Latest news with #HouseBill1230
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Partisan school board bill passes out of Indiana Senate, heads to Gov. Mike Braun's desk
The partisan school board bill passed the Senate by one vote and heads to Gov. Mike Braun's desk. The Senate voted 26-24 on Thursday to give final legislative approval to Senate Bill 287, which will require school board candidates to declare a political party when running in a general election. Bill author Sen. Gary Byrne, R-Byrneville, said Thursday school boards should be partisan because school board races see lower voter turnout because voters don't know the political party of the candidates. Further, school boards are already partisan, Byrne said. 'Like it or not, this is something that voters want to know about the candidate,' Byrne said. 'Some people who are against this bill say school boards shouldn't be partisan. I don't think this bill makes them partisan, I think that they already are partisan.' Senate Bill 287 was amended in the House Elections and Apportionment committee to reflect House Bill 1230, authored by Rep. J.D. Prescott, R-Union City, which removed the primary election requirement and states that in the general election a school board candidate can choose to be listed as a Republican, Democrat, independent or nonpartisan. When the bill was heard by the House, it was amended further to state that if a candidate chooses to be nonpartisan, then a blank space will appear on the ballot where party affiliation would be listed. If the board member who leaves the board was a Republican or Democrat, then a caucus should be held to replace that member. Independent or nonpartisan candidates can be replaced by the sitting school board members, according to the bill. Under the bill, board members would see a pay increase from $2,000 to 10% of the lowest starting salary of a teacher working in the district. Initially, the Senate filed a motion to dissent from the House amendments to the bill, but the dissent was rescinded Tuesday and a concurrence was filed. That allowed the bill, as amended by the House, to advance for final consideration by the Senate. A concern with the bill, Byrne said, has been that it would trigger the Hatch Act, a federal law that prevents federal employees from running in a partisan election. But, Byrne said the Hatch Act already impacts school board candidates because once a candidate includes political language on campaign literature or is endorsed by a political party then the race becomes partisan. Further, Byrne said the House amendment allows for nonpartisan candidates to be placed on the ballot. Byrne suggested that it could help federal employees running in a school board race. According to the Hatch Act, even if a federal employee ran as a nonpartisan candidate, if other candidates declare a party then the race becomes partisan and the federal employee couldn't run. Sen. Eric Bassler, R-Washington, said assuming all the school board candidates run as a nonpartisan candidate then a federal employee could run in the school board race. But, once one candidate declares a party, then a federal employee couldn't run, he said. Bassler said the legislature should want federal employees to run for school boards because they have expertise in engineering, science, finance, management and leadership. 'I would hope that we would be begging these kinds of people to run for our school boards,' Bassler said. 'This bill does a significant disservice to our young people. We should be striving to have the best people run for school board not eliminating some of the best people from running for school board.' Sen. Liz Brown, R-Fort Wayne, asked Byrne if the Hatch Act has impacted school board races under current law, and Byrne said he hadn't heard of such an impact. Brown said the Hatch Act will have a greater impact under Senate Bill 287 because it will make all school board races partisan on the ballot. Brown said she was concerned about the loss of talented school board members if the bill becomes law. In her district, Brown said a school board member's political beliefs aren't an issue because they 'focus on the policy and how to get our K-12 kids to where they need to be to be successful citizens of the world.' 'I can't support this bill because it unnecessarily eliminates so many candidates, so many current school board members quite frankly, that we need because of the expertise to stay on these boards,' Brown said. Sen. Michael Young, R-Indianapolis, said 'wokeness' on school boards 'harms our kids,' and he pointed to student test scores as an example of the harm done. 'Do nonpartisan school board elections hurt us? Yeah, it does. We don't know who the best people are with the best philosophy,' Young said. Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell, said he voted against the bill because he didn't like that it removed the primary process. Sen. Shelli Yoder, D-Bloomington, said after the vote that she strongly opposed the bill because it 'doesn't help a single child learn to read; it won't solve the teacher shortage; it won't fix the crumbling facilities or raise wages for our bus drivers or cafeteria workers.' 'This bill directly injects politics into one place that it absolutely does not belong, and that is in our public schools. We heard the quiet part out loud. This bill is about fear of difference, fear of diversity, fear of diversity of thought, fear of challenging the status quo,' Yoder said. Sen. Fady Qaddoura, D-Indianapolis, said 'today is a sad day in the history of the state of Indiana' with the passage of the bill. 'Today, we placed politics above students, above parents and above our educational system,' Qaddoura said. 'It's extremely disappointing that today we decided to do what is politically expedient over what is courageously right.' akukulka@
