Candidate questionnaire: Here’s how Atlanta Board of Education candidates said they’d do the job.

For the upcoming Atlanta Board of Education election, we asked the Districts 2, 4, 6 and Seat 8 At-Large candidates about their experience; how they’d oversee the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) superintendent; APS’s five-year plan for improving literacy, math, and college or career readiness; supporting students experiencing homelessness;, and much more. 

You can read their responses to the VoteATL questionnaire at our ACC Election Hub. Just type in your address to see who’s on your ballot. Scroll down to your Atlanta School Board candidates, and click “Read more” to the right of their names to find out where they stand on the issues. 

Here’s how the Seat 8 At-Large candidates, Kaycee Brock, Royce Mann, and Aisha Stith, responded to one of the budget questions.

In recent years, APS has routinely projected a multi-million dollar gap at the start of each budget cycle. However, given the income and wealth disparities that exist in Atlanta, how would you think through APS’s revenue streams – which include property taxes, sales taxes, grants, and other sources – to address projected budget deficits in an equitable way?

  • Kaycee Brock: I would prioritize funding for schools and programs that serve students most in need, while also exploring sustainable revenue strategies—maximizing grants, evaluating local tax structures, and building partnerships that stretch every dollar without cutting essential services. I would also advocate for transparency and community engagement, so families understand how and why resources are allocated.
  • Royce Mann: We can address budget gaps by making those with the most pay their fair share, not by squeezing families or closing schools that are seeing real improvements for students. This should include demanding Fulton County properly appraise commercial properties, so that large landlords and luxury developers are fully taxed, and rejecting unnecessary TAD (Tax Allocation Districts) extensions so that rising values flow back to classrooms.
  • Aisha Stith: We seem to have a leader who is identifying these needs; again, you can’t solve it by not looking at it. My focus is on making what we have work better. We have to have a great product to show for people’s hard-earned tax dollars, and we can absolutely do that. What I know for sure is when we come together in community, we win!

We’ve received responses from every Atlanta school board candidate except Marlissa Crawford in the District 2 race, and Tyrese Miller and Tolton Pace in the District 6 race. The VoteATL questionnaire is a collaboration with the Center for Civic Innovation and a host of other local news and civic organizations.

Want to learn more about what the school board does? Visit CCI’s APS School Board Overview or download their School Board Fact Sheet.

Who’s backing who? More city council election endorsements

🏘️ Housing advocacy group Abundant Housing announced endorsements across the city, opting for the challenger in some city council races. Here’s who they are backing: 

  • Rohit Malhotra, Atlanta City Council President 
  • Juan Mendoza, Post 1 At-Large 
  • Eshé Collins (incumbent), Post 3 At-Large
  • Kelsea Bond, District 2 
  • Perrin Bostic, District 3 
  • Jason Dozier (incumbent), District 4
  • Thomas Worthy, District 7 
  • Dustin Hills (incumbent), District 9
  • Nate Jester, District 11 
  • Stephanie Flowers, District 12 

In endorsing Worthy for District 7, the group said, “Although not a perfect candidate, he expressed much more pro-housing views than his opponents and is highly viable in this Buckhead district.” 

Click here for Abundant Housing’s endorsement explanations and to find out how the candidates responded to their questionnaire.  


……
🚒 The Atlanta Professional Firefighters, Local 134 of the International Association of Professional Firefighters, has endorsed the following city council candidates:

  • Courtney Smith, District 2 
  • Byron Amos (incumbent), District 3
  • Jason Dozier (incumbent), District 4 
  • Thomas Worthy, District 7 
  • Antonio Lewis (incumbent), District 12

The firefighters’ union has already endorsed Mayor Andre Dickens and District 9 Councilmember Dustin Hills for re-election. 

……
🌿Also for city council, Georgia Conservation Voters, a climate and environmental advocacy group, is backing the following candidates:

  • Rohit Malhotra, Atlanta City Council President 
  • Matt Rinker, Post 1 At-Large 
  • Kelsea Bond, District 2 
  • Perrin Bostic, District 3 
  • Stephanie Flowers, District 12 


……
Several sitting council members have also endorsed candidates: 

  • District 8 School Board candidate Kaycee Brock is endorsed by Councilmember Jason Dozier.
  • District 8 School Board candidate Royce Mann is endorsed by Councilmember Liliana Bakhtiari. 
  • For city council president, Councilmember Marci Overstreet, currently a District 11 council member, has received endorsements from several of her colleagues, including Councilmembers Byron Amos, Matt Westmoreland, Alex Wan, and Jason Winston.

📋 Check out our Endorsement Tracker for the full details on who’s endorsing who.

