Lawmakers finally backed a proposal he had championed for several years, state Schools Superintendent Richard Woods said.

Gov. Brian Kemp signed HB 1193, which places literacy coaches in elementary schools, with a coach serving kindergarten through third grade in each elementary school.

“I’m very pleased the General Assembly adopted the plan I offered three years ago, putting coaches in the room and having a statewide literacy coordinator,” Woods said.

Woods said the state is seeing improvement in lowest 5% of public schools and literacy scores jumped from 15-29% across the state.

“We’re making the right moves,” he said. “We have the mechanisms in place.”

Woods also is campaigning for a fourth term leading the state’s public schools. He first won the office in 2014 and was re-elected in 2018 and 2022. He faced primary opposition in his re-election bids – each time from John Barge, who Woods succeeded in office when Barge opted to run for governor.

This time, he faces four opponents in the primary, including Candler County Schools Superintendent Bubba Longgrear and former state Rep. Mesha Mainor.

“Is it political rhetoric you want to listen or is it results?”

Woods asked.

“And I’m bringing results.”

Lawmakers have praised the state’s graduation rates but also called into question the reading scores, especially for third graders, in the state during the push to pass and sign HB 1139 into law. Woods disputed the low marks assigned to the state in literacy.

“We keep hearing only 30% of our third graders can read on grade level, but nowhere can I find that,” he said. “I know what I can produce because have one test and one metric and that is the Milestones and that 30% number is not even half right.”

Woods said the state is seeing gains in math scores, with the math standards adopted three years ago now in place.

“In many cases, we’re back to pre-pandemic levels in math,” he said. “This is our first year with the new literacy and English- language arts standards, so we’re waiting to see what those numbers look like.”

Woods also extolled the state’s career pathways for technical students.

“Our kids have the opportunity to go anywhere and I think that is reflective of our 98% graduation rate for our career tech pathway completers,” he said.

Woods, who lives in Tifton, boasted the state has brought back fundamental items such as cursive writing and phonics.

“We’ve got the standards we’ve needed for many, many years,” he said.