007. We self-imposed a homestead exemption to control rising taxes, protected the senior exemption, and cut this year's local spending increase to 0.6%, the smallest in decades and a fraction of the rate of inflation. We reduced overhead, paid down debt, and paid cash for new schools. We're building additions instead of new campuses, saving money and sparing families the trouble of redistricting.

And our students haven't paid the price. We continue to be the top-performing district in the state, and one of the best in the nation! I've proven you can tax and spend less and still get exceptional schools, and I'll keep proving it for the next four years.

Our kids' safety is priority #1, and we've spared no effort. We started by auditing every building, then hardened entrances and expanded badge-controlled doors with modern camera systems across our campuses. Staff now carry panic-alert badges that call for help and pinpoint their exact location in seconds.

Technology alone doesn't stop threats, so we invested just as strategically in detection and prevention. We grew our school resource officer program into one of the largest and most effective in the state, added dedicated sheriff's investigators to the SRO unit, and expanded the district team that spots warning signs and steps in early. The goal is to catch problems before they ever reach a school and respond in seconds if they do.

Our students lost ground during COVID, and I promised you we would win it back. So, we restructured district leadership around academic achievement and accountability, and launched two strategic initiatives: “Return to Rigor” and the “War on Complacency.” We brought back common midterms and final exams, so every student is held to the same high standard, strengthened reading and dyslexia support, and rolled out assessment and diagnostic technology that pinpoints exactly where each child needs help. We also started writing our own curriculum in-house and dropped materials that weren't delivering results, which saved money and improved outcomes!

It worked. We've erased the learning loss, and every major metric is climbing. Our SAT, ACT, and CCRPI scores lead all large school systems in Georgia, our graduation rate is 97.4%, and the Class of 2025 earned over $60 million in scholarships.

We didn't coast on being the best in Georgia. We declared war on complacency, and we're not done.

Teachers can only teach, and students can only learn, when the classroom stays focused on instruction. I promised to keep outside distractions out of our schools, and I've kept that promise. We ended politically driven programs and initiatives. We adopted a K-12 policy that keeps phones out of classrooms. We also cut back on digital tools that weren't adding value, so students spend more time reading, writing, and solving problems.

We've also taken more ownership of what our kids learn. Instead of relying on off-the-shelf materials, our district now develops more of its own curriculum in-house, written by educators who know our students, and we've retired materials that weren't producing results. Library purchases follow a clear, consistent policy, and parents have a direct voice through community focus groups.