2014 Georgia Governor's race: on Education

Andrew Hunt: Increase both public and private school choices

Georgia has multiple leading higher education institutions which will receive continued support; however, raising standards and preparation of students from K through 12 should be a top priority. In order to do this first we must increase both public and private school choices available to parents and their children. This will create competition and continuously raise the performance bar and lead to improved performance rankings.

Nathan Deal: Criticizing Common Core diverts from advancing education

But Monday, the governor seemed to lament the controversy stoked by conservatives who see Common Core as a federal takeover of education: "It's unfortunate that that has diverted so much time and attention when I think we could have spent our efforts and resources perhaps more focused on advancing education."

Deal noted that Common Core doesn't stray into more controversial subjects, such as social studies: "We've only adopted in two areas. One is math. The other is language arts. People ought to know how to write a sentence and compose a paragraph. I have a hard time seeing the political implications of the two."