Indiana is turning school boards into a farm system for wannabe politicians
Conservatives are hunting for clandestine libs hiding out on sanctuary school boards across Indiana. Their solution: partisan school board elections.
The House on Monday passed Senate Bill 287, which would enable school board candidates to declare political party affiliation. The House made notable changes to the bill, which already passed in the Senate, including scrapping a requirement for primary elections (a good tweak, which could tamp down the ideological temperature).
While the bill's final version has yet to be determined, Indiana appears to be on a path toward adopting partisan school board elections. In doing so, we're creating a new farm system for wannabe career politicians to train for higher offices. That's going to be good for their careers — and bad for schools.
Republicans frame the need for partisan school boards in terms of transparency. They say left-leaning candidates are sneaking onto school boards despite holding views at odds with conservative communities.
There is truth to that. Most school board members hold at least a bachelor's degree, far above the average educational attainment in Indiana. Given our stark education polarization, school boards filled with college graduates almost certainly are operating to the left of many conservative-leaning towns and cities.
We've seen these dynamics play out through school boards' support of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and pandemic-era restrictions in Republican-voting places. Republicans say party affiliation would clarify choices so voters could choose school board candidates who reflect their views. I would have more sympathy for this concern if Republican lawmakers weren't simultaneously working to suppress school board control over Indianapolis Public Schools, the district my son attends.
When you tie together the education debates playing out in the Indiana General Assembly, you see that Republicans aren't actually concerned with tailoring public school board members to community sensibilities. They want public schools to adopt conservative-approved curriculum on history and sexual education and supply conservative-approved library books, while also accepting a decreasing status relative to charter and private schools.
Republicans who support partisan school boards aren't exactly hiding those preferences. But they're not upholding their professed standard of transparency, either.
School boards have leverage over curriculum and library books, but culture wars aren't their primary areas of concern.
Instead, Indiana's school boards hire superintendents, make budget decisions, review employee contracts, handle disciplinary matters and oversee maintenance and construction. Boring!
Partisan local elections aren't inherently detrimental to these duties. After all, Indiana's mayoral and council elections are partisan affairs, and I would hold up many municipalities as bright spots in responsive government, especially relative to the state and federal levels. School board members could continue to serve their districts well with Rs and Ds next to their names.
But there is no evidence that declared party affiliation has improved school governance in other states that have adopted it. Instead, it has made school boards more attractive career opportunities for ambitious political junkies set on trolling their way to the top. Those candidates aren't likely to be satiated by routine school board business, so they'll have to create drama and controversies.
Remember, before Micah Beckwith became our lieutenant governor, he served a disgraceful stint on the Hamilton East Public Library board for a year and a half. The library board was nothing more than a convenient waiting room for Beckwith to generate attention and outrage while biding his time for higher office. Expect more Beckwith-types to be attracted to partisan school board elections.
Partisan school boards aren't a sky-is-falling moment for public education in Indiana. But they will lead to cases in which people with relevant subject matter expertise are replaced with unqualified political hacks who've trusted internet articles about furries in schools.
As with all things touched by politics, our school boards are going to get dumber.
Contact James Briggs at 317-444-4732 or james.briggs@indystar.com. Follow him on X and Bluesky at @JamesEBriggs.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Partisan school boards will attract aspiring politicians | Opinion
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