Cole Kelley
From Ballotpedia
Cole Kelley
Utah State Board of Education District 12
Tenure
2025 - Present
Term ends
2029
Years in position
0
Predecessor
Elections and appointments
Education
Personal
Contact
Cole Kelley (Republican Party) is a member of the Utah State Board of Education, representing District 12. He assumed office on January 6, 2025. His current term ends on January 1, 2029.
Kelley (Republican Party) ran for election to the Utah State Board of Education to represent District 12. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Kelley completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Cole Kelley was born in American Fork, Utah. He earned a high school diploma from Pleasant Grove High School, a bachelor's degree in English education from Brigham Young University, a master's degree in educational counseling from the University of Phoenix, and an education administrative endorsement from Southern Utah University. He also attended Utah Valley University. Kelley's career experience includes working in counseling, administration, and as a classroom teacher and business owner.[1][2]
Elections
2024
See also: Utah State Board of Education election, 2024
General election
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Cole Kelley advanced from the Republican primary for Utah State Board of Education District 12.
Republican convention
Endorsements
To view Kelley's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Kelley in this election.
2022
See also: Alpine School District, Utah, elections (2022)
General election
Nonpartisan primary election
Campaign themes
2024
Video for Ballotpedia
Released September 12, 2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Cole Kelley completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kelley's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Cole Kelley has been a classroom teacher for 27 years. He taught English at Orem High School for 10 years and for the past 17 years has taught Financial Literacy at American Fork High School. Cole has also coached baseball and wrestling and is a olympic wrestling enthusiast. Cole has a Bachelors Degree from BYU in English Education, a Masters Degree from the University of Phoenix in Educational Counseling, and an endorsement in Educational Administration. Cole's background in education is extensive, but what most qualifies Cole for the Utah State Board of Education is his unique ability to think outside the box. Cole has unique ideas to solve issues that we have been complaining about in education for decades. Cole hopes to implement free market principles to bring focus to student achievement and reward excellent teachers.
I hope to ensure that education is using our resources to benefit the student. Education dollars need to directly benefit the student. Eliminating waste and ensure that responsible spending is a priority, the student will be the benificiary.
My favorite book is The Richest Man in Babylon. In the Richest Man in Babylon, Arkad teaches his friends to look to experts for advice. If you want to know about Jewelry, ask a jeweler. I have spent a significant amount of my life as a classroom teacher and have extensive education and background in the industry. I believe that my expertise can provide unique opportunities to move education forward in a productive and responsible way as we look for ways to best serve the student.
Transparency and Integrity- I want to make sure that my constituents have complete access to my votes and how I am representing them as a member of the board. I will conduct myself with integrity and ensure that I make the decisions that best serve the students of Utah.
Put the students first. The theme of Cole's campaign is "Students over Systems" and Cole believes that the core responsibility is to look out for Utah Students.
The students of Utah were served well while I was in office.
Serve the students of Utah by providing a first class educational opportunity.
Students, parents, teachers and administrators
Making sure that decisions are local.
I plan to dialogue and brainstorm with parents, teachers and administrator with varying viewpoints to ensure that I am examining all sides of an issue and understanding how these decisions impact our students.
Good teaching is an art. it is not always easy to be measured, but you know it when you see it. Parents, students, administrators and counselors can identify the best teachers in their school.
I don't want to expand the curriculum, I want to simplify the curriculum. I believe that we are asking students to learn too much and in turn, they are learning very little. We need to narrow the focus and use repetition to ensure that
Ensure that money is being spent in a responsible way.
Students need to feel safe in our schools.
Small classrooms, quality teacher, learning environment free from political activism.
Make myself available and respond in a timely manner.
Reward excellent teachers. I have videos on my website where I share unique ideas on how to reward and retain excellent teachers.
It is really quite simple. The state school board should conduct business in a transparent and accessible manner. We owe it to the voter to win the confidence they we are responsible stewards of public money.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
Kelley's website stated the following:[3]
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Teachers Salary We have complained about teacher salaries for decades. If you do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result, you are insane. We need new and innovative ideas to help attract some of our best young minds to the teaching profession. Here is a link to some videos of how I propose we can increase teacher salaries. Classroom Size Classroom size is another issue that seems to never get solved. You need outside the box ideas if you want to reduce classroom size. We need to implement technology and new ideas to reduce classroom size. Curriculum Integrity The Utah State Curriculum needs to be apolitical. I am a conservative school teacher that understands the need to keep my politics out of the classroom. It is not the job of public schools to influence a students political preference. We need to ensure that teachers are teaching students to think critically and are provided with the tools to make intelligent decisions for themselves. Protect Female Sports Women's sports has provided unique opportunities for young women in our schools. It is a mistake to allow boys to compete in girls sports. We need board members that are willing to stand against a woke culture and protect our female sports. National Education Association The values of the NEA do not coincide with the values of many Utah teachers. We need to make sure that Utah values are represented amongst teachers in Utah. The majority of NEA donations to political candidates are Democrats. We need board members that recognize that the NEA does not speak on behalf of Utah teachers. Diversity Equity and Inclusion The left is subtle and crafty in their use of language. I believe in embracing diversity in our schools, I believe in treating all students equally in our schools and I believe in including all students in a school culture; however, the ideas being promoted by many organizations do the opposite of what they suggest. The woke ideology divides rather than includes and does not bring us together. I will embrace and represent all students, but I will stand against curriculum that divides us. The ideas being sold as diversity, equity and inclusion are often used to divide us. [4] |
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2022
Cole Kelley did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
| Utah | State Executive Elections | News and Analysis |
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| Utah State Executive Offices Utah State Legislature Utah Courts | 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 Utah elections: 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 | Party control of state government State government trifectas State of the state addresses Partisan composition of governors |
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Ballotpedia staff, "Email communication with Cole Kelley," September 13, 2024
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 9, 2024
- ↑ Cole Kelley State Board of Education, "Students Over Systems," accessed September 19, 2024
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
