Kelli Phillips

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Kelli Phillips

Republican Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

August 4, 2022

Personal

Birthplace

Nashville, Tenn.

Religion

Christian

Contact

Campaign Facebook

Kelli Phillips (Republican Party) ran for election to the Metropolitan Nashville Board of Education to represent District 4 in Tennessee. She lost in the general election on August 4, 2022.

Phillips completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Kelli Phillips was born in Nashville, Tennessee.

Elections

2022

See also: Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, Tennessee, elections (2022)

General election

General election for Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools school board, District 4

Berthena Nabaa-McKinney defeated Kelli Phillips in the general election for Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools school board, District 4 on August 4, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Berthena Nabaa-McKinney (D)	61.9	4,877
		Kelli Phillips (R)	38.1	3,001
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	7

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 7,885
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools school board, District 4

Berthena Nabaa-McKinney defeated incumbent John Little in the Democratic primary for Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools school board, District 4 on May 3, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Berthena Nabaa-McKinney	61.9	2,691
	Submit photo	John Little	37.9	1,647
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	9

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 4,347
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools school board, District 4

Kelli Phillips advanced from the Republican primary for Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools school board, District 4 on May 3, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kelli Phillips	98.1	791
		Other/Write-in votes	1.9	15

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 806
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Kelli Phillips completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Phillips' 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 was born and raised in Nashville, and a proud "momma bear" of three ages 3,17 and 20. My son graduated from our public schools, one is a junior, and my youngest will start Pre K next year. In my career, I’ve run a daycare and worked as a project manager for a contractor, so know what it is like to be a busy working parent with many concerns. I decided to run when the school board ignored parents and voted to keep mask mandates in our classrooms and decided against in person learning for far too long. For my youngest son, who has sensory processing issues including speech delay, this was devastating and severely slowed his learning.

I am a parent. I will listen to parents first and foremost. I know how to get things done and I am not afraid to tackle challenges head-on. This is personal for me. A board of “experts” and politicians got our public schools into this crisis with less than 30% of students at grade level in core subjects. The board won’t listen to parents to stop pushing mask mandates and radical politics such as CRT on our children. They won’t focus on the things that matter – better grades and parents welcomed to the decision-making process, not actively excluded from it.

I’d encourage your readers to visit my Facebook to see how connecting the board with parents and families was the reason I decided to run at www.facebook.com/kelliPhillips4SchoolBoard

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?

• 1. LISTEN to parents and ensure their voice is heard when all board decisions are made about our schools – including masks.
• 2. END Critical Race Theory being taught in schools and the many ways politicians seek to push it via political learning such as the English “Wit and Wisdom” curriculum our schools are using
• 3. FOCUS on what matters – better student outcomes in core subjects such as English, Math and Science.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Supporting our staff and teachers: I fully support proper employee pay for MNPS teachers, support staff and bus drivers. The question we should be asking is – “Why hasn’t there been a proper pay review for MNPS staff yet?”. Our public schools need to be treated with respect: any major business or organization would do regular pay reviews to ensure people don’t leave. Why hasn’t MNPS? The board has not held the director of MNPS schools accountable for this oversight because they are afraid to. I will hold her accountable – especially as we are paying her a $285,000 salary to do basics like this!

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

The most important role of a school board member is to LISTEN to parents and to act in their best interests. Board members must focus on the basics – increasing access to a world-class education and leave Nashville Public Schools ready for life. Board members must also act as leaders who the public can trust to be wise stewards of two of our most precious resources: our children and our tax dollars. But sadly, the current board has not lived up to that charge, letting waste like $14 million for Covid "consultants" pass without asking questions. Actions speak louder than words.

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.

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Candidate

Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools school board, District 4

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