2024 Campaign FAQs

In the 2020 school board race, all candidates ran as Nonpartisan candidates.  However, a state law was recently passed requiring local elections to be partisan elections; therefore, I had to declare to run as a Republican, Independent, or Democrat.  I could have chosen to run as an Independent; however, that would have been deceptive, which is against my core value of integrity.  

If you look at my public voting record, you will see that I vote in the Republican primaries because I agree with the Republican parties’ stances around the limited role of government and fiscal conservatism.  With that being said, I have seen educational laws and policies from both sides of the aisle be harmful for our children and write about this issue in my book, Child Champion: Advocating for a Great Education (2022).  If elected, my priority will be to Williamson County students, families, educators, and community.  With my 27+ years of experience in education, I will be able to ask the right questions to ensure we are doing what is best for Williamson County.

I want to address this question because in the last election all 3 candidates were asked to sit down and discuss educational policy with a  a particular organization.  The other 2 candidates declined the request to meet with them.  Because I was the only candidate that agreed to met with them, the rumor was spread that I fully supported this organization, which was not true.

As a candidate running for a public office, I consider myself a public servant.  In this role, it is my responsibility to meet with any and ALL group(s) of people or person(s) who want to meet with me and discuss educational policy no matter their beliefs or background as it has been my experience that the best ideas come from listening and honoring differing perspectives.  The bottom line is I want to unite our community to do what is best for all Williamson County students, families, educators, and community members and will work to make that happen.  If you would like to meet with me, please feel free to reach out to me at 615-482-0081 and/or drmargiejohnson@gmail.com.

I will NOT be accepting donations or soliciting support from any political action committee.  I do not want anyone to think that I will be influenced by a particular organization while on the school board.  Instead, I will be garnering support from individuals, who want an experienced educator, who will represent them on the Williamson County School board to do what is best for supporting student success.

Children are very impressionable, particularly the younger they are.  Therefore, personal beliefs and opinions have no place in the classroom as families need to teach these beliefs to their children.  For example, when I was a middle school science teacher, even though I am a Christian and a Republican, I did not hang a cross or Republican flag in my classroom nor did I teach students about my beliefs.  Instead, I taught them without a scripted science curriculum with teacher created evidence-based, engaging lessons.

Also, children need to be safe at school from exposure to sensitive topics and/or content.  Parental permission is required for students to be taught about certain topics and view certain movies.  Parents need to have the peace of mind knowing that their child will also not encounter content in books that is not age-appropriate.

Regarding arming teachers in schools, I am not in favor of arming teachers with guns in the classroom. First and foremost, I know very few teachers who would want that extra responsibility.  I know when I was teaching in the middle school classroom, I would not have wanted to have a gun on me for fear that something harmful to my students might unintentionally happen.  We already ask teachers to do too much in the classroom; therefore, I would not want this added burden to them.  

Regarding the TN legislation that passed, if you read all of it there are several things that must be in place BEFORE a school employee may carry a gun to school.  

• • • A Memorandum of Understanding between the school superintendent and the chief of the appropriate law enforcement agency.

    • Obtaining a handgun carry permit.

    • Completing annual training. 

I believe in protecting the First Amendment Right of all people; therefore, I do not believe in the public banning of books.  I do believe that as a school board member it is my job to protect children, which includes ensuring that impressionable minds are not exposed to sensitive topics and/or content that might go against their family's beliefs.  

Parental or guardian permission is required for students to be taught about certain sensitive topics and to view certain movies while at school.  Furthermore, parents/guardians need to have the peace of mind knowing that their child will also not encounter content in books that is not age-appropriate without their permission.  If a parent or guardian wants to expose his/her child to these topics, then he/she can access it at the public library or purchase it from a bookstore.  

It is my understanding that the information in question has to do with the Williamson County debt and the salary of the director of schools.

First, our community was made aware of the large and increasing Williamson County debt during the 2022 Williamson County Commissioner elections by Mary Smith. She currently continues to provide that ongoing county data information on her website.  

