Governor Perdue Appoints Senator Dan Moody and Representative Tom Dickson to Education Finance Task Force

ATLANTA – Governor Sonny Perdue announced today the addition of State Senator Dan Moody and State Representative Tom Dickson to his Education Finance Task Force, IE2 (Investing in Education Excellence).  IE2 focuses on improving student achievement, ensuring access to an excellent education for all Georgia students, and implementing an education funding system that is easier to understand and administer.

“We’ve had QBE for over twenty years, and a basic education is no longer good enough,” said Governor Sonny Perdue.  “Sen. Moody and Rep. Dickson have the knowledge and passion to examine the QBE formula, and help create a new educational initiative, Investing in Education Excellence.”

For more information about IE2 including a listing of the full taskforce, please see www.ie2.org.  Brief biographies of the new appointees follow.

State Senator Dan Moody – Senator Dan Moody serves as the Chairman of the Majority Caucus and as the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations’ Education Subcommittee.  To mark his growing role as a leader of education in Georgia, Moody was appointed by Governor Perdue in early 2004 to serve on the Southern Regional Education Board Legislative Advisory Council. Dedicated to the advancement of education throughout the region, the council is comprised of legislators representing 16 southern states. Senator Moody is also a member of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government Advisory Board which is recognized throughout the world as an outstanding resource on governance. In addition to his education-oriented committees, Moody has served as the secretary of the Insurance & Labor Committee since 2003, and is a member of the Ethics Committee, the Reapportionment Committee and the Senate Rules Committee.  Senator Moody was first elected to the Georgia Senate in 2002. He is currently a member of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and the Cumming-Forsyth Chamber of Commerce. An electrical engineer by trade and a retired Captain in the U.S. Army Reserves, Moody is the former owner of an established business in Forsyth County that provides instrumentation products and services throughout the world to the industrial control market. Dan and his wife, Stephanie, have been married 35 years, and have three children and four grandchildren. They attend Mount Pisgah Methodist Church.

State Representative Tom Dickson – Representative Dickson’s legislative duties include membership on the Economic Development & Tourism, Education and Regulated Industries Committees, the latter of which he serves as secretary.   First employed by the Whitfield County School System in August 10, 1967 as a teacher, he has served in numerous capacities in the school system including bus driver and summer maintenance worker. He worked as both a middle school assistant principal, and as principal of an elementary school. At the central office of the school system, he later became the Director of Technology, Transportation, and Finance.  He served as Superintendent of Schools from 1998 until his retirement in June of 2003.  Mr. Dickson currently serves on the board of directors of the Georgia Project, headquartered in Dalton, the Georgia Federal Credit Union, and the Northwest Georgia United Way. He has served on numerous other boards including Junior Achievement, Northwest Georgia Healthcare Partnership, Georgia School Superintendent’s Association, and the Whitfield County Board of Health. He is an active member of the Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church. He has been a member of the Dalton Rotary Club since 1996. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Maryville College, a Masters in Education from the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, and an Educational Specialist degree from the State University of West Georgia. A resident of Whitfield County since 1967, he is married to the former Sherry White. They have two sons James and Matt, and three grandchildren.

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