Voters once again elected Debbie Burdette to the Board of Education in District 5 Tuesday.
Burdette was challenged by Tommy Callaway but still received more than 64 percent of the votes, according to the unofficial results. Burdette brought in 1,324 votes compared to Callaway’s 705.
“I had a great campaign committee lifting me up,” she said.
Burdette, who has served on the school board since 2000, was joined by her campaign committee, family, friends and supporters at Taste of Lemon on Morgan Road as election results were announced Tuesday night.
Burdette said that she received overwhelming support both in and out of her district and is prepared to continue to serve the whole community.
“As a school board member, you represent everyone,” Burdette said. “You represent every child who lives in Troup County.”
Burdette said she looks forward to continuing her plans to make education the buzz word in Troup County. Student achievement, school improvement and community involvement are on the horizon, she said.
“I feel like somewhere, not just in Troup County but in America, we’ve dropped the ball on the importance of education,” she said. “We have to break the generational cycle of thinking that you can drop out of school and get a good job,” she said.
Burdette said the first order of business is business as usual. She said she is prepared to do more with less, pending a $3.5 million state budget cut for the 2013 fiscal year.
“We’ve had great results and plan to keep doing what we’re doing,” she said said.
Burdette is the executive director of the Certified Literate Community Program and has also served in educational organizations including Family Connection, First Steps, Troup BELL, Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, and the Troup County Chamber of Commerce Education/Workforce Development Committee.
Burdette currently serves on the LaGrange Housing Authority and The Do the Right Thing Committee. She received the Boy Scouts Distinguished Citizen Award for 2012 and is a member of First Presbyterian Church, where she serves as an elder and teaches Sunday school.
She is married to Speer Burdette and they have three grown children who attended Troup County schools and graduated from LaGrange High School.
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