Even though it contains twice as many letters, “politics” increasingly is morphing into an emotionally charged four-letter word.

Like its counterparts, the majority of which we cannot publish in this space, politics in many circles has become synonymous with outrage, derision and divisiveness.

One need only look at the state of our politically based state and federal governments today to witness the abyss into which the image of contemporary politics has fallen. Many Democrats denigrate Republicans. Many Republicans rip Democrats. Party labels by themselves too often connote contentious conflicts on virtually every public policy issue imaginable.

As such, the growth of such hyperpartisan politicking must be slowed. In Ohio, that means attempts to inject politics into the unchartered waters of local and state board of education elections must be quashed.

Just last month, state Sen. Andrew Brenner, R-Delaware, introduced Senate Bill 107, which would require candidates in State Board of Education and local school district board of education races, along with races for education service center governing board members, to be required to run in political party primary elections and appear alongside political party affiliations in general elections. State Sen. Sandra O’Brien, R-Lenox, who represents all of Trumbull County, has allied herself with this misguided legislation as one of its four original co-sponsors.

Under current law, education board candidates are on nonpartisan ballots, along with municipal, county and common pleas court judges. School board candidates do not run in partisan political primary elections in the spring and do not carry the party designations of D, R or I immediately after their name.

That’s how the system should remain.

In arguing for this monumental change, Brenner rests his case on transparency. He said he believes voters in state and local board of education races have a right to clearly and explicitly know the political leanings of those in charge of charting the course of their school districts. Truth be told, however, many community members who serve on educational policy making panels are not political animals. What’s more, anyone keenly interested in finding the political party (or lack thereof) of any school board candidate easily can do so via records with their county board of elections.

School board members’ decision-making duties rest in a relatively narrow and local sphere of influence: ensuring the best education possible for students in their own backyards. In those domains, Republicans, Democrats and Independents typically share similar goals.

What’s more, several diverse and credible groups in Ohio have wasted no time in strongly opposing SB 107 for a variety of sound reasons.

Take the Ohio School Boards Association, for example. The OSBA, which represents more than 700 school boards and comprises nearly 3,500 members, offers a variety of services and advocacy for those nonpartisan elected officeholders.

Scott Gerfen, spokesperson for the association, told the Ohio Capital Journal recently, “Such changes would shrink the pool of qualified candidates willing and able to serve their communities.” He explained that partisan elections would disqualify some potential candidates, such as federal and state employees who are barred from running for partisan office.

The Ohio Education Association, representing about 125.000 teachers and other certificated personnel in state schools, is in lockstep with the OSBA. Scott DiMauro, OEA president, said partisan politics have no place in education.

“I’ve never heard a single member say this is a good idea. This would shut out effectively people who don’t identify with a political party from participating,” DiMauro said.In addition, he argues Independents who cannot run in primary races would have an unfair disadvantage. “They are often an afterthought in our two-party systems,” DiMauro has argued.

Similarly, the League of Women Voters of Ohio finds no reason to alter the longstanding status quo in structuring school board elections.

“Our schools need to keep politics out,” said Karen Leith, advocacy chair of the LWVO. “Schools are nonpartisan, and they need to stay that way.”

The organization called SB 107 “dangerous and unnecessary” and argues school decisions should be based on education, not party politics.

The nonpartisan league also worries that enactment of SB 107 would discourage many would-be fine school board candidates from running. As Leith put it,”They are just people who are passionate about their schools. they’re not looking for a career in politics.”

As of this writing, Brenner’s bill lacks momentum as it remains in the state Senate’s General Government Committee with no hearings or actions scheduled.

A similar Republican-sponsored bill was introduced in 2023, but its mandate for political designations for school board candidates would have applied only to state board races. That slightly less offensive bill languished in committee until it died in 2024 at the end of the session for lack of action. Brenner’s counterproductive bill deserves to suffer that same fate.