House Democrats in the Elections Committee stand against partisan school board race bill

Yesterday, March 5, Senate Bill 287 was heard in the House Elections and Apportionment Committee but did not receive a vote. The bill would require school board candidates to declare their party and run in partisan primaries in order to be on the ballot in the November general election as a Democrat or Republican.

Ranking Minority Member Rep. Carolyn Jackson (D-Hammond), Rep. Pat Boy (D-Michigan City), Rep. Sue Errington (D-Muncie) and Rep. Cherrish Pryor (D-Indianapolis), who serve on the House Election Committee, released the following statement on the bill:

“We believe this piece of legislation will severely damage Indiana public schools, by making school boards about politics and not our students. If this bill passes, we will see the same partisan arguments so prevalent in Washington, D.C. trickle down to our children’s schools. Issues like transportation, building maintenance and teacher retention have nothing to do with party affiliations and will slow down decision-making on our school boards. 

“The bill as written would make it necessary to run in a primary election and general election, when people step up to run simply because they want to serve their communities and provide a good educational system for students. The bill will also prevent anyone who works for the government or any other agency that receives federal funds or grants from running in a partisan election because of the Hatch Act. This will discourage many highly qualified individuals from serving our schools, and it would force many qualified school board members to resign.

“If we want to improve our schools, we should create legislation to increase our teacher retention, strengthen our graduation rate and ensure young Hoosiers receive the same educational opportunities as students across the nation. SB 287 will not help us further these goals, but will distract from the real obstacles we face in our education system. Taxpayers should let their representatives know they oppose this legislation and show them Hoosiers do not want political wars in our schools.”