Indiana can put students first by making school board elections partisan

By Dr. JUANITA ALBRIGHT
Guest Columnist

As a doctor, I took an oath to “do no harm” when treating patients. I take the same approach in my role serving the students and parents of Hamilton Southeastern School District as a school board member and this year, as school board president.

During the pandemic, Indiana parents got an inside look at what was happening in their children’s classrooms and didn’t like what they saw. Academic excellence took a hit when schools were closed, and since then, we’ve worked hard to revive in-person instruction and address parent concerns.

But when it comes to education, we can always continue to improve. Applying my “do no harm” ethic, I see more work that needs to be done to give parents confidence in their children’s education and improve academic excellence.

One way to do that would be for our state to make school board elections partisan.

Our school board elections are currently non-partisan, meaning in Indiana there is no party affiliation listed next to each candidate’s name on the ballot. Voters have only vision statements and vague campaign promises to help them choose the candidate they think most closely aligns with their values. It is difficult to determine what kinds of decisions candidates will make that will impact our children and their education.

Requiring all school board candidates to declare a party affiliation would, first and foremost, improve transparency – it would give parents and voters more clarity on who they’re voting for in school board elections. “Non-partisan” does not mean non-political. School board candidates, just like every other elected official, have their own biases and ideologies – they’re just hidden.

School board members make key decisions on curriculum, salaries, instruction policies, and staffing – and members oversee millions of taxpayer dollars. Voters need to know the ideological backgrounds of the individuals who will wield this much power in the community. Partisanship in these elections would allow voters to cast a more informed ballot and would help make the school board more representative of the community for which it works.

Voters naturally want to participate when they know more about the candidates on the ballot. Adding party affiliation to school board candidate elections has been shown to increase voter turnout dramatically. For example, North Carolina allows districts to hold school board elections that are either partisan or non-partisan. More people participated in the partisan school board elections – in fact, the participation rate for non-partisan school board elections was five times lower than for partisan elections.

We should do everything we can to encourage participation in school board elections because these elections are so profoundly consequential for our students and our community.

Most importantly, making school board elections partisan will once again focus education where it should be focused – the students. Non-partisan elections can give inflated influence to special-interest groups that may not be student-focused.

Opponents of this reform will claim – and have claimed – that we need to “keep politics out of our schools.” But that’s unrealistic – politics finds a way into schools, whether we like it or not, influencing everything from mask mandates to curriculum choices and more. Just because our elections are non-partisan certainly doesn’t mean the candidates themselves are.

Voters and parents need to know exactly what political beliefs school board candidates hold before these candidates take office and make impactful decisions on our children’s education.

I take my responsibilities seriously – I want academic excellence for my children, for every child in the Hamilton Southeastern School District, and for every Indiana student.

If legislators in Indianapolis feel the same, they should prioritize making school board elections partisan during this session.

Dr. Juanita Albright has practiced medicine for more than 20 years and currently serves as President of the Hamilton Southern Schools Board of Trustees.