Rep. J.D. Prescott, R-Union City, speaks on the House floor on Thursday, Jan. 30. Photo from Prescott’s official Flickr page.

By Leslie Bonilla Muñiz
Indiana Capital Chronicle

INDIANAPOLIS — Legislation adding political party affiliations to Indiana’s currently nonpartisan school board elections got one step closer to law Monday, March 31, when it narrowly earned House approval. The 54-40 tally included “no” votes from 14 Republicans and all 26 Democrats present.

Supporters maintained the locally chosen boards are already partisan.

“Just in the last few years, we’ve had issues that’ve been brought to the forefront … One party is saying it’s okay that biological males can compete with our daughters … in sports; another party is pushing against that,” began Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour. “One party thinks it’s okay to sterilize and mutilate children; another party is pushing against that. One party thinks it’s okay that we have pornography —”

House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta, standing to the right, calls a point of order during an address from Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour. Photo by Whitney Downard, Indiana Capital Chronicle.

Infuriated Democrats alleged a violation of the chamber’s rules, prompting a command from House Speaker Pro Tempore Mike Karickhoff for Lucas to “speak to the bill.”

“I think it’s important that we know who is running for our school boards (and) making decisions for our children that have been extremely controversial,” Lucas finished. “… This is an easy vote.”

Rep. Cherrish Pryor, D-Indianapolis, said Lucas’ remarks showed lawmakers are “injecting” politics into school board races “at a level that is truly beneath us.”

She also recalled that many supporters in committee were unsuccessful school board candidates who had lost in recent elections.

Pryor and other opponents — despite the vote, only Democrats spoke on Monday, March 31 — asserted the changes would create or exacerbate the partisan divide.

“The whole premise of this bill is, ‘Ah, there’s politics in the schools. Let’s just put more politics in … and make everybody be a politician that runs for the school board,” said Rep. Chuck Moseley, D-Portage. “Well, I spent nine years on the school board, and … we kept politics out of that.”

Transparency And Turnout

Sponsor Rep. J.D. Prescott, R-Union City, said Senate Bill 287 would “provide transparency” to voters and drive up Indiana’s infamously low turnout.

But Rep. Kyle Miller, D-Fort Wayne, asserted that it’d instead create “lazy voters and lazy candidates” who rely on partisan designations to do the work — of researching candidates and campaigning to community members — for them.

Prescott later called the affiliations “just the starting point, not the ending point,” adding, “When you’re looking at Republican or Democrat on the ballot, you still have to go through and evaluate the candidates themselves for who they are.”

Terry Spradlin, executive director of the Indiana School Boards Association, testifies in committee on Wednesday, March 5. Photo by Leslie Bonilla Muñiz, Indiana Capital Chronicle.

Rep. Kyle Pierce, R-Anderson, said Prescott “has done a great job to find a middle ground.”

The legislation requires nominating petitions to state the candidate’s political party affiliation, the candidate is independent of a party, or that the candidate choses to be listed as nonpartisan.

Partisan hopefuls would have letters next to their names on general election ballots, while independent and nonpartisan candidates would get blank spaces. Straight-ticket voting — in which voters can choose a party’s entire slate of candidates with a single ballot mark — wouldn’t include school board elections. Hoosiers would still make each pick.

Forty-one states provide for nonpartisan school board elections, according to Ballotpedia. Five allow for either, depending on the district, and four do partisan elections. Indiana could soon join the latter group.

But Senate Bill 287 isn’t heading to Gov. Mike Braun’s desk just yet.

That’s because a House committee this month stripped the measure of its original language requiring school board candidates to run in primary elections like other candidates. Members replaced it with the general election designation, pulled from the long-dead House Bill 1230.

The Senate must concur with the House’s changes — or, the two chambers must agree on a compromise — before it exits the legislative process.

The proposal retains other partisan features, however. Candidates claiming affiliation with political parties would have to meet Indiana’s two-party rule: their most recent two primary votes must match the party they seek to represent. If not, they need a county party chair’s O.K.

That could block thousands of Hoosiers from running, along with a federal law barring employees from partisan activities.

The Indiana School Boards Association mourned the move the evening of the vote.

Executive Director Terry Spradlin said his organization has “fought against” the push for partisan school board elections for multiple years — but will adjust once it’s in effect Tuesday, July 1.

“Once elected, ISBA will encourage school board members to leave politics at the board room door by working collaboratively to focus on what is best for our 1 million public school students,” Spradlin continued, in a statement. “School board members should also conduct themselves in a manner that models effective board governance practices regardless of party affiliation.”

Another provision would raise board member pay from the current $2,000 maximum by tying compensation to 10% of starting teacher salaries. The state has a $40,000 minimum — which would double school board pay — but Braun wants to land at $45,000.