The Covington Information acquired the next from the marketing campaign of Trey Bailey.
After months of prayerful reflection and conversations with household, mates, and neighborhood leaders, longtime Board of Training member Trey Bailey has introduced that he’ll search re-election for his District 1 seat on the Newton County Board of Training. Bailey, who was first appointed to the Board in 2016 and has served with distinction ever since, is at the moment in his third time period. His present time period ends December 31, 2026. This marketing campaign would safe a fourth time period of continued service.
Whereas many locally inspired Bailey to pursue the soon-to-be-vacant Georgia State Senate District 42 seat, he says his coronary heart stays rooted in native public training and neighborhood growth.
“I took a critical and prayerful take a look at working for the Senate seat being vacated by Senator Brian Strickland,” Bailey mentioned. “It’s a various district that features components of Henry, Morgan, Walton, and my beloved Newton County. Many individuals believed I used to be a perfect candidate—somebody comfy navigating the messy center, somebody who values diplomacy over division. And in truth, I’m wired for that sort of work.”
Nonetheless, after weeks of discernment and sincere conversations, Bailey says he couldn’t stroll away from the vital progress occurring proper right here in Newton County.
“The second of readability got here throughout our June board assembly,” Bailey shared. “We heard a robust presentation outlining the progress our superintendent and district employees have made during the last college 12 months—scholar achievement is rising, strategic targets are being met, and the tradition of our faculties is bettering. I left that assembly pondering, that is the place I’m meant to be.”
Bailey praised the Newton Training Basis’s ongoing success as one other key consider his choice, noting the Basis’s advocacy and fundraising efforts as “game-changing” for academics and college students. A fervent supporter of the NEF, Bailey has used his platform to champion their work and encourage stronger partnerships between training and neighborhood stakeholders.
Bailey’s nine-year tenure on the Board has included a few of the most difficult moments in latest historical past—navigating college closures in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, hiring a brand new superintendent, supporting college security initiatives in response to neighborhood tragedies, and laying the groundwork for an upcoming complete Workforce Growth Framework to organize college students for all times past commencement.
He’s additionally been an outspoken voice for fiscal accountability, main efforts to cut back pointless spending whereas advocating for truthful pay for educators.
“I’m a fiscal conservative. My fellow board members have referred to as me a ‘price range hawk,’ and I take that as a praise,” Bailey mentioned. “I’ve pushed again on each price range introduced to me, asking the place we are able to trim with out hurting college students. That’s why I’m proud that underneath this board, we’ve adopted a classification and compensation plan that lastly pays our academics and employees competitively—and we did it whereas decreasing the millage price to the bottom it’s been in over 25 years.”
Bailey’s latest op-ed in The Atlanta Journal-Structure about Home Invoice 581 introduced state-wide consideration to the funding disaster Georgia college districts may face resulting from new property tax caps. Within the piece, he made a compelling case for native management, balanced governance, and the crucial significance of investing in youngsters.
“I’m not afraid of laborious choices,” Bailey mentioned. “Whether or not it’s a controversial piece of laws or a troublesome vote on the board, I lead with conviction and hear with humility. I don’t make choices in a vacuum—I speak to folks, I hear to each facet, and I do what’s finest for our college students, our academics, and our taxpayers.”
Along with his function on the Board, Bailey is deeply engaged within the lifetime of the Newton County neighborhood. He serves as Government Director at Eastridge Church, serving to lead technique, employees growth, and budgeting. He additionally sits on the Board of Administrators for Piedmont Newton Hospital and co-hosts The City Sq. Podcast, a weekly civic-minded podcast that goals to create house for “unity, not uniformity” in native conversations. The podcast has logged over 10,000 listens, bringing consideration to native leaders, nonprofits, and urgent neighborhood points.
Bailey’s marketing campaign will deal with persevering with the ahead momentum in public training—advocating for scholar achievement, instructor assist, protected faculties, and accountable fiscal administration.
“Public training is the nice equalizer,” Bailey mentioned. “We don’t get to choose who walks by way of our college doorways. We welcome each youngster and decide to serving to them attain their fullest potential. I wish to proceed constructing a college system the place each scholar can thrive—and the place the complete neighborhood feels satisfaction in what we’re engaging in collectively.”
Bailey lives in District 1 together with his spouse of 29 years, Alonda Hodges Bailey, a instructor at Mansfield Elementary Faculty. They’ve three daughters, one Eastside graduate who’s now within the Marines, and two who’re present college students within the Newton County Faculty System. A local of Newton County, Bailey is a graduate of Newton County Excessive Faculty and holds a Bachelor’s diploma in Enterprise Data Methods from Mercer College, and a Grasp’s diploma in Biblical Research from Luther Rice Seminary.
To study extra about Trey Bailey and his marketing campaign, go to www.treybailey.us or observe alongside on social media.
Editor’s Observe: The Covington Information runs preliminary marketing campaign bulletins for native candidates on Web page A1 freed from cost. For any native candidates that want to make a marketing campaign announcement, please electronic mail enewton@covnews.com.
