State Senate Candidate Dan Gasaway today pledged to donate his Senate salary to Georgia public education if elected.
Gasaway made his announcement after reviewing current state revenue numbers. He says the state budget is currently facing “tremendous challenges” because of revenue shortfalls caused by the pandemic. Gasaway says it will be after the June 9 election before those challenges translate to real financial impacts on state employees and specifically, classroom teachers.
If teachers are furloughed and the school year is shortened to balance any budget of any school system in northeast Georgia, Gasaway says he will donate “every penny in state Senate salary to public education until our classroom teachers are back to being paid for a full 180 day school year.”
The former state representative, who is vying for the 50th district state Senate seat being vacated by John Wilkinson, takes some of his opponents to task for promising to never cut education.
“Political rhetoric such as this is irresponsible because the reality of the current situation is dictated by national forces and not by what inexperienced candidates want it to be,” Gasaway says. “Unfortunately, cuts are likely coming for K-12 education and I am pledging to stand with the classroom teachers until those cuts are fully restored.”
Gasaway’s wife is a school teacher. He says forfeiting his salary would pale in comparison “to the sacrifices Georgia classroom teachers make every day.”
Gasaway is one of six Republican candidates running for the open seat.
READ Gasaway’s full statement here