Chicago Tribune
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Partisan school board bill passes out of Indiana Senate, heads to Gov. Mike Braun's desk
The partisan school board bill passed the Senate by one vote and heads to Gov. Mike Braun's desk. The Senate voted 26-24 on Thursday to give final legislative approval to Senate Bill 287, which will require school board candidates to declare a political party when running in a general election. Bill author Sen. Gary Byrne, R-Byrneville, said Thursday school boards should be partisan because school board races see lower voter turnout because voters don't know the political party of the candidates. Further, school boards are already partisan, Byrne said. 'Like it or not, this is something that voters want to know about the candidate,' Byrne said. 'Some people who are against this bill say school boards shouldn't be partisan. I don't think this bill makes them partisan, I think that they already are partisan.' Senate Bill 287 was amended in the House Elections and Apportionment committee to reflect House Bill 1230, authored by Rep. J.D. Prescott, R-Union City, which removed the primary election requirement and states that in the general election a school board candidate can choose to be listed as a Republican, Democrat, independent or nonpartisan. When the bill was heard by the House, it was amended further to state that if a candidate chooses to be nonpartisan, then a blank space will appear on the ballot where party affiliation would be listed. If the board member who leaves the board was a Republican or Democrat, then a caucus should be held to replace that member. Independent or nonpartisan candidates can be replaced by the sitting school board members, according to the bill. Under the bill, board members would see a pay increase from $2,000 to 10% of the lowest starting salary of a teacher working in the district. Initially, the Senate filed a motion to dissent from the House amendments to the bill, but the dissent was rescinded Tuesday and a concurrence was filed. That allowed the bill, as amended by the House, to advance for final consideration by the Senate. A concern with the bill, Byrne said, has been that it would trigger the Hatch Act, a federal law that prevents federal employees from running in a partisan election. But, Byrne said the Hatch Act already impacts school board candidates because once a candidate includes political language on campaign literature or is endorsed by a political party then the race becomes partisan. Further, Byrne said the House amendment allows for nonpartisan candidates to be placed on the ballot. Byrne suggested that it could help federal employees running in a school board race. According to the Hatch Act, even if a federal employee ran as a nonpartisan candidate, if other candidates declare a party then the race becomes partisan and the federal employee couldn't run. Sen. Eric Bassler, R-Washington, said assuming all the school board candidates run as a nonpartisan candidate then a federal employee could run in the school board race. But, once one candidate declares a party, then a federal employee couldn't run, he said. Bassler said the legislature should want federal employees to run for school boards because they have expertise in engineering, science, finance, management and leadership. 'I would hope that we would be begging these kinds of people to run for our school boards,' Bassler said. 'This bill does a significant disservice to our young people. We should be striving to have the best people run for school board not eliminating some of the best people from running for school board.' Sen. Liz Brown, R-Fort Wayne, asked Byrne if the Hatch Act has impacted school board races under current law, and Byrne said he hadn't heard of such an impact. Brown said the Hatch Act will have a greater impact under Senate Bill 287 because it will make all school board races partisan on the ballot. Brown said she was concerned about the loss of talented school board members if the bill becomes law. In her district, Brown said a school board member's political beliefs aren't an issue because they 'focus on the policy and how to get our K-12 kids to where they need to be to be successful citizens of the world.' 'I can't support this bill because it unnecessarily eliminates so many candidates, so many current school board members quite frankly, that we need because of the expertise to stay on these boards,' Brown said. Sen. Michael Young, R-Indianapolis, said 'wokeness' on school boards 'harms our kids,' and he pointed to student test scores as an example of the harm done. 'Do nonpartisan school board elections hurt us? Yeah, it does. We don't know who the best people are with the best philosophy,' Young said. Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell, said he voted against the bill because he didn't like that it removed the primary process. Sen. Shelli Yoder, D-Bloomington, said after the vote that she strongly opposed the bill because it 'doesn't help a single child learn to read; it won't solve the teacher shortage; it won't fix the crumbling facilities or raise wages for our bus drivers or cafeteria workers.' 'This bill directly injects politics into one place that it absolutely does not belong, and that is in our public schools. We heard the quiet part out loud. This bill is about fear of difference, fear of diversity, fear of diversity of thought, fear of challenging the status quo,' Yoder said. Sen. Fady Qaddoura, D-Indianapolis, said 'today is a sad day in the history of the state of Indiana' with the passage of the bill. 'Today, we placed politics above students, above parents and above our educational system,' Qaddoura said. 'It's extremely disappointing that today we decided to do what is politically expedient over what is courageously right.'