Run for Something

Run for Something was founded on the day of President Donald Trump’s first inauguration in 2017 with a big goal: building long-term progressive power by cultivating fledgling candidates at the local level.

The mission is to support young progressive candidates from non-traditional backgrounds to run for state and local positions, both to build local Democratic power and in hopes that they’ll seek higher office — from senator to even president. 

The group says it’s recruited 230,000 young people to run for local office so far. That includes “five bold leaders running to shake up City Hall” in Atlanta’s nonpartisan city council election, plus a school board candidate. The Run for Something candidates are competing in several hotly contested Atlanta races:

  • Rohit Malhotra, Atlanta City Council President
  • Kelsea Bond, District 2
  • Liliana Bakhtiari (incumbent), District 5 
  • Charles Bourgeois, District 9
  • Nate Jester, District 11
  • Royce Mann, Atlanta School Board, Seat 8 At-Large

Deadline for Atlanta election candidates to file donation disclosures

Today was the last day for Atlanta’s municipal elections candidates to file campaign finance disclosures for the July 1 to Sept. 30 fundraising period. However, candidates still have a five-day grace period, until Oct. 7, to complete their filings. 

Check out our story and the Center for Civic Innovation’s report on the last round of campaign finance disclosures in July to find out who’s funding which candidates. Expect an update once the latest campaign finance disclosures are public.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

🎤 Atlanta Press Club to hold Oct. 8 debates for mayoral, city council president, and PSC  candidates


The Atlanta Press Club will host general election debates Oct. 8 with candidates for Atlanta mayor, city council president, and Georgia’s Public Service Commission (PSC), as part of its Loudermilk Young Debate Series.

The debates at the WABE studios are not open to the public but will be broadcast via WABE and streamed on the Atlanta Press Club’s YouTube channel.

Keisha on The Breakfast Club

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms scored a big appearance last week in her campaign for Georgia governor next year: The Democrat guested on New York City’s popular and influential Power 105.1 morning show, The Breakfast Club, where Black politicos and celebrities talk about everything from pop culture to politics, music, and gossip.

Bottoms shared thoughts on her campaign, Black leadership, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and her experience working for the Biden administration.

“I would always chuckle to myself when the president would say, ‘Keisha, what do you think?’” she told Charlamagne Tha God and the other hosts. “I bet nobody has ever been asked that in the Oval Office –  ‘Keisha, what do you think?’”

“A lot of the time, when we are the first, it’s the hardest for us in those spaces,” Bottoms added. “But you’re opening doors, so hopefully you won’t be the last.”

📻 Watch the full episode here.

Another Democrat joins the governor’s race

State Rep. Ruwa Romman (D-Duluth) is the latest Democrat to enter the party’s competitive primary for governor. Romman made history in 2022 when she became the first Muslim woman elected to the state House of Representatives and the first Palestinian American elected to public office in Georgia. Here’s the profile we wrote about her at the time. 

Romman is appealing to voters fed up with the high cost of living. From her campaign announcement: “Republicans have controlled our state for over 20 years and in that time we’ve ranked lower in education, hospitals have shut down, and the minimum wage remains at an abysmal $5.15 an hour,” she says. “I’m running for Governor to raise the minimum wage, reopen hospitals, feed hungry kids, take homes back from corporations and invest in small businesses.”

🗓️ The Democratic and Republican primaries for next year’s gubernatorial election will be May 19, 2026. The qualifying period for candidates will be from March 2 to 6 of 2026.

WHAT WE’RE READING

Grove Park organized its own candidate forum for two city council races


Over 120 Grove Park residents gathered for their own candidate forum earlier this month, entirely organized by the residents themselves. They heard from District 9 Councilmember Dustin Hillis and his challenger Charles Bourgeois, as well as District 3 Councilmember Byron Amos and his challenger Perrin Bostic.

For their moderator, the Grove Parkers chose Felicia Moore, who represented District 9 in the Atlanta City Council for 20 years before a stint as council president. Moore was guided by a set of pre-selected questions submitted by community members. The forum organizers enlisted the Grove Park Neighborhood Association and Canopy Atlanta for additional event support. 


“It’s remarkable how a passing thought between neighbors turned into one of the most engaging civic gatherings Grove Park has seen in years,” said longtime resident Genia Billingsley, who helped make the forum happen. “What started as ‘What if?’ became proof that we, as a community, can create spaces for meaningful dialogue, accountability, and collective action.”

Today’s Democracy Digest newsletter was written by Ada Wood. It was edited by Meredith Hobbs. As always, thank you for reading. Have tips, corrections, or questions? Just reply to this email.

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