By Bill Moreau, publisher
The Indiana Citizen
October 19, 2026
An open letter to Gov. Braun, Lt. Gov. Beckwith and the legislators who supported partisan school board elections:
When you decided Indiana’s nonpartisan school board elections had allowed “wolves in sheep’s clothing” to win seats on these important governing bodies, you argued that Hoosiers need to know the political affiliations of the people running for their local school boards. So, thanks to your efforts, for the first time in state history, Hoosier voters are seeing school board candidates on their ballots running under a party label.
But with early voting underway, there’s an interesting development. A substantial majority of candidates have chosen not to identify with a political party.
If knowing candidates’ political affiliations and beliefs was important enough to change Indiana law, shouldn’t those of you who championed the change help voters get the information they said was so essential?
In 2025, the Indiana General Assembly narrowly passed and the Governor signed Senate Enrolled Act 287, which requires school board candidates to declare a political party, run as independents or decline to state an affiliation. Indiana became one of just 10 states that permit or require partisan school board elections.
Your argument for the change was that voters needed greater transparency about the political beliefs of candidates seeking to influence their children’s education.
But here’s what happened when school board candidates filed in May for the Nov. 3 elections:
In other words, 596 candidates — well more than half of those seeking school board seats statewide — apparently prefer the age-old system of nonpartisan elections and are running without any political party affiliation.
That doesn’t mean these candidates are hiding anything. It does, however, raise an obvious question for those of you who insisted party affiliation was critical to informed voting: What has the new law actually accomplished?
Lt. Gov. Beckwith recently reinforced the importance of researching school board candidates.
“School boards are some of the most important elected offices that we have in this country,” Beckwith said during an Oct. 5 town hall in Clarksville, noting their influence over tax dollars and the ideology taught to the next generation. “You have to do your homework. You have to know who these people are.”
He acknowledged how difficult that can be, recalling his own efforts to contact school board candidates or organize forums, only to find that candidates sometimes “stay sort of undercover.”
At The Indiana Citizen, we believe voters deserve meaningful, accessible information about the people seeking public office. We don’t believe a party label is a substitute for understanding a candidate’s qualifications, positions and priorities. Nor did we advocate for making school board elections partisan.
But SEA 287 is now law. And regardless whether candidates identify with a political party, Hoosiers still need reliable information to make informed decisions about who will govern their public schools.
That’s why we’re building a profile of each of the more than 1,000 school board candidates for our online voter guide. We’re attempting to send a questionnaire to every candidate, giving them an opportunity to explain their positions on issues that directly affect their schools, children and communities. Their responses will be linked to their profiles within our address-driven virtual ballot. [Z-I would rather have VirtualBallotTM here] All civic-minded organizations and media outlets with voter guides are most welcome to use this information, if we can get it.
There’s just one problem: When you enacted SEA 287 to improve “transparency,” you didn’t require school board candidates to provide an email address when they file for office.
As a result, we’re struggling to reach hundreds of candidates and give them the opportunity to share their views with voters.
So we’re asking those of you who gave us SEA 287 to help us deliver the transparency you said was so important. You can help us reach candidates in their communities, encourage them to complete our questionnaire and use your networks and public platforms to make sure voters know who is seeking to serve on their school boards.
Our questionnaire asks candidates about their positions on issues any school board candidate should have thought about and voters would want to know before making their choices, including:
These are substantive questions about how candidates would approach decisions affecting K-12 public education. Their answers can tell voters far more than a party designation ever could.
Some of you are endorsing school board candidates, as Lt. Gov. Beckwith pledged to do. To date, he’s publicly endorsed just one school board candidate on a list containing 28 names. [link to Sydney’s upcoming story] Would you please send us the names of your preferred candidates so we can add that information to their candidate profiles?
We may disagree about whether partisan school board elections will be good for Indiana’s public schools. But surely we can agree voters should have access to meaningful information about the candidates on their ballots.
You argued that the previous system allowed candidates to conceal their political beliefs and that identifying party affiliations would help voters see through those disguises. Yet most candidates have chosen not to identify with a political party, leaving voters with much the same challenge the law’s supporters said it would solve.
Passing the law was a high priority for you. Helping Hoosier voters make informed decisions has always been our priority.
You said this information matters. We’re trying to get it to voters. I hope you will help us differentiate the wolves from the sheep.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Indiana Citizen or any other affiliated organization.
The Indiana Citizen is a nonpartisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosier citizens. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. For questions about this commentary, contact Bill Moreau at bill.moreau@indianacitizen.org
