Hallacy is an advocate for a better education system and has a proven track record of leading improvements in Georgia’s education system.

 

Hallacy has been involved with the education community for ten years serving in a variety of roles to support the advancement of education and access to education for students throughout Georgia. She served on the Georgia PTA Board of Directors for six years, most recently as the Second Vice President (2009-11) with oversight responsibility for all standing committees. As a member of the Executive Committee she had responsibility for the ongoing operations of the statewide association of over 300,000 members. She also served as the lead director for Georgia PTA in its efforts to support passage of the Common Core State Standards Initiative. 

Hallacy previously served as the Georgia PTA Legislative Chairman (2007-09) and was responsible for leading all advocacy efforts that affected children and youth.   She has served on the Georgia PTA Legislative Committee since 2003 and has worked closely with many education groups including the Georgia School Board Association (GSBA), the Georgia School Superintendents Association (GSSA), the Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE), the Georgia Association of Educators (GAE), and the State Department of Education. She also served as Georgia PTA’s Resolution Chairman (2005-07) where she helped craft and refine resolutions that gave the PTA a voice on issues affecting children. Karen has also served as a local and council PTA president. She has also served on several task force committees for the Cobb County Board of Education including funding, code of conduct and redistricting and on the Cobb County Chamber Business Education Steering Committee (2003-06).

 

Prior to her work in education, Hallacy was a senior manager at Anderson Consulting where she worked on several large systems development projects including the historical reservation system for United Airlines and revenue accounting system for the Internal Revenue Service. She attended Lawrence University in Appleton, WI where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, graduating Magna Cum Laude. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.