After years of serving on the education committee in the state House of Representatives, Debbie Phillips, D-Albany, hopes to serve the 8th district of Ohio for the State Board of Education.
Twelve years ago, Phillips began her path as a public servant as Athens City Council's fourth ward representative. When she finishes her final term in the 94th House of Representatives seat, her next political move will be for a seat on the Ohio State Board of Education.
Phillips said her past interest in education matters drove her to seek the position.
“There were a number of people that I worked with over the years on education policy who had been suggesting (running) to me and asking me to think about it,” she said.
Before Phillips served the 94th district in the House of Representatives, she said she worked in local nonprofits that collaborated with schools. That job consisted of peer mediation, conflict management and civic work, she said.
“That work kind of evolved into working on school funding policies statewide,” Phillips said.
Before she was in the House, Phillips would often take students to the Statehouse to testify for budgets and invite legislators to schools so legislatures could see the impact of their decisions.
Looking to the future, Phillips believes there’s too much time taken up in test preparation for standardized tests, and hopes she can help create a new testing plan if elected.
Pete Couladis, Athens County Republican Chair, has other ideas for what will improve the local school system.
He said he wasn’t “terribly excited” when he heard about Phillips’ new campaign, and argued encouraging business growth in Athens would be a more effective way to bolster local education funding.
“A lot of her views, they may be popular in the people’s republic of Athens, but outside of the city of Athens, no,” Couladis said.
Phillips will run against Nancy Hollister, a Republican who was Ohio's first female governor in 1998, and was appointed in May by Gov. John Kasich to fill a vacancy.
Phillips said her main goal would be to restructure the way the state measures schools' success.
“There are some serious flaws in the way the (state) report card is structured,” Phillips said.
In the last state education report card evaluation, the Athens City School District received a C and the kindergarten through third grade group received an F with the current measurements the state uses for education.
“I think (the system) really mischaracterizes the work that’s being done in different districts,” Phillips said.
Chris Knisely, president of Athens City Council, has been impressed with how “immersed” Phillips has been with education topics throughout the years. Knisley used to work with Phillips when the two served on City Council together.
“A particular trait she has that makes me confident about her running for the position is that she is so dedicated to education issues,” Knisley said.
When they first met, Knisley said Phillips was the executive director of the Ohio Fair School Campaign Coalition.
“I was able to watch her advocating for equal funding, particularly for Appalachia counties that tend to be funded less than schools in other parts of the state,” Knisley said.
John Haseley, Athens County Democratic Party chair, also got to know Phillips when she was an activist before taking her political beliefs to an elected chair.
“Then leading up to her tenure in the state legislator, she has always fought for public schools,” Haseley said.
Haseley added he thinks Ohio is at a critical point where money is being “drained” from public schools and given to underperforming charter and online schools, hurting schools in Athens County.
"Debbie is going to play an important role on the school board in helping correct that situation,” Haseley said.
