Partisan school board election bill gets initial Senate approval after amendment fails

Senator J.D. Ford, D-Indianapolis, attempted to amend a bill making school board elections partisan to only include a pay raise for board members, but that amendment failed Thursday.
Senate Bill 287, authored by Sen. Gary Byrne, R-Byrneville, Sen. Chris Garten, R-Charlestown, and Sen. Blake Doriot, R-Goshen, would change the school board election process to that of other elections, which would include a primary and general election, by requiring candidates to declare a party.
The bill would also require school board members to be paid up to 10% of the lowest starting salary of a teacher employed in the district, which would shift the current $2,000 payment.
The bill passed out of the Senate Elections Committee Monday, with many of the Republican committee members stating they voted in favor of the bill to advance it to the Senate but had concerns about it.
Ahead of the committee vote, Byrne said the bill is important because school boards control over half of a community's property taxes and set policies for the school district. The bill, Byrne said, would also increase voter participation in school board races.
'I want a person that may have the same ideologies as I do sitting on that board. Currently, there are many citizens that don't know that when they are voting,' Byrne said. 'People go down the ballot, and they get to school board, and they don't know who or the ideologies or the beliefs that they have … and they just don't vote. I believe this would increase voter participation.'
Sen. Greg Walker, R-Columbus, voted against the bill in committee because of concerns he heard from current school board members who told him if the bill passes they would have to resign from their positions under the Hatch Act, which would prohibit state and local government employees from running for partisan political office.
Ford's amendment stripped the 42-page bill to one page addressing the increase in pay for school board members.
Ford, who is a member of the elections committee, said the committee heard from school board members who are employees of the courts in Indiana and wouldn't be able to run for election again if the bill became law.
'Nowhere in current law precludes anybody from putting their political affiliation on any of their materials. So, if you do feel so passionate about that, then put it on there,' Ford said.
Shelli Yoder, D-Bloomington, said as written Senate Bill 287 creates 'an off ramp to politicizing and polarizing our communities and our school districts.'
Sen. Jeff Raatz, R-Richmond, said the Indiana State Teachers Association has made school board races partisan through contributions to certain members.
'All we're doing here is recognizing that the opportunity for maybe someone from another party would be able to participate,' Raatz said. 'It's happening all the time that the union supports people that support their agenda and so this simply clarifies where we stand and somewhat levels the playing field.'
The Indiana State Teachers Association did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago, said the bill will detract from a school board's purpose, which should be to educate students.
'The objective of school boards and of teachers is to educate the kids not to become political,' Randolph said.
Randolph and Sen. Greg Taylor, D-Indianapolis, both said given that the Senate has 40 Republicans and 10 Democrats the ISTA gave more to Republicans.
Garten said school board members aren't educators but policymakers.
'They are making and voting policy on how to spend taxpayer dollars, which inadvertently is partisan because of the contributions they are taking to get elected to these positions,' Garten said. 'This is a partisan position now, full stop.'
Byrne asked the senators to vote against the amendment so that the bill could be further debated on third reading.
'This amendment would basically gut the intent of the bill,' Byrne said.
The amendment failed in a 11-34 vote. The bill moved forward to third reading.
akukulka@post-trib.com

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