This November, Indiana will become just the fifth state to allow school board members to affiliate with a political party.

Gov. Mike Braun signed Senate Enrolled Act 287 into public law May 6. Senators passed it by a narrow 26-24 margin, and the House approved it 54-40. Sen. Gary Byrne, the initiative’s author, said his proposal aimed to increase transparency for voters. But critics contend it will inject politics where it isn’t needed or wanted.

“Overseeing superintendents, making budgetary decisions about maintenance, and keeping teachers and students free from distraction so they can teach and learn doesn’t require any sort of political ideology,” Julia Vaughn, executive director of Common Cause Indiana, told The Journal Gazette Wednesday. “And people with strong political ideology often don’t make good school board members because they are divisive and too focused on scoring political points.”

A 2023 report from North Carolina supports Vaughn’s analysis. It found partisan elections reduced the likelihood that a Democratic candidate or a non-white office-seeker would be elected and negatively impacted teachers and schools.

At least 90% of school board elections in the U.S. are nonpartisan. This has been true since the early 20th century, stemming from Progressive Era reforms aimed at separating local from national politics and achieving more “businesslike” administration of local policy matters, according to “The Effects of Partisan Elections on Political and Policy Outcomes: Evidence from North Carolina School Boards.”

“Overall, Democrat candidates’ winning probability, on average, is reduced by 25.7 percentage points following a switch to partisan elections,” the research found. But the winning probability for Republican candidates increases by 18.9 percentage points, on average, following a switch to partisan elections.

The study found partisan elections also are associated with a decrease in per-pupil spending, a 0.6% increase in teacher turnover and a 1.5% upturn in the share of teachers with fewer than three years of experience.

Indiana schools can’t afford such consequences.

Terry Spradlin, CEO of the Indiana School Boards Association, said SEA 287 is “workable” because affiliating with a party isn’t mandatory. Of the 1,043 school board candidates listed by the Indiana Election Division this year, 515 — just fewer than half — declared no affiliation or stated they were nonpartisan.

Julie Hollingsworth, a Fort Wayne Community Schools board candidate, is among those running with no affiliation. “I believe that within public schools, because they serve children from all sorts of families, politics shouldn’t matter,” she told The Journal Gazette.

Republicans made up the next biggest affiliation with 379, followed by 75 independents and 66 Democrats. Eight, such as Jeanette Jaquish (who is challenging Hollingsworth), filed with a third party. In Jaquish’s case, she’s running as a Libertarian.

“I am the only one of the (FWCS) school board candidates that even claimed a political party,” she said Wednesday. “Evidently, they thought it would be bad for them. But I am proud of being a Libertarian.”

SEA 287 supporters argue that party labels help voters who oftentimes don’t know much about school board candidates. Spradlin said it is still incumbent upon voters to ensure they’re informed. He advises voters to attend candidate forums, and November’s school board winners to leave their political beliefs at the school door.

School boards should focus on student achievement, not partisan politics. Voters should choose candidates based on their qualifications, merits, experience and platform, regardless of their political affiliation. Relying only on a political label may seem like an easy route for a voter, but a true understanding of their views on education policy is the best measure of the candidates.