A Senate bill that would require school board candidates to declare a political party passed out of the Senate Monday.

Senate Bill 287, authored by Sen. Gary Byrne, R-Byrneville, Sen. Chris Garten, R-Charlestown, and Sen. Blake Doriot, R-Goshen, would change the school board election process to that of other elections, which would include a primary and general election. The school board candidates would have to declare a party.

The bill would also require school board members to be paid up to 10% of the lowest starting salary of a teacher employed in the district, which would shift the current $2,000 payment.

Ahead of the Senate Elections Committee vote, Byrne said the bill is important because school boards control over half of a community’s property taxes and set policies for the school district. The bill, Byrne said, would also increase voter participation in school board races.

“I want a person that may have the same ideologies as I do sitting on that board. Currently, there are many citizens that don’t know that when they are voting,” Byrne said. “People go down the ballot, and they get to school board, and they don’t know who or the ideologies or the beliefs that they have … and they just don’t vote. I believe this would increase voter participation.”

Last week, Sen. J.D. Ford, D-Indianapolis, proposed an amendment that would’ve stripped the 42-page bill to one page to be the increased pay for school board members. The amendment failed in a 11-34 vote.

Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago, said voters want school board candidates who are focused on what is best for the students not based on political party. The bill complicates the school board election process, Randolph said, and the supermajority shouldn’t push the bill through.

“We don’t need to force everyday people who are not really concerned or involved with politics to start focusing on stuff like that that they never even thought about. All they want to focus on is what’s in the best interest of the kids, that’s all they want. Supporting this bill we’re going to take that away from them,” Randolph said.

Sen. Liz Brown, R-Fort Wayne, said making school board elections partisan would discourage people from running for school boards. The bill would also go against the Hatch Act, which prohibits state and local government employees from running for partisan political office, she said.

“People are just going to say ‘You know what? This is hard enough, I don’t need to do this,’” Brown said. “We are going to eliminate a whole slew of people from even being able to run for school board because of the Hatch Act.”

Sen. Mike Gaskill, R-Pendleton, said school board elections have lower voter turnout because voters don’t know who the candidates are without political party affiliation.

“I think voters want to know that. I think they need to know that,” Gaskill said.

Sen. Shelli Yoder, D-Bloomington, said it’s possible that voter turnout drops for school board races when people vote for a straight-party ticket. Yoder said she opposed the bill because it injects partisanship into school board elections.

“It will be less about children’s education and it’s going to become about political power. Supporting this bill chooses political power,” Yoder said.

Sen. Eric Bassler, R-Washington, said Crane, the country’s third-largest naval base, is located in his district. The naval base employs thousands of engineers, accountants, mathematicians and scientists who, under Senate Bill 287 and the Hatch Act, wouldn’t be able to run for their local school boards.

Currently, Bassler said four Crane employees serve on the same school board, so if the bill becomes law they wouldn’t be able to continue to serve on the school board.

“I simply ask you not to do this to the schools in my Senate district,” Bassler said.

Garten said school board members are policy makers not educators. Groups like the Indiana State Teachers Association have made school board races partisan through contributions to certain members.

“(The bill) requires individuals who are actively accepting political contributions while running for office and then voting on policies that trickle down to our children’s classrooms that also affect taxpayer dollars and property taxes to align themselves with a party that best represents their values,” Garten said.

The bill passed out of the Senate 26-20. Senator Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell, was the only member of the Northwest Indiana delegation to vote in favor of the bill.

The bill moves forward for consideration by the House.

akukulka@chicagotribune .com