Cathye Flory

Cathye Flory

Nonpartisan

Ohio State Board of Education District 6

Tenure

2025 - Present

Term ends

2029

Years in position

0

Predecessor

Antoinette Miranda

Prior offices

Ohio State Board of Education

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Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 5, 2024

Education

Associate

Columbus State Community College

Personal

Birthplace

Lancaster, Ohio

Religion

Christian

Profession

Self Employed

Contact

Personal Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

Cathye Flory is a member of the Ohio State Board of Education, representing District 6. She assumed office on January 1, 2025. Her current term ends on January 1, 2029.

Flory ran for election to the Ohio State Board of Education to represent District 6. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Flory completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Cathye Flory was born in Lancaster, Ohio. Flory's career experience includes working in sales and business management. She earned an associate degree from the Columbus State Community College. Flory has been affiliated with Operation Christmas Child and Samaritan's Purse Disaster Relief.

Flory served 12 years on the Logan Hocking board of education, 10 years on the Tri-County Career Center Board, and four years on the Perry/Hocking Education Service Center Board. Flory has spent more than 20 years as an area representative for exchange student programs.

Political career

Ohio State Board of Education (2025-present)

Flory was elected to the Ohio State Board of Education on November 5, 2024. She was sworn into office on January 1, 2025, succeeding Antoinette Miranda.

Ohio State Board of Education (2014-2018)

Florye was first appointed to the board by Gov. John Kasich (R) in June 2014 and was reappointed in January 2015.

Elections

2024

See also: Ohio State Board of Education election, 2024

General election

General election for Ohio State Board of Education District 6

Cathye Flory defeated David Donofrio and Chris Orban in the general election for Ohio State Board of Education District 6 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cathye Flory (Nonpartisan)	39.9	118,964
		David Donofrio (Nonpartisan)	33.4	99,327
		Chris Orban (Nonpartisan)	26.7	79,537

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 297,828
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Flory in this election.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Cathye Flory completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Flory's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I have been married for 54 years.

I live in  beautiful Hocking Hills. I have 1 daughter who is a teacher in Worthington and  4 grandchildren, one being uniquely abled.

I am certified as a caregiver through Ohio Dept of Developmental Disabilities and I have a certificate in Deaf Studies from Columbus State Community College.

I have served on the State Board of Education 4 1/2 years ( appointed under a previous Governor) I have been elected to the Logan Hocking School Board of Education 3 times (12 years)  I have served on the Tri County Career Center School Board for 10 years and I have also served on the Perry-Hocking Education service center School Board for 4 years. 

I have been involved in bringing back the Logan High school baccalaureate for Seniors.

I started the Christmas Advent Tea.

Every year I volunteer to work in North Caroline in the Operation Christmas Child warehouse.

I have also volunteered for the Samaritan's Purse Disaster Relief where I worked with a team to clean out, debris, tear out walls. rip up floors , gut whole homes and disinfect homes of flood victims.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• All children are important, valuable and matter.
• All Children have a right to the best education possible regardless of their circumstances or environment.
• All children must be encourage and have every opportunity to be successful.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Every area that has to do with children.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

God

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

The Bible

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

To be honest, trustworthy, kind, caring, truthful, be a good listener, compassionate, approachable, and admit when you don't know but are willing to find the answer instead of faking it.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I am honest, caring, trustworthy, respectful, likeable, approachable, prepared, and on time for meetings if not early.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Attend every meeting, be prepared, arrive early or at least on time, be respectful of your fellow members, and do not take a lot of time to get your point across when others need to speak.

What legacy would you like to leave?

My legacy would be that I was a Godly woman, loving, a person you could confide in, a great cook, selfless. a fun person.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

The assassination of the 35 President of the United States, President Kennedy. I was 11 years old.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

I work in a Sundry store. We sold magazines, candy, Tobacco products, toys ect.

What is your favorite book? Why?

The Bible. There are so many lessons to help you live by and to learn from.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

Having my trust broken.

What is the primary job of a school board member in your view?

To represent the people in your district, keeping in mind what the children need to be successful and productive when they graduate and go out into the world.

Who are your constituents?

Constituents are the people who elect you to represent them. I will go one step more and say all the people in the district not just the ones who voted.

How would you support the diverse needs of your district’s students, faculty, staff, and community?

I would be willing to listen and have an open door approach, visit schools when invited and know that not two people have the same needs.

How will you build relationships with members of the broader community? Which groups, organizations, stakeholders will you specifically target?

I will continue to attend many community events as I have in the past and I will not target any specifically groups.

What constitutes good teaching? How will you measure this? How will you support advanced teaching approaches?

Good teaching is when students are engaged and excited to learn. It is measured by testing. The job of the State Board of Education is teacher licensures, discipline, territory transfers and setting standards for the Education Standard Board to follow.

In what areas would you like to expand curriculum? For example, do you see a need for advanced technical training or apprenticeships? What sort of innovative programming would you advance if given the opportunity?

Hands on is very important. I would like to see some old curriculum return and updated such as learning about money, cooking, business with technical and apprenticeships added.

What strategies or plans would you advance to ensure the schools are properly funded?

I can not ensure any school funding. That is the legislators job not the job of the State Board of Education. But I would like them to do away with property tax and find a better way of funding the schools.

What principles drive your policies for safety in schools?

I do not have any policies for safety. That is for the local school boards to do. I do not have a problem with teachers having guns at school as long as they are trained. A metal detector would be good to detect is anybody is bringing a gun or knife to school.

How might you support the mental health needs of students/faculty/staff?

The parents, church, and school should be responsible for meeting the mental health needs of the students as long as they don' t harm them.

What existing district policies would you like to change, or what new policies would you like to implement?

There are many school district in district 6. That is not the responsibility of the State Board of Education.

Describe your ideal learning environment for students.

Students learn differently, some students take longer to learn what is being taught than other students. Students need encouragement, caring, dedicated teachers and staff who teach and not indoctrinate students to help them be successful which includes libraries and technologies centers.

How do you feel like your school district handled the coronavirus pandemic? What, if anything, would you do differently in the future?

It was the biggest mistake to close any school. If anything it caused mental harm to the students,. Isolating students has caused more problems for students than if they were in school. School should be a place for learning. School must be open.

What will you do to build a relationship with parents in the district?

I will attend community events and be very approachable. I was on several schools boards for 12 years in different towns I have spend many hours at events in the communities talking to parents.

What are your preferred strategies for faculty, staff, and administration recruitment?

The State Board of Education does discipline, teacher licensures , territory transfers and they set standards for the Education Standard Board. They are not involved it recruitment.

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

Everyone should have someone to answer to. We are the tax payers and it is our money that runs the government therefore the government accountability and financial transparency is to the tax payers or the people they have elected to represent them.

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 finance summary

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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.

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Cathye Flory campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	Ohio State Board of Education District 6	Won general	$474	$300
Grand total			$474	$300
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Antoinette Miranda	Ohio State Board of Education District 6 2025-Present	Succeeded by -
Preceded by -	Ohio State Board of Education 2014-2018	Succeeded by -