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October 14, 2008

Education funding cuts prompt Noble candidacy

Charles Oliver

Ralph Noble says he has a unique perspective on state House of Representatives District 3, which includes much of Catoosa County and the western and southern parts of Whitfield County.

“I live in the northern part of it, and I work in Whitfield County. I taught at Westside Elementary from 1990 to 2002. Then I went to Eastbrook,” he said.

Noble, the Democratic candidate, will face Republican Tom Weldon Jr. in the Nov. 4 general election. Incumbent Republican Ron Forster did not seek re-election.

A former president of both the Whitfield Association of Educators and the Georgia Association of Educators, Noble says one of the main reasons he decided to run this year is because of state cuts to education funding over the past six years.

“What that means to Whitfield County is that $15 million has come out of the budget for children. To me, that is unconscionable,” Noble said. “At a time when you had surpluses and you had an economy doing well, our Legislature cut the budget for education. What are they going to do now?”

Noble, 54, says it will take a while to restore that funding, given the state of the economy. He says even as the state has cut funding for education it has increased tax breaks for business and provided more money for private schools. He says he’d like to change the funding priorities.

“I’m tired of the politics of powerful people helping powerful people,” he said.

The Ringgold resident says traffic and transportation is another priority. He supports allowing voters to approve regional sales taxes that would fund transportation projects. A proposal to allow voters to create regional sales taxes failed to pass the General Assembly this year.

“And of the 4-cent sales tax on gasoline, currently only 3 (cents) goes to transportation,” Noble said. “The fourth goes into the general budget. I’d take that fourth cent and put it into transportation, but with stipulations. You’d have to use it to create some alternatives. That we improve mass transit. That we give some grants for light rail.”

Noble has a bachelor’s in education from Shorter College and a master’s degree and a specialist’s degree from West Georgia State College. He and his wife Teresa have adult sons: Hunter, Sam and Caleb.













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