Indiana Republican Party is joining national effort to make future school board races partisan elections 

ICYMI: In 2011, Mitch Daniels advocated for General Assembly to move school board elections to general elections. They complied.

Don’t Forget: Indiana General Assembly voted to shift Superintendent of Public Instruction position to appointed, not elected, role

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Democratic Party, the organization that advocates for the future of Indiana and its families, today provided its full support for Dr. Jennifer McCormick, former Superintendent of Public Instruction, and joined her effort in calling out the Indiana Republican Party and its strategy to join a national partisan campaign to make school board elections partisan races. In an interview during WISH-TV’s “All Indiana Politics” show, McCormick brought a blunt, honest assessment of the Indiana Republicans’ attacks on public education and school boards across the state: 

“It’s very much of an organized effort that’s coming from outside of Indiana to cause disruption with Critical Race Theory or Social and Emotional Learning skills and curriculum tied to that. It’s very purposeful, and it goes back to an anti-public education push that again is coming outside of Indiana. It’s causing a lot of disruption. But regardless, it does not do anyone any good, including our students, to have a bunch of disruption at a school board,” said Dr. Jennifer McCormick during her WISH-TV interview. “Families who are discouraged or frustrated with their school board and their leaders, there’s an appropriate way to handle that, and it’s not certainly showing up at school boards and threatening people or yelling at people and being disruptive. That is not serving anyone well.”

“Dr. Jennifer McCormick is right. Indiana Republicans are once again invoking their extreme partisanship and manufacturing another culture war that’s solely intended to divide our communities and families and win elections,” said Lauren Ganapini, executive director of the Indiana Democratic Party. “Democrats launched its ‘Small Town, Indiana’ tour because we’re fed up with the Republicans’ lies and partisan games about our schools and educators, and we’re ready to show Hoosiers that it’s Democrats who are delivering a better future for their families and towns they call home – no matter the Zip code.” 

The Indiana Republican Party is joining a nationally-coordinated effort to turn school board races into partisan elections by using misinformation and conspiracy theories about topics like Critical Race Theory (CRT). It’s worth noting Indiana superintendents have repeatedly said CRT is not taught in K-12 schools, but it’s not stopping the INGOP from using this misinformation for their own political gain. In fact, this is another manufactured culture war created by the Indiana Republicans. Last year, the (debunked) culture wars were “defunding the police” and mask mandates – both issues Republicans were proven to use extreme partisanship to divide communities across Indiana. 

Indiana Democrats recognized the Republicans’ partisan strategy, and it’s why the state party launched its “Small Town, Indiana” tour last week in Greendale. Joined by Dr. McCormick and INDems Deputy Chair Kent Yeager, Indiana Democrats met with over 40 Hoosiers in Dearborn County to highlight how Democrats are delivering solutions to their most-pressing problems facing their community. This includes securing $250 million in broadband internet expansion, providing $540 million for childcare service providers, and fully-funding the state’s public school systems for the first time in over a decade — all thanks to President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan. Democrats plan to continue this tour over the next couple weeks across the state. 

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