The High Point Regional High School Board of Education approved a budget that dramatically cuts school funding by almost seven percent, and includes the elimination of the school’s substance abuse counselor.

New Jersey’s public schools serving low-income students—in rural and suburban as well as urban areas—stand to lose services and programs if Donald Trump’s proposed budget becomes reality.  The only questions are 1) how much? and 2) How committed will our state legislature and local governments be to making up for the damage?

It began happening in the ’90s—mostly throughout the South, the Midwest and the Southwest: Right-wing opponents of public education, often with an evangelical bent, began quietly taking over local school boards. Book bannings and bizarre curricula such as “creation science” followed closely behind.  So did the push to establish charter schools—publicly funded by privately run education institutions with various degrees of oversight.

Last night’s event at the Ogdensburg Firehouse sponsored by the Ogdensburg Historical Society highlighted the stark contrast between the positions and approach taken by Democratic candidates for New Jersey Assembly Mike Grace and Jacky Stapel compared with that of their GOP rivals Gail Phoebus and Parker Space.