With the election still on the minds of many, let’s talk civics.

That seems to be the latest focus of the New Jersey Public Education Coalition.

While this is a grassroots group formed to combat “right wing extremism” in public schools, its most recent foray is very much bipartisan.

The coalition says it just sent out more than 1,200 requests under the Open Public Records Act to make sure schools around the state are implementing a civics curriculum the state mandated beginning with the 2022-23 school year. The requests were made to the superintendent and business administrator in each of the state’s estimated 600 districts.

The civics course mandate requires that districts teach the values and principles underlying the American system of constitutional democracy, the function and limitations of government, and the role of a citizen in a democratic society.

It is based on legislation co-sponsored by Tom Kean Jr. back in 2020 when he was a state senator.

Michael Gottesman, the coalition founder, said there is “some indication” some districts are not implementing the new program.

As stated, the coalition was formed to fight conservative attempts to expand influence over school boards.

An earlier OPRA project fit more squarely into that framework.

That was when the coalition asked districts how many students had “opted out” of health and physical education courses that critics claim were sexual and inappropriate for many students.

A release says that the coalition “proved that the actual number of parents opting their children out of the curriculum was less than 3 percent,” proving, the coalition maintained, that the critics were a small minority of parents.

This is a continuing philosophical battle involving public education and one that undoubtedly will be part of the 2025 gubernatorial election.

As for the most recent – and apparently benign – request, the coalition says:

“If there is one thing NJPEC has learned over the past three election cycles, it is the fact that many people do not know how our government works and do not understand the basic fundamentals of our constitutional democracy.

Our aim is to make sure that civics education is expanded to our middle school students, as required by the law, and that our students begin the journey of becoming informed citizens at as early an age as possible. We must ensure that the generation now in our public education system is informed and prepared to inherit our nation.”

One hopes this is not a controversial premise – and one also hopes that school districts are complying with the new law.

Everything is polarized these days, but both sides should concur that learning the American system and voting are valuable traits for all students.