GiaQuinta decries passage of bill to further insert politics in Hoosier schools

Today, Senate Bill 287 passed the Indiana House of Representatives. The legislation still needs approval from the Indiana Senate on changes made to it in the House, but the House-passed version of the bill turns nonpartisan school board elections into partisan races by allowing candidates to list their party next to their name on the November ballot.

House Democratic Leader Phil GiaQuinta (D-Fort Wayne) issued the following statement after voting "no" on SB 287:

"I may be an elected official, but I know that Hoosiers want less politics in their lives, not more. Senate Bill 287 further injects politics into Hoosiers' lives by politicizing our school boards. What about teacher and staff retention, building maintenance and school buses requires a partisan viewpoint?

"Hoosiers overwhelmingly took time out of their busy schedules to come to the Statehouse to oppose this bill, and House Democrats have received lots of constituent correspondence asking us to vote 'no.' This bill reduces the pool of potential school board candidates by limiting federal employees' ability to run because of the federal Hatch Act. Community leaders want to serve local families and students, not get mixed up in the politics of declaring a party. This bill will make it more difficult and expensive to run for local school board and will open local school board races to big DC politics and dark money associated with campaign finance.

"Nothing about SB 287 solves our teacher retention or student literacy crisis – which is what the General Assembly should be focusing on instead of finding new ways to make our lives more exhausting and divisive."