Legislation to allow school board candidates to declare a political party on the ballot is headed to the House floor for the second time this session.
A House committee made major changes to a Senate bill that leaves the measure’s ultimate fate uncertain.
A Senate bill, SB 287, would have forced school board candidates to declare a party on the general election ballot, and if they wanted to be Democrats or Republicans, they’d have to go through the primary election process first.
The House Elections Committee changed that bill so that there’s no primary election and candidates must choose a label for the general election ballot: either a political party, independent or nonpartisan.
That mirrors a House bill, HB 1230, approved by the same committee earlier this session. But that measure never got a vote on the House floor. The author of that legislation, Rep. J.D. Prescott (R-Union City), said he decided to just deal with the Senate bill and not have to take a vote on the issue twice.
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Republican lawmakers have tried to make school board races partisan for years. No such measure has ever come up for a vote by the full House.
If the House ultimately approves the latest version of SB 287, it would go back to the Senate.
Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.