By: Ashley Bergeron

Staff-Writer

On Sept. 12, Indiana state senate and house candidates debated issues at IU South Bend. Held by the American Democracy Project and League of Women Voters, the event took place in Wiekamp Hall 1001 from 6-8 p.m. The candidates debated until 7:30 p.m., and afterwards, there was food and refreshments and the audience talked with the candidates. 

The candidates at the event included:

Leon P. Smith (D): Senate District 8 challenger

Tim Cotton (L): Senate District 10 challenger

Heidi Beidinger (D): House District 5 challenger

Charles Florance (L): House District 6 challenger

Melissa Kauffman (L): House District 21 challenger

Incumbents Mike Bohacek (R), David Niezgodski (D), Dale Devon (R), Maureen Bauer (D) and Tim Wesco (R) were invited but unable to attend.

IU South Bend falls in State House district 6 and State Senate District 10. District maps are available on iga.in.gov.

The event was broadcast and is now uploaded on the ADP YouTube channel. The QR code will send you to part one of a three-part series. Here’s a recap of some things that they discussed during the time they were given. 

Naturally, schools were a hot topic.Smith expressed gratitude for his past teachers and said that teachers should be given a raise and public schools should be adequately funded. When asked what would be the first bill they would champion once in office, Smith said giving public teachers a raise would be his. Beidinger’s answer to the same question was to make pre-k universal to educate children and ease childcare costs for parents.

They also discussed the voucher program, where K-12 students can be given scholarships to offset costs at participating schools. Cotton said “your kid, your choice”, meaning that your tax dollars should go to whatever school your child attends. 

Beidinger stated it was never for wealthy families who were already paying for private school. Cotton rebutted by saying that 50% of the Indiana state budget goes to education, and it is not the school’s responsibility to decide what to do with that money, so it is the parent’s choice to choose the school that best accomplishes their educational goals.

“Public dollars go to public education,” Beidinger said. 

Another education topic was whether the legislature was overstepping in education. Kauffman expressed that they definitely are.

“I believe education was meant to prepare the child for their adult life, not to change where they are as a child,” Kauffman said about the legislature in education.

Smith said there is misinformation about what is actually happening in the classroom. He started off by saying that children are human beings with rights who are not owned by their parents. As a math enthusiast, Smith said he thinks math education is important, but so is LGBTQ+ education.

The last education topic they discussed was teachers telling their students’ parents about their pronoun changes.

“Call people what they want to be called,” Florance said about this topic.

Kauffman stated this question shows that we should work on better communication, better schools and better parenting so that children do not feel the need to hide something from their parents or their teacher. 

Other topics that were discussed were political representation, affordable housing, abortion, property tax, how to make Indiana appealing to younger people, one-party rule, gerrymandering and the legalization or decriminalization of marijuana.