“I Know How That Statehouse Works” – McCormick Talks Property Taxes, Public Education, More

Source: WISH-TV / other

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Statehouse status quo needs a shake-up and the Democratic nominee for governor believes she’s the right person for the job.

Jennifer McCormick once served as Superintendent of Public Instruction as a Republican. That position was eventually removed, and McCormick felt it was time to step away from the party. She tells WIBC’s Kendall and Casey program that the current Republican super majority at the Indiana Statehouse is not focused on transparency, accountability, and fiscal responsibility, and she plans to bring all three back with Terry Goodin as her running mate.

“What we do in Indiana is we pass a lot of policies, some are good, and some are bad, and we never review it to say what can we continue with and what can we back off of,” McCormick explains.

That “review” philosophy is built into several of McCormick’s campaign priorities including funding public education and rebuilding the state’s property tax system.

McCormick wants to see an increase in teacher salaries across the board, which she argues would attract well-trained teachers and reinvest the best teachers into public school classrooms. However, when it comes to the state’s learning score data, McCormick argues that while Indiana is definitely lacking behind other state test scores, the data itself isn’t reliable.

“Those scores are not where we want them, but we really have no solid ground in what to base that on because we have changed the test over and over because of the legislative body that wants to keep changing it,” says McCormick.

She says each change to the state testing system costs tens of millions of dollars. That is another financial problem, in McCormick’s eyes, piled on top of other issues like ballooned state education budgets, over funding voucher programs, and the 3300 open positions yet to be filled. McCormick also feels a four-day school week should not be the norm across Indiana because it would put a financial strain on families who rely on schools as a childcare option.

The conversation with WIBC’s Kendall and Casey program turns to taxes.

FULL INTERVIEW WITH JENNIFER MCCORMICK. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW:

Jennifer McCormick doesn’t actually have a plan to revise Indiana’s property tax system yet. She explains the Statehouse is reviewing the system and she plans to focus on finding alternate revenue resources. McCormick feels the proposed, isolated property tax plans presented by Republican Mike Braun and Libertarian Donald Rainwater won’t work because you have to get those plans through the Statehouse.

A Statehouse, according to McCormick, that has failed to ever act on taxes in the past even with a super majority of Republicans, “I know how that statehouse works. You’re under a super majority of Republicans who, by the way, that statehouse has really celebrated themselves on how low our property taxes are and haven’t done anything about it. For a governor to come in under the same party, or the Libertarian to come in, to say we’re going to do something drastically different when they are aligned to the same party sitting in the super majority probably isn’t realistic.”

McCormick believes regulated marijuana could be a viable option in creating an alternate tax revenue source, but she emphasizes one broad stroke across the Hoosier State won’t work because each county’s structure and needs are different. McCormick says that’s why she plans to wait for the property tax review.

Several other taxes need to be reviewed, says McCormick. She calls the gas tax an unstable tax with a concerning rate of increases.

McCormick, Braun and Rainwater face off for the governor’s seat this fall. Election Day is November 5th.

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