Erik Farley

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Erik Farley

Nonpartisan

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 7, 2023

Education

Bachelor's

University of Kansas, 1978

Graduate

Cornell University, 1981

Ph.D

Cornell University, 1984

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Erik Farley ran for election for an at-large seat of the Worthington Schools Board of Education in Ohio. He lost in the general election on November 7, 2023.

Farley completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Erik Farley earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Kansas in 1978, a graduate degree from Cornell University in 1981, and a Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1984.

Elections

2023

See also: Worthington Schools, Ohio, elections (2023)

General election

General election for Worthington Schools Board of Education At-large (2 seats)

Stephanie Harless and Amber Epling-Skinner defeated Erik Farley and Leah Breakey in the general election for Worthington Schools Board of Education At-large on November 7, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Stephanie Harless (Nonpartisan)	33.0	14,026
✔		Amber Epling-Skinner (Nonpartisan)	32.0	13,627
		Erik Farley (Nonpartisan)	17.7	7,520
		Leah Breakey (Nonpartisan)	17.3	7,352

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 42,525
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Jessica Haglund (Nonpartisan)
• Josh Hickman (Nonpartisan)

Endorsements

Farley received the following endorsements.

• Bernie Moreno (R) - U.S. Sen. cand.
• Franklin County, Ohio, Republican Party
• Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge 9
• Moms for Liberty, Franklin County, Ohio
• Restore Liberty
• Worthington Area Republican Club

Pledges

Farley signed the following pledges.

• Moms For Liberty

Campaign themes

2023

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Erik Farley completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Farley's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a retired scientist and application developer, residing in Worthington, Ohio since 2001. I worked at Chemical Abstracts Service, a division of the American Chemical Society, for 31 years, achieving the rank of Senior Scientist in the Editorial Division. During my years at CAS, where I met my wife Shizue, I served as a document analyst, editor, computer programmer, and specialist in pharmaceutical and agrochemical patents. I created numerous computer applications and was twice honored with the Director's Award for my contributions.

Prior to working at CAS, I obtained a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS, followed by a Master of Science and PhD in Physical Organic Chemistry at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. I taught organic chemistry laboratories and assisted in organic chemistry lectures throughout my graduate studies.

My son Alex was a student at Worthington Estates Elementary School and graduated from Thomas Worthington High School in 2010. He then obtained degrees from The Ohio State University and Shuchiin University in Kyoto, Japan.

I am running to bring much-needed balance to our school board.

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?

• The Worthington School Board must return to fiscal responsibility to the taxpayer. It relies on endless permanent levies to balance the budget. This must end, and it will end, by electing two fiscal conservatives to the board in this election.
• The current school board terminated our school resource officer (SRO) program for political reasons, leading to a host of problems which are being ignored. Again, electing two common-sense candidates now allows us to recover quickly from this error.
• Academics have declined unacceptably in the Worthington School District. Proficiency levels are shockingly low, while the board concentrates on politics. An academic focus must be restored, and agenda-driven policies must be rejected outright.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Public school districts must prepare our students to compete globally again. Worthington Schools can compete by returning to academic rigor and excellence. This is possible, if we diligently fix what we know is wrong with the schools, and if we reject failing social and political experimentation.

I have seen excellent public education - both in my own experience in the Shawnee Mission School District in Kansas, and in the Worthington School District, when it was focused on academics, not agendas. Public education works, and it has the advantages of welcoming all students. But it’s not working now.

I was also able to compare a public homeschooling option, the Ohio Virtual Academy, with Worthington, when my son attended middle school with OVA online. I observed how much faster my son learned, in the absence of bullying by fellow students. My son didn't need psychotropic drugs that the school begged for, and which our doctor refused to prescribe. He needed the Worthington School District to deal with bullying, which thankfully happened during those two years.

It's time for us to take school safety and academics seriously, because they are part of the same problem. I am offering to lead the way.

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

The primary role of a school board member is to bring an educationally and locally informed, yet diverse and external, community perspective to the governance of a school district administration. In most cases, the board member serves as a check and a balance, making sure that the community itself has some control over the education of its own students.

School board members should bring common sense to their role as representatives of the community, as well as any areas of relevant expertise that they may possess. At the same time, they must acquaint themselves deeply with the realities of the district, so that complete understanding of the expert opinions of the administration, superintendent, treasurer, and teaching staff becomes possible.

