A local teacher is running for the Indiana House of Representatives. Dale Nowlin, a math teacher at Columbus North, has filed to run for the District 59 seat as a Democrat.

Nowlin said with education playing such a key role in Indiana’s future, it is important that educators be included in the discussions and decision making in the Indiana Legislature. He says that there is currently only one practicing classroom teacher serving in the Indiana Legislature, while over 52-percent of Indiana’s general fund budget is spent on education.

Nowlin is in his 39th year of teaching and has taught in Columbus since 1985. He has a number of accolades, including winning the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching from President George H. W. Bush and being named a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Princeton University. In addition to serving as a high school math teacher, Nowlin says that he is also an adjunct faculty member at Indiana University – Bloomington in the School of Education.

In other issues facing Indiana, Nowlin says that state lawmakers need to look for long-term solutions to problems. “The Indiana Legislature seems to operate with a crisis mentality,” he said. “Instead of providing a long term plan for funding county governments, often legislators take an emergency funding approach,” Nowlin continued. Nowlin, who has not held any previous political office, said he wants to “become part of the solution that will leave Indiana in better shape for the next generation.”