In Indiana, school board seats are among the few nonpartisan elected positions, meaning candidates don’t have a party affiliation next to their name on the ballot.
But that hasn’t stopped some school board candidates from choosing to publicly align with a party during their campaigns, a practice that has become more widespread in recent years in the Hoosier state and beyond. Advocates believe that declaring a party promotes transparency and quickly informs voters of their positions, while those against it say it brings politics and division into a setting where it doesn’t belong.
In 2022, a slate of conservative-leaning Carmel school board candidates received public support and financial donations from the Hamilton County Republican Party at a level not seen before. One of the three candidates won, and all three races were extremely close. In Hamilton Southeastern Schools, four GOP-backed conservative candidates swept the school board races, unseating two incumbents in the process and immediately gaining control of the seven-member board.
This year, the Hamilton County Republican Party is backing two candidates in Carmel – Dina Ferchmin and Robin Clark – and three in HSE. Party chair Mario Massillamany is continuing a training seminar he launched in 2022 for school board candidates to learn the basics of campaigning and running for office.
“I was watching school boards become politicized due to the fact that liberal progressive groups were recruiting, training and fundraising (candidates and getting them elected) to these school boards, and COVID gave us an opportunity to see that our school boards had all of a sudden become extremely liberal and were pushing a progressive agenda, without preparing our kids for college or the real world after high school,” Massillamany said, referring to organizations associated with teachers unions and left-leaning groups with ties to local candidates. “Our academic curriculum and our rankings around the state were decreasing, especially in HSE, and that’s why we got more involved.”
Massillamany’s counterpart, Hamilton County Democratic Party Chair Jocelyn Vare, agrees that the COVID-19 pandemic increased scrutiny and interest in how local schools are run, and she does not take issue with candidates personally aligning with a political party. She doesn’t believe, however, that politicizing school board races will improve public education.
“The only way (board members) can serve well is if they push politics aside and try to serve the school board in a nonpartisan way,” Vare said. “Unfortunately, today what we see with many school board races is these candidates are fully embracing a partisan partnership, and that is the antithesis of the spirit of our Indiana law, and most importantly, the antithesis of being able to serve all students well.”
During the 2024 legislative session, Indiana lawmakers introduced a bill that would require school board candidates to declare their political affiliation on the ballot. The measure died in the House without a vote, but Laura Merrifield Wilson, an associate professor of political science at the University of Indianapolis who specializes in local government, said she expects public discussion on the matter to continue, whether it becomes law or not.
Wilson said she sees pros and cons to school board candidates publicly aligning with a political party. One disadvantage is injecting politics into a role that often has little to do with traditional partisan issues (such as approving building maintenance contracts), she said, while advantages include easily informing voters of a candidate’s beliefs and drawing increased attention – and potentially institutional resources – to a race.
“It makes it easier for (candidates) to convey to voters who they really are. All of these candidates most likely have ideological and partisan preferences, and when we talk about the nonpartisan ballot for school board, (it just means) you’re not listed as such,” Merrifield Wilson said. “Typically, you wouldn’t want to turn off people that might disagree with your partisanship but otherwise find you appealing as a candidate. If you have a nonpartisan ballot, (voters) have to find a way to differentiate you from the other candidates. What you see in particular with the Republican candidates is that they’re capitalizing on momentum for the party. Statewide, Republicans tend to dominate.”
In addition, influence from parties and organizations is something every candidate must consider, she said, no matter the office.
“Probably every elected official who runs with the party label has that tension. Sometimes you have to be beholden to your organization, sometimes you’re beholden to your constituents, sometimes you listen to your own heart and you’re like, ‘I think they’re both wrong,’” she said. “In Indiana, we don’t see (school board races) as partisan, but there’s always going to be influences in decision making, so I suppose there would be a risk there. I just don’t see it being any different than those other offices.”
Election Day is Nov. 5. Learn more about which races are on the ballot and how to vote in Hamilton County at hamiltoncounty.in.gov/222/
The Carmel candidates
In Carmel, four first-time candidates are running for two at-large school board seats. Dina Ferchmin and Robin Clark, who have been endorsed by the Carmel Excellence PAC, have publicly touted their conservative leanings and have been supported by the Hamilton County Republican Party. Candidates Jon Shapiro and Kristine Wheeler, both endorsed by the Support CCS PAC, have been less public about their political views in their campaigns.
Ferchmin said her transparency about her Catholic Christian faith and political positions is helpful to voters and that she doesn’t believe it conflicts with her position that classrooms – and the school board – should remain neutral spaces where politics and religion are not pushed.
“I don’t think those things are contradictory in any way. By letting the voters know that I am conservative and that I am a Christian, they will understand whether my values and my principles align with theirs or not,” she said. “That does not mean at all that I believe that now we have to make Carmel schools Catholic. You cannot do that, because you have to respect that we have Muslim children, that we have Jewish children, fill in the blank of a million different things.”
Clark said although she has been public about her politics during her school board campaign, she supports keeping the role of a school board member nonpartisan.
“I don’t think it would be honest for candidates to say they don’t have a set of beliefs or not share what their beliefs are with the voters,” Clark said. “But the danger of having the school board being partisan is if you bring your partisanship to the board, now when you make decisions, if you have this allegiance to an external organization, that’s going to affect the way you make decisions and perhaps keep you from making decisions based on what is good for the students and school district.”
Wheeler, who is a member of the 2024-25 cohort of Hoosier Women Forward, a training program for Democratic women, acknowledged that all candidates have personal views and said it’s important that they put them aside while serving on the board.
“I don’t believe it’s the role of the school board to be political, regardless of which end of the spectrum you’re on,” Wheeler said. “When I’m door-knocking and talking to people, I’m talking to people of all kinds of different backgrounds and political beliefs, and we all want what’s best for the kids. I feel as soon as you declare or pick a side, it entrenches people. It makes it difficult to find solutions. People tend to get dug in on things that, frankly, don’t have a heck of a lot to do with what school boards do every day.”
Shapiro said he understands why some candidates would want to promote their party affiliation to voters. But he said he believes public education is not a partisan issue.
“If I’m put in a position where I’m tasked with representing others, then there needs to be a willingness and an openness to saying I have to sort of check myself at the door,” he said. “Having had the experience of serving on some other (nonprofit) boards, you’re there as a representative of the community and to bring the community’s voice forward. I believe a sign of a healthy board is that they’re able to engage in a robust conversation, which likely includes disagreement, and they make a decision that they believe is in the best interest of the entity that they’re serving.”