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Partisan school board concurrence filed, advances for final Senate consideration
The partisan school board bill overcame an obstacle Tuesday as the Senate motion to dissent from the bill was taken away and a motion to concur put in its place. A motion to dissent on Senate Bill 287, the partisan school board bill, was filed April 10 as the Senate dissented from House amendments to the bill. On Tuesday, the dissent was rescinded and a concurrence was filed, which means an agreement was reached to the version of the bill passed out of the House, said Rep. Carolyn Jackson, D-Hammond, who was a member of the conference committee for the bill. The bill was placed on the Senate's calendar Tuesday afternoon for a concurrence vote, but Sen. Gary Byrne, R-Byrneville, passed on discussing and voting on the bill. If the bill doesn't get called for a vote by the Senate before session ends, the bill doesn't advance to the governor's desk, according to legislative rules. Senate Bill 287, authored by Byrne, 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. In the Senate version, school board candidates would have to declare a party. The bill was amended in the House Elections and Apportionment committee to reflect House Bill 1230, authored by Rep. J.D. Prescott, R-Union City. Prescott's amendment removed the primary process from the bill and stated that in the general election a school board candidate can choose to be listed as a Republican, Democrat, independent or nonpartisan. When the bill was heard by the House, it was amended further to state that if a candidate chooses to be nonpartisan, then a blank space will appear on the ballot where party affiliation would be listed. If the board member who leaves the board was a Republican or Democrat then a caucus should be held to replace that member, but Independent or nonpartisan candidates can be replaced by the sitting school board members, according to the bill. In a conference committee Monday, the committee heard an amendment to include language in the vacancy procedure to match that of Senate Bill 366, Byrne said. Senate Bill 366 states that if there's a vacancy on a school board due to the death of a school board member, then the remaining school board members shall meet and pick someone to fill the vacancy. But, because the concurrence was filed, Jackson said the amendment brought up in the conference committee won't be applicable to the bill. Sen. J.D. Ford, D-Indianapolis, said Monday the legislature was about to pass a 'monumental' bill by allowing politics to dictate school board races. Candidates can put their political affiliation on their campaign signage, he said. 'We should scrap this and move on to something else,' Ford said. 'Once we open the door on this we can't close it.' Democratic legislators opposed the original and amended bill, Jackson said. 'I don't like the bill, I really don't,' Jackson said. 'There's not enough (Democrats) to kill the bill.' After the bill passed both chambers of the legislature, Indiana School Boards Association executive director Terry Spradlin issued a statement that the organization's longstanding position has been for school board races to remain nonpartisan. 'While the Indiana General Assembly has now voted to make school board elections partisan, once elected, ISBA will encourage school board members to leave politics at the board room door,' Spradlin said. 'School board members should also conduct themselves in a manner that models effective board governance practices regardless of party affiliation.' Juanita Albright, president of the Hamilton Southeastern Schools Board of Trustees, testified when the bill was heard in the House Elections and Apportionment committee that she supports the bill because it gives voters, who don't always research candidates, more information about who is on the ballot. 'A school board is inherently political, whether we want to admit it or not,' Albright said. akukulka@
Chicago Tribune
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Partisan school board concurrence filed, advances for final Senate consideration
The partisan school board bill overcame an obstacle Tuesday as the Senate motion to dissent from the bill was taken away and a motion to concur put in its place. A motion to dissent on Senate Bill 287, the partisan school board bill, was filed April 10 as the Senate dissented from House amendments to the bill. On Tuesday, the dissent was rescinded and a concurrence was filed, which means an agreement was reached to the version of the bill passed out of the House, said Rep. Carolyn Jackson, D-Hammond, who was a member of the conference committee for the bill. The bill was placed on the Senate's calendar Tuesday afternoon for a concurrence vote, but Sen. Gary Byrne, R-Byrneville, passed on discussing and voting on the bill. If the bill doesn't get called for a vote by the Senate before session ends, the bill doesn't advance to the governor's desk, according to legislative rules. Senate Bill 287, authored by Byrne, 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. In the Senate version, school board candidates would have to declare a party. The bill was amended in the House