Samanthia Valentine, M.Ed., CPS-P

Samanthia Valentine is a professor, elected public official, educator, and policy advocate whose career spans more than 23 years in education, healthcare, public governance, and family systems leadership. She currently teaches chemistry at Augusta Technical College and has taught pharmacology and medical dosage at the Medical College of Georgia School of Nursing and nursing statistics through the University of Texas at Arlington. Her healthcare background also includes work as an ophthalmic technician and hospital experience at Conway Hospital.

As the elected Richmond County Board of Education Super District 10 Representative, Samanthia brings direct governance experience in public accountability, policy development, resource oversight, and institutional decision-making. Her educational leadership includes mathematics instruction and administration, curriculum and assessment development, special education, educator training, and districtwide instructional improvement. Across her career, she has worked to connect policy, implementation, and the experiences of the students, families, and communities served by public institutions.

Samanthia’s state and national leadership extends across early childhood, child welfare prevention, two-generation initiatives, behavioral health, and juvenile justice reentry. She serves as an advisor to the Governor’s Two-Generation Academy and as Bylaws Chair of the Juvenile Justice Reentry Family Advisory Committee. She is a HOPE Facilitator and Champion via Tufts University and a Certified Peer Specialist Parent through the Georgia Parent Support Network, connected to the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD). Her leadership has also included the Children’s Trust Fund Alliance, Strengthening Families Georgia, and national education policy fellowship initiatives.

As a state and national family advocate, Samanthia brings together professional expertise, public governance, and lived experience to advance policies that strengthen public systems and improve outcomes for children and families.

As a mother of children with both childhood and ongoing health needs, and as a person living with a disability, Samanthia brings lived experience navigating complex systems that deepens her commitment to accessibility, family-centered policy, and equitable outcomes. 

Her contribution to public health leadership lies in connecting education, healthcare, behavioral health, prevention, and family engagement, while ensuring that families have a meaningful voice in the policies and systems shaping their well-being.

Samanthia earned her bachelor’s degree from Coastal Carolina University and her Master of Education in Mathematics from Cambridge College. She has completed advanced studies at Argosy University and the University of South Carolina, Columbia.