Indiana Senate approves bill that would make school board races partisan

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Senate has approved a bill requiring school board candidates to register with a political party.




Senate Bill 287 received final approval from the state senate on Thursday and will now head to Gov. Mike Braun's desk. If he decides to sign it into law, school board candidates must publicly state their political affiliation or run for the position without declaring a party.




The bill was authored by State Sen. Gary Byrne (R-District 47), State Sen. Chris Garten (R-District 45) and State Sen. Blake Doriot (R-District 12). They claim the bill would enable the public to see where school board candidates stand on issues like raising taxes and certain policies.




State Sen. Michael Young (R-District 35) threw his support behind the bill, arguing that it could help community members understand who has the "best philosophy" when it comes to running school boards.




"It might make a difference that we have people with a philosophy, as some of the people on our education committee on the Republican side, that don't believe in wokeness, that believe we have to get parents involved and find a way to do it," Young said. "I'd like to know who the Republicans are. In Marion County, I don't know who they are, but the Democrats do. They know who the Democrats are. Do non-partisan school board elections hurt us? Yeah. It does. We don't know who the best people are with the best philosophy. And why shouldn't we know that?"




The bill has faced criticism from fellow lawmakers and active school board members across the state who contend that it will politicize a position that has historically been nonpartisan.




During a committee session in February, lawmakers heard from community members like David Finkel, a member of the Shelbyville Central Schools board, who said that partisan issues have never been a problem for school boards.




"I've never had partisan issues come in my 15 years in the boardroom," Finkel said at the time. "Let's keep that rhetoric out of our school boards and let us focus on education."




During that February meeting, Byrne said he found school boards to be "partisan positions" after serving on an undisclosed school board for nearly a decade.




"To me, it's already partisan, but it's hidden," Byrne said. "Raising taxes and making policy. I think the citizens should have the right to understand where they stand."




State Sen. Shelli Yoder (D-District 40) recently said the bill would "inject politics into one place that it absolutely does not belong."




"This bill help a single child learn to read. It won't solve the teacher shortage. It won't fix the crumbling facilities or raise wages for our bus drivers or cafeteria workers," Yoder said. "Instead, this bill directly injects politics into one place that it absolutely does not belong, and that is in our public schools. And we heard the quiet part out loud. This bill is about fear of difference. Fear of diversity. Fear of diversity of thought. Fear of challenging the status quo. Why else would we turn school board elections into party primaries?"




Braun is expected to sign the bill into law. The entire bill can be viewed online here.





via: https://fox59.com/news/politics/indiana-senate-approves-bill-that-would-make-school-board-races-partisan/