In a letter to the editor, Bayonne Board of Education Trustee/31st Legislative District Assembly candidate Christopher Munoz explains why he decided to run in the June 6 primary election. 
Dear editor,
My name is Christopher Munoz. I am running to represent the 31st legislative district in the state Assembly. Raised in Bayonne, I am a Hudson County guy; I attended the Bayonne Public Schools and graduated from Bayonne High School in 1995.
I attended New Jersey City University where I earned a B.A. in History and a minor in Political Science and later earned an M.A.in Special Education.
I’m currently a History teacher at Hoboken High School. I am dual certified in general and special education.
I received AP (Advanced Placement) training from Drew University. In addition, I have served as Supervisor of Patient Access Services at Jersey City Medical Center-Barnabas Health since 1999.
I am married to my lovely wife Bruny. We have three children, James, Christopher Logan, and Caleb who are attending the Bayonne Public Schools.
In 2015, I was honored by the community and was elected as a Bayonne Board of Education Trustee.
This was the first election for this position in over 35 years. I am also the Bayonne Board of Education representative to the Hudson County School Board Association.
I am currently the 2nd Vice President/NJEA Pride Chair for the Hoboken Education Association and I am a proud member of the Knight of Columbus.
I chose to run for state assembly because as a Bayonne Board of Education Trustee, I saw the difficulties we face as a school district and community with severe state under funding.
The Bayonne school district is underfunded by $10.2 million dollars. I believe we need state legislators that will fight for what we as a district deserve. As an educator of 12 years, I know we must invest in our future.
Education is the key to that future. But, we must fund it. Crime and Violence plague our streets. I believe we need more community policing dollars to benefit Jersey City and Bayonne.
I want to work with police officers, police unions, elected officials, community leaders, and citizens to formulate a comprehensive plan to tackle this growing problem.
We must invest in our infrastructure. I want to ensure that we use dollars from the transportation trust fund to improve our roadways, transportation, and bridges.
Specifically, I would like to see pedestrian bridges built over Route 440 in Bayonne and Jersey City. I consider this roadway a pedestrian risk and it must be addressed.
We must ensure that our citizens especially our veterans and senior citizens have access to employment opportunities, affordable housing, and adequate healthcare. They fought, protected, and built this country, state, and district. It is time we look out for them.
We must fully fund the public employee pension system. Taking care of those who take of our community is not only the right thing to do; it is a smart fiscal decision. Our state’s credit rating has been downgraded 11 times because of it, costing us millions.
We must invest in our youth, not just through education but through increasing our recreational facilities. Kids must be engaged and not just hanging on our streets with nowhere to go.
Creating safe, structured, and enriching environments for our youth to go will not just address juvenile delinquency but will create productive and engaged young people that grow up to be functional members of society.
I believe we must put aside petty differences and politics to address the needs of the community.
We must have elected officials that will engage their constituency, work with other elected officials and community leaders to figure out solutions. We must find away to nurture our progressive democratic values and ideas.
I am running for state assembly because I believe together, we can do more.
On June 6th, Teach Trenton a Lesson. It’s time to make Educators your Legislators. Vote Column G.
Christopher Munoz, 3G
State Assembly Candidate, 31st Legislative District