Elections and Apportionment committee to reflect House Bill 1230, authored by Rep. J.D. Prescott, R-Union City. Prescott's amendment removed the primary process from the bill and stated that in the general election a school board candidate can choose to be listed as a Republican, Democrat, independent or nonpartisan. When the bill was heard by the House, it was amended further to state that if a candidate chooses to be nonpartisan, then a blank space will appear on the ballot where party affiliation would be listed. If the board member who leaves the board was a Republican or Democrat then a caucus should be held to replace that member, but Independent or nonpartisan candidates can be replaced by the sitting school board members, according to the bill. In a conference committee Monday, the committee heard an amendment to include language in the vacancy procedure to match that of Senate Bill 366, Byrne said. Senate Bill 366 states that if there's a vacancy on a school board due to the death of a school board member, then the remaining school board members shall meet and pick someone to fill the vacancy. But, because the concurrence was filed, Jackson said the amendment brought up in the conference committee won't be applicable to the bill. Sen. J.D. Ford, D-Indianapolis, said Monday the legislature was about to pass a 'monumental' bill by allowing politics to dictate school board races. Candidates can put their political affiliation on their campaign signage, he said. 'We should scrap this and move on to something else,' Ford said. 'Once we open the door on this we can't close it.' Democratic legislators opposed the original and amended bill, Jackson said. 'I don't like the bill, I really don't,' Jackson said. 'There's not enough (Democrats) to kill the bill.' After the bill passed both chambers of the legislature, Indiana School Boards Association executive director Terry Spradlin issued a statement that the organization's longstanding position has been for school board races to remain nonpartisan. 'While the Indiana General Assembly has now voted to make school board elections partisan, once elected, ISBA will encourage school board members to leave politics at the board room door,' Spradlin said. 'School board members should also conduct themselves in a manner that models effective board governance practices regardless of party affiliation.' Juanita Albright, president of the Hamilton Southeastern Schools Board of Trustees, testified when the bill was heard in the House Elections and Apportionment committee that she supports the bill because it gives voters, who don't always research candidates, more information about who is on the ballot. 'A school board is inherently political, whether we want to admit it or not,' Albright said.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Indiana partisan school board bill passes House
The Indiana House passed a bill Monday that would make school board races partisan, but it will be sent back to the Senate for consideration because it was amended in the House. 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. The school board candidates would have to declare a party. In the House Elections and Apportionment committee last week, the bill was amended to reflect House Bill 1230, authored by Rep. J.D. Prescott, R-Union City. Prescott's amendment removed the primary process from the bill and stated that in the general election a school board candidate can choose to be listed as a Republican, Democrat, independent or nonpartisan. Prescott, who serves on the House Elections and Apportionment committee, said the amended bill outlines the process for addressing a school board vacancy. If the board member who leaves the board was a Republican or Democrat, then a caucus should be held to replace that member, but Independent or nonpartisan candidates can be replaced by the sitting school board members, he said. Prescott's amendment maintained the original bill's requirement that school board members 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. When the House initially heard the bill, Prescott amended the bill further to state that if a school board candidate chooses to be nonpartisan, there will be a blank space next to their name where party affiliation would be listed. School board members oversee the district's budget, hire personnel, and approve curriculum, Prescott said. 'By disclosing to the voters the party affiliation of school board candidates, this information will help voters decide which candidate best aligns with their values,' Prescott said. 'This change would also help drive up voter turnout on school board elections.' State Rep. Chuck Moseley, D-Portage, said he previously served 9 years on a school board, and during that time he and the other members kept politics out of governing the district. 'We had a responsibility to the parents of those kids that we wouldn't interject our political thoughts and ideology into school board decision(s) because, quite frankly, it didn't matter whether mom and dad was a Republican or whether mom and dad was a Democrat, we were supposed to be there to make the best decisions for the tax dollars that they invested in their kids' education,' Moseley said. Moseley said infusing politics into schools 'is simply foolish.' 