CHAPEL HILL – Education is at the forefront of attorney Drew Nelson’s focus as he seeks appointment to the State House District 50 seat.

Nelson is the father of the three-year-old girl and says he constantly thinks of what the legislature is doing to the education system and wants to change it.

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“Teacher salaries in North Carolina have dropped faster than in any other state,” Nelson says. “We are almost dead last in what we pay our teachers. In terms of real dollars, we’re stripping money out of our schools; we’re giving it to voucher programs, we’re taking away masters pay. The Republican party has basically done everything it can to, kind of, make things touch for our public schools.”

Nelson is a native of Eastern North Carolina, a graduate of UNC’s law school, and received his Masters from Duke’s Terry Sanford School of Public Policy. After completing his education, Drew and his wife, Jennifer moved to Durham County. WCHL previously reported that the Nelsons are still residents of Durham County, but they are in fact residents of Chapel Hill in Orange County.

Nelson served as in-house council at N.C. State and is now a partner at Willis and Nelson, PLLC in Raleigh serving people in the appellate court.

Nelson did some work on former Representative Joe Hackney’s staff working with students to become involved in environmental issues on a presidential campaign.

Nelson says his career has readied him for this position.

“I seek out creative ways to try to help my clients,” Nelson says. “I can be touch when I need to be touch; I can be compromising when we need to be compromising. But, at the end of the day, I try to find positive, creative ways to get to a solution.”

Those interested in the House 50 seat are intending to replace Rep. Foushee who was chosen to fill the Senate District 23 seat, formerly held by Ellie Kinnaird.

This week, Rep. Foushee will reportedly resign from the House; she will then be sworn into the Senate. The selection committee needs to be filled as it is now one person short. Chapel Hill’s Graig Meyer resigned his seat on the committee to seek the appointment. Once the committee is filled, a date will be set to choose who will take the seat in the House.