Regarding the salary of the director of schools, you can find that information online.  To access the Williamson County Schools proposed budget, you need to go back to the March school board meeting agenda and access the Budget Packet for Board Copy 3-6-24.  On page 43 of this packet, the salary for the CO Official/ADM Officer, which is Jason Golden, is $329,147.  The current 24-25 line item does not have his salary with a 6% raise as they wait to add the raise after the budget is approved.  You can see this practice by a note listed on page 42 to the right stating "6% raise placed in one account." If you look closely at the salary, it went from $307,471 in 22-23 LY Actual to $329,147 in the 23-24 CY Revised Budget salary column, showing he got a 9.34% raise last year.  If he gets a 6% pay raise this year, his salary will be $348,896.  

Folks, it was brought to my attention that I miscalculated the above percentage of Jason Golden's raise from 22-23 to 23-24 and I did.  I appreciate the person who brought it to my attention, so I can apologize for my miscalculation and provide the accurate information.  Jason Golden actually got a 7.05% not 9.34% as stated above.  Out of transparency, I am adding this statement instead of deleting the information.  Going forward, I will work to ensure someone double checks my calculations.

For comparison, let's look at Metro Nashville Public Schools' (MNPS) budgets, which are located on the MNPS Budgets webpage.  If you scroll down to the FY2023-24 Board Approved Budget and look on Page 1 after the introduction materials.  Her salary is $338,000 for 23-24. Her previous salary in 22-23 was $301,000.  In the 24-25 Proposed Budget, her salary is listed as $340,800.  MNPS has approximately 81,500 students and approximately 9,200 employees.

If on the school board, I would not have and will not vote for a mask mandate.  Here's my reasoning: 

• The school board has jurisdiction over schools, not health care practices.  

• WCS does have policy 6403, which does address how to handle student communicable diseases.  No where in this policy does it mention masking students. I will never advocate adding masks to this policy.

• I trust families to be empowered to make the best healthcare decisions for their families.  If your family chose to wear masks because it was the best decision for your family, then that is great.  If not, then you shouldn't be "forced" to wear one.   

Regarding giving taxpayer dollars to parents for school choice, I want to briefly explain charter schools and vouchers as both of these programs allow for taxpayer dollars to be funneled to school choice. The difference is who ultimately gets to make the choice for where the taxpayer dollars goes. Charter schools are approved by local and/or state school board. Once a school is established, then a parent may choose to send their child to that school. Some people argue that at least charter schools are governed by the local school board; however, that is not the full story. Charter schools still are allowed to not follow the same rules that local public schools have to follow, such as selecting which students are allowed to attend. Currently, approximately $200 million dollars of Metro Schools budget goes to charter schools. WCS has not approved any charter schools, so the WCS budget has not been affected. A voucher allows the parent or guardian to decide the best educational option for the child, whether it is private school or home school. I am all about empowering families to do what is best for their child. My concern with the taxpayer dollars following the child, particularly the proposed voucher program by Governor Bill Lee has to do with implementation by the TN Department of Education and the amount of funding this program might potentially pull away from local public school budgets.  State mandates for public schools are not fully funded by the state now, so I would not want to see more state funding being pulled away from the local school budgets.  Instead, I would love to see our local educators be empowered to establish curriculum maps and engaging instructional lessons instead of purchasing scripted ineffective curriculum being offered by the TN Department of Education, where lobbyists advocated for the product NOT educators. I believe if schools returned back to the basics of a strong foundation of reading, writing, math, science and social studies curriculum that was not trying to indoctrinate students then more parents would choose public schools.  Ultimately, I want to work to make Williamson County Schools the first choice for all WCS students and families. 

I am fortunate to know many of the business owners in town.  As a result, I am committed to supporting them as much as I possible can.  My campaign food tour leads me to patronize each of the restaurants in district 5.  In addition, I am committed to spending the majority of my campaign funds with local vendors.  As of today (June 10th), 80% of my campaign funding has been spent locally.  Thanks to all of our local business owners who make district 5 a wonderful place to live and raise a family.