Why did you decide to run for governor now?

We can’t afford four more years of the education policy we have … We just can’t afford that as a state.

What do you think of Governor Deal’s first term?

I think that Republicans and Democrats agree that he has failed to properly manage our education system …. [It] is on the brink. I think that is something that is unsustainable. It’s bad for our future, it’s bad for our business climate and it hurts families and children and we need to do a better job at that first and foremost.

What is your position on the new common core standards?

I think that one of the problems that we’ve had in Georgia is we keep going back and forth with different kinds of mechanisms for assessment and for teaching … Overall I don’t have a problem with the curriculum, but I do have a problem if we’re not giving people the resources they need to implement them.

What is your position on charter schools?

I support them and I think they are a good way to innovate within the public schools system and I think that there are good charter schools and there are charter schools that don’t perform well. I think what we need to do is make sure we find a way to ensure that the best practices we’ve got and then scale them out so that everyone can benefit from them. They’re good as a tool; I don’t think that they’re the answer or the silver bullet to the education issues that we have, and I certainly don’t agree with segregating them from the regular school system and having a state charter system that runs over local school boards.

What is your position on state-funded vouchers for private schools?

I’m opposed to that tax credit and in fact one of the things I did on the very last day of the session last year is create a bipartisan coalition that ensured that that tax credit does not grow, and that was one of the things that I thought was very very important.

If elected governor, would you expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act?

Today, with the roll out and everything that’s going on, Obamcare is a mess, but we have to find a way to make sure that Georgia tax payers are getting their tax dollars, are getting their money’s worth from the federal government. Right now, because of Governor Deal’s Washington politics, we’re sending our tax dollars away and not getting them back. There are ways to do that that makes sense and I would certainly try to find a way to do that.

Do you support delaying some of the requirements under the Affordable Care Act?

I think, given the fact we haven’t allowed people to sign up we have to delay it. Given the problems with the rollout we have to delay it. It’s only fair.

Do you support the deepening of the Savannah port?

Just like the governor and the mayor of Atlanta, I think it’s a crucial economic development project.

Kasim Reed has said that democrats shouldn’t challeng Deal this election. What do you think about his remarks?

I’d like to see him speak for himself. I have met with Kasim Reed, he is my friend, and a supporter of mine and that’s where I’ll leave it. If you look at his more recent quotes about my candidacy I think that’s where he is today.

DISCLAIMER: Kate Carter, wife of Jason Carter, advises The Southerner.