State Board of Education: Kelly Mooney wants ‘back to basics’ curriculum

Kelly Mooney is a Republican candidate for Alabama State Board of Education District 3. (Contributed)

This is one in a series of profiles of Alabama State Board of Education candidates. Read the profiles to date here.

When Kelly Mooney was student teaching, she said a little boy came back from a break with his heart broken because of his parents’ divorce. By the end of the year, she said that the teachers and school had supported the child back to success.

She said she saw what education can do for students.

“And I knew that was the field for me,” she said.

Kelly Mooney

Age: 66

Profession: Client services with a wealth management company

Party: Republican

Education: B.A., Education, University of North Carolina, 1979.

Previous political experience: First run for public office

Mooney was in the education field for 15 years and the business world for 10 years, but says education is her passion.

Mooney is running for the Alabama State Board of Education for District 3, running through the middle of the state and taking in parts of Montgomery and Jefferson counties. Incumbent Stephanie Bell chose to not to run again after roughly three decades in the seat.

Mooney said the three highest priorities for the district are parental rights, returning to a “back to basics” curriculum and fiscal responsibility.

She said that she sees a parent as a partner with a teacher.

“We have teachers in the classroom that want to be there, but they want to have success too, and with that partnership, that is the best way we can do it,” she said.

Mooney said that she wants to return to a focus on reading, writing and arithmetic. She does not want “gender ideology,” politics or religion in school.

“If we have to allow one religion, we have to let them all so we just need to take those out,” she said.

Mooney said she believes Alabama schools have adequate funding but that it needs to be used well, and said she wanted less spent on “bureaucracy.”

She said she supports the CHOOSE Act, a voucher-like program which would provide up to $7,000 per student to use on educational expenses, but she wants to fiscally protect traditional public schools.

NAEP, or the “Nation’s Report Card,” is a national test measuring student achievement.  Alabama has historically fallen close to the bottom of rankings but has made gains in recent years. To improve NAEP performance, Mooney said education officials  need to focus on curriculum.

“The scores will take care of themselves,” she said.

Mooney said she has heard good things about the Literacy Act, which aims to have students reading on grade level by the end of third grade, but she wants to make sure it is enforced going forward.

“We don’t need to, say, put it in place, and then it go dormant as far as being watched over,” she said.

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