Education

Protecting Our Schools

Our local schools are the heart of this community. They are where our kids learn to read, where they find mentors, where they discover what they are good at. When the Statehouse gives corporations a $2 million tax break and asks our schools to make up the difference, that is not property tax relief — that is picking winners and losers. And our kids are losing.

The Problem

Governor Braun's property tax reform (SEA 1) is projected to cost Indiana schools $744.4 million over three years. A survey of 148 school corporations found that 95% expect the law to negatively affect their funding this year, and 99% expect it to get worse. Rural superintendents are warning of staff layoffs, school consolidation, and having to choose between passing a referendum or eliminating bus routes.

Right here in District 44, we have seven school corporations across two counties serving thousands of students. Greencastle Community Schools spends $11,586 per pupil. Crawfordsville Community Schools serves nearly 2,500 students, with almost half coming from economically disadvantaged families. These are not abstract numbers. These are our neighbors' kids.

Meanwhile, Indiana has roughly 1,300 unfilled teaching positions statewide. More than half of our districts have teachers working outside their licensed areas, and over a third rely on full-time substitutes. Our school social worker ratio — one social worker for every 1,829 students, when the recommended ratio is 1 to 250 — means our kids are not getting the mental health support they need.

Where Kelsey Stands

Kelsey Kauffman has spent her entire career in education. She holds a Doctorate in Education from Harvard, has taught at DePauw University and in three Indiana prisons, and founded the Greencastle Summer Enrichment Program, now in its 38th year serving low-income children. In 2017, the American Historical Association honored her with a national mentorship award for teachers who change lives.

Kelsey believes strong local schools are the foundation of strong communities. She opposes any policy that shifts costs away from corporations and onto the backs of local school districts. She supports fair teacher pay, fully funded classrooms, and keeping educational decisions in the hands of local communities — not the Statehouse.

What She'll Fight For

• Protect school funding from property tax reforms that shift the burden onto local districts
• Raise teacher pay to attract and retain qualified educators in our rural schools
• Fund school mental health services so our kids have the support they need
• Support Career and Technical Education programs like Area 30 Career Center and West Central Indiana CTE that prepare students for good-paying local jobs
• Defend local control of our schools against one-size-fits-all mandates from Indianapolis

"I've spent my career in classrooms, not boardrooms. I know what good teaching looks like, and I know what happens when you starve schools of the resources they need. Our kids deserve better than being a line item somebody cuts to pay for a corporate tax break."