School Board Candidates May Be Required to Run Under the Label of a Political Party | Local education

House Bill 1182, sponsored by State Representative JD Prescott, R-Union City, would end the state’s long-standing practice of non-partisan school board elections by requiring every school board candidate to s’ identify as Republican, Democrat or Independent.

Prescott said attaching a party tag would promote “transparency” by giving voters more information about school board candidates, who he said are often not personally well known to voters, let alone their positions. on important issues.

“School boards manage one of the largest budgets with our locally elected offices,” Prescott said. “When I look at Republicans or Democrats, I think you can tell the difference between financial responsibility and moral character in some cases.”

The House Elections Committee heard nearly two hours of testimony unanimously opposed to Prescott’s proposal on Tuesday.

The Republican-controlled panel will decide in the coming weeks whether to advance the measure in the entire House.

John Doherty, former chairman of the Munster school town board and a self-proclaimed conservative Republican, told the committee partisanship had no place in school board meetings.