Partisan school board elections in Indiana are one step closer to reality.
Indiana Senate Bill 287 passed the House on April 1 and was returned to the Senate for a final vote. The bill is likely to appear on the Governor’s desk to be signed into law.
If passed, Indiana would join a subset of states across the nation that allow partisan school board elections. Alabama, Connecticut, Louisiana and Pennsylvania (with the exception of the Philadelphia School District), automatically allow partisan school board elections. Georgia, Rhode Island, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina allow partisan school board elections or leave it up to local communities to decide.
Christopher Lubienski, director for the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at IU, said he does not see a clear connection with partisan school board elections and student outcomes. He also said he cannot predict how this change could affect school board policy making.
However, he said a switch to partisan school boards could shift focus from academic achievement to more political conversations.
“A lot of the politics in school boards are culture war issues, which aren't really about student achievements,” he said. “(They’re) about, you know, which books are in the school library or, you know, vaccinations or masks and that type of thing.”
Gary Bryne, a Republican state senator from Byrneville, Indiana, said in February on the senate floor he authored the bill because serving on the school board was “the most partisan and political position he served on.”
“SB 287 is about accepting the reality and no longer pretending that our school boards are something they haven’t been for a long time,” he said on the floor.
Bryne continued his speech, emphasizing that school board elections are “unfair” because the “mom on the PTA” cannot compete against the candidate backed by the teacher's union. He claimed his bill would even the playing field.
Bryne also said voters care about party affiliation because it’s an easy to understand candidates’ ideology and policy positions. He said across the state, school board candidates are already campaigning with both political parties to gain votes and claimed his bill will increase voter turnout.
In March, during the first bill reading before the House Committee on Elections and Apportionment, a few members of the general public testified.
Juanita Albright, president of Hamilton Southeastern Board of School Trustees, said before the committee the nature of school board elections is “inherently political.”
“What is more transparent than declaring your political party?” she said, “and shouldn’t we be confident enough to make that public?”
Albright said when she was running, many voters did not know her policies or even who she was, despite her campaign efforts. She believes a partisan school board will correct this.
Marina Nelson, a 2024 candidate for the Avon Board of School Trustees, also testified that her political affiliation aligns with education policy.
“Political affiliation represents beliefs, values, policies that most closely align with an individual,” she said.
Lubienski said proponents of the bill argue partisan school boards increase transparency surrounding a candidate’s party affiliation, as they already face political influence via campaign donations. In Marion and Hamilton Counties, political action committees formed to support candidates have garnered thousands of dollars in donations.
He said he doesn’t agree with that premise, given what he called “mistrust” from the public at all levels of government. He emphasized seats on local institutions such as school boards are more “susceptible” to losing reelection.
April Hennessey, president of the Monroe County Community School Corportation Board of School Trustees, said the push for partisan school boards has little to do with student advocacy.
“I don't think it's about transparency,” Hennessey said. “I think it's about other things that go beyond our children and our districts and start to bleed into state politics and even national politics.”
Lubienski said traditionally, school board elections have had low interest and turnout in comparison to other races. He said recently, groups on both sides of the aisle began to drive interest in school board races and both parties accuse the other of “taking over the school board.” Community members are calling for recall elections or petitions for removal.
“It raises the question of ‘Are they accountable to the voters or are they accountable to the party?’” Lubienski said. Hennessey said introducing political parties to the school board will create opportunities for decisions to be made from a “political lens.”
She also said partisan elections will completely change the way candidates campaign.
“Once you declare a party affiliate,” she said, “you can potentially run a bigger race with more dollars, you know, because then you can reach out to supporters who are specifically Democrats or Republicans.”
However, Hennessey said she received support on her campaign from people on both sides of the political spectrum because child-focused decisions are not political.
“People were willing to have conversations and I was willing to listen to them about the issues that are important to them, and for us to discover that, many times, the issues that are important to all of us, for all of our kids, are the same,” she said. “Then I think we find much more common ground.”
Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer is the president of the Indiana Coalition for Public Education. She is also the former president of the MCCSC school board. She said the school board is different than other elected roles, as it only focuses on public schools.
“Becoming a school board member is a very specific elected office,” she said. “We are not the people who run the school, but we are the community's voice for decision making.”
She said the policies that school board candidates run on are made aware to voters, and voters do not need a ‘D’ or ‘R’ next to a candidate’s name to make an informed decision.
“Most voters can find out the platform that a school board candidate is running on by attending school board forums, by reading their materials, by approaching the candidate, him or her or themselves, and finding out where they stand,” she said.
Fuentes-Rohwer said she was concerned about The Hatch Act, a federal law that prohibits government employees from running in partisan elections. She said partisan elections would limit the number of quality candidates who could run for school board.
She said there is no denying that society is becoming more divided and politicized. However, she believes institutions such as school boards should remain nonpartisan and student focused.
“Public schools should not be a partisan issue,” she said. “Public schools are an American issue.”
Editor’s note: Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer is related to a writer currently on staff at the IDS. That writer was not involved in the reporting, writing or editing of this story.