It is not the job of the school board member to rubber-stamp administrative decisions, nor is it to oppose the administration without good reason. Board members must help find optimal solutions in a complex balance of interests.

Ideally, the board helps the administration to find excellent solutions that satisfy all parties in the district.

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

There are many measures of good teaching. One of the most important is the success of our graduates after they leave our schools. Worthington School District has always competed strongly in this regard, and I hope to promote and promulgate respected quantitative measures of this form of success.

On the other hand, measures of proficiency and academic ability by the state are not where they should be. I do not fault teachers for this. I believe that our current board has not fostered the conditions needed for academic excellence. It will be difficult to undo some of the problems which the current and past boards have created, but we must.

As for advanced teaching approaches, I regard all new approaches with the eyes of a skeptic. Far too much damage has been done to students and education itself by trendy, dubious, and nonsensical methodologies, resulting in cover-ups like removing graduation requirements, or ending gifted programs in the name of equity. Common Core math and non-phonic reading methods are examples of imposed novel approaches which harmed students tremendously before the damage was recognized. We cannot achieve academic excellence while engaging in risky experimentation on our kids.

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?

Worthington School District must adapt its teaching methodologies and curriculum to the realities of Intel-related employment and social change. The "Silicon Heartland" demographics are stark, and the huge population increase will transform this region.

The board must not micromanage district planning, but it will be my shared duty to help the administration and teachers gain the strategic knowledge needed to prepare our students for what is coming, so they will make the best expert decisions on programs, coursework and curriculum.

We won't just need technical adaptation – we will need moral grounding in our graduates. As a scientist, I am acutely aware of the ethical problems exposed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

In my opinion, we have too much science and not enough scientific ethics to steer STEM safely. We must infuse STEM teaching with the moral discipline needed for our graduates, as tomorrows leaders, to lead us safely into the future. How we do that is a question I will pose to the administration, teachers students and parents. We must learn from our mistakes.

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

Our district needs to immediately begin deep introspection on spending - including performance audits and some form of zero-based budgeting. Our "too healthy" operating surplus gives us time to find where the money is going, and to find possible savings. We have a spending problem, and it needs to be dealt with - not simply fed with new sources of "other people's money". Other district boards are clearly more mindful of spending than ours is currently. It's time to elect two fiscal conservatives to get with the program.

What principles drive your policies for safety in schools?

All options need to be back on the table, including school resource officers (SROs). I believe we have made excellent innovations in the absence of SROs, but those innovations simply cannot substitute for all the functions SROs provide. If we simply allow SROs back into the equation, we should be able to find a solution which is acceptable to nearly everyone, and meets the key requirements of all parties. The safety of all students, teachers, staff and residents cannot be ignored.

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

We need to deeply assess the capacity of our school psychologists, while understanding that much of the load is related to current dysfunction in the schools. Addressing root causes of student problems is key. We must quickly restore stability and safety to the schools. When students are not avoiding the bathrooms all day to stay out of trouble's way - when they are not getting beat up at football games - we can begin to understand how much caseload is generated by failure to deal with school safety and discipline issues. At that point, we will know how many mental heath professionals are truly needed.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Franklin County, Ohio, Republican Party

Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge 9
Moms for Liberty, Franklin County, Ohio
Worthington Area Republican Club

Bernie Moreno

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

Extending lockdowns for political reasons, against the advice and desire of the district administration, was one of the current board's greatest errors. This not only hurt our young parents - it hurt students in an "evidence-based" way, to use the term so beloved by the current board. Mathematics scores of our students were particularly damaged by this error.

I stand resolutely against lockdowns, mask mandates, and all forms of knee-jerk reaction to "bad sudden bureaucrat science", which is exactly what happened with COVID. When elected to the Board, my votes regarding any future "pandemics" will be rooted in pure science and the interests of our students, teachers, parents and staff - and NOT in the interests of unions, political parties, bureaucrats, and pharmaceutical companies.

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Other survey responses

Ballotpedia identified the following surveys, interviews, and questionnaires Farley completed for other organizations. If you are aware of a link that should be added, email us.

• League of Women Voters

See also

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Candidate

Worthington Schools Board of Education At-large

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