'This bill directly inserts politics into our education system. In no way, shape or form should it matter if someone's a Democrat or Republican, or anything in between, when it comes to the integrity of educating our students of our state. School board members should be elected on merit, expertise and their commitment to our students — not their allegiance to a political party,' Moseley said. State Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, said research on partisan school boards has found that school districts see an increase in teacher turnover, less experienced teachers, and a negative impact on non-white school board candidates. 'Partisan school boards insert more division into our community. Voters will be encouraged to choose a candidate based on a letter next to their name instead of their platform. I want my local school board to be focused on our children, not on a party agenda,' Smith said. State Rep. Tonya Pfaff, D-Terre Haute, said the bill would go against the federal Hatch Act, which prohibits federal government, as well as some state and local government employees from running in a partisan election. 'Our school boards should be focused on student success, not party politics,' Pfaff said. State Rep. Kyle Miller, D-Fort Wayne, said the bill will create 'lazy voters' and 'lazy candidates.' Prescott said the school board candidate's political affiliation should be 'the starting point not the ending point' and voters should continue to do their research on candidates. State Rep. Sheila Klinker, D-Lafayette, said she was a teacher for nearly 35 years, and she never knew the political leanings of the school board members in her district. Since the bill was proposed, Klinker said she's heard from her constituents and determined that it 'is not popular.' 'I think we are making a big mistake. It may be discouraging people who do not want their politics to be known. We are discouraging some of our folks from running for office on a school board,' Klinker said. State Rep. Kyle Pierce, R-Anderson, said Prescott 'has done a great job to find a middle ground' because the bill allows a candidate to declare with a major party or as an Independent or nonpartisan. The bill would align school board elections closer to elections for coroner or surveyor, who have to declare a party, Pierce said. 'Politics shouldn't be this dirty word,' Pierce said. 'The reality is it is just moving the school boards into position with everything else. State Rep. Hunter Smith, R-Zionsville, said he supports the bill and 'Indiana's parents.' Smith said he's heard from school officials that they 'can find no curricula void of slanted cultural endorsements and ideologies.' 'Over the past decade, Hoosiers have stepped out of the reductive illusion that our political viewpoints are adjacent to but not reflective of our values. If we are honest, we must recognize that our political convictions are reflective of our values,' Smith said. Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, said K-12 education receives about 50% of the state's budget and addresses 'serious issues.' Lucas then began listing inaccurate characterizations of the Democratic party but was stopped for speaking out of order. 'This should be probably the easiest vote we take this year, by far,' Lucas said. 'I think it's important that we know who is running for our school boards, making decisions for our children that have been extremely controversial and brought to the forefront.' The House voted 54-40, with 14 Republicans joining all present 26 Democrats to vote against the bill. State Representatives Julie Olthoff, R-Crown Point and Hal Slager, R-Schererville, voted against the bill. House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, who rarely casts a vote on legislation, voted in favor of the bill. After the vote, Indiana School Boards Association Executive Director Terry Spradlin said in a statement that the organization has fought against the state moving forward with partisan school board elections. With the legislature's approval, Spradlin said the organization 'will encourage school board members to leave politics at the board room door by working collaboratively' to address the needs of students. 'School board members should also conduct themselves in a manner that models effective board governance practices regardless of party affiliation,' Spradlin said. Indiana Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Tallian, a former State Senator from Ogden Dunes, said in a statement that legislators received many calls and heard hours of testimony against the bill, but the Republican supermajority 'pushed through this bad bill anyway.' 'Hoosier school board members include community servants and local leaders. They do not wish to be involved in the same partisan politics that consume Washington and Indianapolis,' Tallian said. 'There were no Democratic votes for this dangerous proposal. Even many Republicans voted against this bill in both the House and Senate. Hoosier Democrats understand that our school boards should be focused on improving education and opportunity for our Hoosier kids — not national politics,' Tallian said. akukulka@
