The 2025 New Jersey Governor’s race is gearing up to be a hotly contested one, with Democratic candidate and current Congressional Representative Mikie Sherrill facing off against Republican candidate and former state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli. One of the most pressing issues for both candidates is education, on which they have many different perspectives.
Ciattarelli and Sherrill agree on some points–namely that the way the state funds its schools (both K-12 and higher education) must be revised, and student-focused programs should be expanded. However, they diverge when it comes to what exactly those revisions should focus on, especially on representation in curricula.
Ciattarelli, while calling himself an “inclusive guy” in a Republican candidate debate panel, has a significant track record of opposing LGBTQ+ rights, according to both local education reporting organization Chalkbeat Newark as well as nationwide queer advocacy group GLAAD. Chalkbeat reports that he does not believe that the state should implement an “LGBTQ curriculum,” and GLAAD adds that he would “repeal protections for transgender and nonbinary youth ‘on day one.’”
Of the many protections he would repeal, one he specifically referenced would be a state Board of Education policy that prohibits school districts from conducting a process known as ‘forced outing,’ where a school discloses a student’s preferred name and other facets of their gender identity (such as pronouns) to parents despite the student explicitly requesting that that information be withheld for their own safety and well-being.
Forced outings “compromise [queer and trans youth’s] safety and access to affirming support,” points out GLAAD, and are a move that could at best result in severe family tension and at worst potentially even cost a student their life in some situations.
Ciattarelli further advocated for an “overhaul” of the New Jersey school system. He told a Lawrenceville crowd that he would focus on a “back to basics” approach, removing many cultural breadth requirements and general curricula in favor of what he termed “critical life skills” – without elaborating on what specific skills those would be. He aligns with Donald Trump on many of his policies and has been endorsed by him for Governor.
Sherrill, on the other hand, has advocated for more mental health counseling and merging some districts to “help eliminate unnecessary administrative costs.” Regarding the federal government’s recent dissolution of much of the Department of Education, she noted that her government would take legal action in response to these actions to “claw back as much money from the federal government as we can” and reinstate research grants that were previously revoked by the Trump administration.
Sherrill advocated for increased student privacy in many public K-12 and higher education schools, also noting that Artificial Intelligence now poses “a whole extra set of issues” when it comes to privacy and mental health.
She has also voted to enshrine protections for vulnerable communities, including students, into law, supporting and strengthening measures like the H.R. 5 Equality Act (adding protections for the LGBTQ+ community to the 1964 Civil Rights Act) and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (an established state guardrail that protects N.J. residents against “practices of discrimination” {10:5-3, 2019} in any form, including racial and socioeconomic discrimination).
New Jersey is one of only two states to be holding a gubernatorial election this fall, the other being Virginia. New Jersey and Virginia are the first to do so since the Trump administration took office in January, and the race is being closely watched by many across the country. Sherrill currently leads Ciattarelli in polls by about five to ten points, but only time and votes can tell who will helm New Jersey for the next four to eight years.
The N.J. governors’ election will be held this year on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. The deadline to register to vote or to update your registration (for example, if you would like to vote in Madison near Drew instead of your home polling location) is Tuesday, Oct. 14. To register or find your polling location, go to www.vote.org.
Faiz Menai is a junior majoring in political science and double minoring in anthropology and sociology.