Several bills at the statehouse could change protocols surrounding school board elections

INDIANAPOLIS — Several bills that would impact school board elections are making their way through the statehouse. Up to this point, Indiana school board elections have been non-partisan, but that could change.

Lawmakers are considering a bill that would require school board candidates to declare a political affiliation, and that could affect how schools operate.

Over the last few years the interest in school boards and the decisions they make have become a hot topic.

From COVID-19 protocols to curriculum, parents are paying closer attention and lawmakers are too.

Senate Bill 188 would require school candidates to declare a political affiliation.

One political expert says this is something the legislature has tried before, but the bill failed. Those who support this legislation say it would allow more voices to be heard, but some think it could do the opposite.

"School boards have had a lot of controversy over the last several years,” Laura Wilson, a political science professor at the University of Indianapolis, said. “There is a lot more attention focused on them but creating them in a partisan manner, invariably, I think you’re going to have more disagreement then you necessarily would with them. "

House Bill 1428 would require school board candidates be nominated to run for office. Currently, since school boards are non partisan, anyone can run. Wilson says if that changes, it would create more barriers for people wanting to run.

"It would make it significantly harder. It would be increasing barriers, adding more challenges and more hoops essentially to jump through in the process if you decided to run,” Wilson said.

A third bill, Senate Bill 227, would prohibit political action committees from contributing to school board races. Political action committees donate money to campaigns, something that is common amongst partisan races. Wilson says during this last election cycle, several school board races had political PACs donate and endorse candidates — something Indiana hadn’t seen before.

“This last election cycle we saw a lot more interest groups fundraising and donating to candidates for school board races,” Wilson said.

Currently none of the bills have passed out of committee. The only bill to have testimony so far is Senate bill 188. The Indiana School Boards Association testified against it and released this statement:

"ISBA believes school board candidates should continue to run on a non-partisan ballot. We are concerned that partisan school board elections would further divide communities instead of bringing people together to focus on what's best for children. Partisan school board elections would also prevent thousands of Hoosiers from serving on school boards because the federal Hatch Act prohibits civilian employees of the federal government from holding political office."