GA House Education Chairman Brooks Coleman Retiring

With qualifying for elections set to begin next Monday, another round of retirement announcements is forthcoming.  Today, we spotlight that Rep Brooks Coleman (R-Duluth) will be ending his tenure in the Georgia House of Representatives at the end of his term.  Coleman is the Chairman of the House Education Committee.  In my experience, he’s been thoughtful, deliberate, and open as Chairman.  Eduction policy is often delivered in sound bites and bumper sticker slogans.  Rep Coleman has taken time to ensure that policy is more than that.

His press release is as follows:

ATLANTA – State Representative Brooks Coleman (R-Duluth) today announced that he will not seek re-election to the Georgia House of Representatives. Rep. Coleman will retire at the end of his current term after serving 26 years in the Georgia General Assembly.

“It has been one of the greatest honors of my life to represent the citizens in my district under the Gold Dome all of these years,” said Rep. Coleman. “Being a state representative for the last 26 years has allowed me to work alongside some incredible Georgians and create education policies for the good of our state’s students and educators. I am sincerely grateful to have been able to serve in the Georgia House of Representatives for so many years, and I will greatly miss serving in this honorable role.”

Rep. Coleman was first elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1992 and currently serves as Chairman of the House Education Committee. He has represented portions of Gwinnett County since he was first elected to the Georgia General Assembly. During his career in the House, he authored and co-authored legislation that provided support to low-performing schools, reformed benefits under the Teachers Retirement System of Georgia, eliminated the Georgia High School Graduation Test, revised teacher certification renewal rules, enacted the Student Health and Physical Education Act to ensure Georgia’s students are physically healthy, raised compensation for math and science teachers in Georgia and authorized the Public Education Innovation Fund Foundation to receive private donations to be used for grants to public schools.

Coleman Middle School opened in the fall of 2016 and is named in honor of Rep. Coleman. Coleman Middle School is the first Gwinnett County school to add an arts focus to the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) based curriculum.

Rep. Coleman has served as a teacher, principal, director of curriculum for Gwinnett County and assistant superintendent. He has also spent time as a motivational speaker and an auctioneer helping to raise money for charities and schools.

Representative Coleman has a Ph.D. from Georgia State University in Administration/Curriculum. He holds two Education Specialist degrees in Administration/Supervision and Elementary Education. He received his Master of Education in Administration/Supervision from the University of Georgia and attended Mercer University where he gained his Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education.