Sarah Grace solidifies liberal stance at College Democrats meeting

Sarah Grace, state representative candidate for the 94th district, made an appearance at the Ohio University College Democrats Tuesday meeting to speak about her campaign.On Sept. 27, Grace plans to face off against Republican opponent Jay Edwards. While the debate is scheduled and in the process of being planned, Edwards’ attendance is not yet confirmed.Grace detailed her major political goals and the motivations behind her candidacy.“I’m running because I want to fight for education,” Grace said. “That’s my passion.”Grace recognized that much of what determines the quality of an Ohio student’s education occurs at the state level, and she hopes to change standardized testing policies across the state.“I want to be a voice for K-12 education,” Grace said.Under the recently-passed national Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), high school students can take either the ACT or SAT as their official standardized graduation test rather than the recently implemented AIR tests. If elected, Grace will be an advocate for Ohio to adopt this policy.Grace is also a strong advocate for women’s health care, as well as health care in general. When asked about Republicans’ interest in defunding Planned Parenthood, she shared a personal story about her own government health care battle.Grace had a rare form of cancer when she was 24. Shortly after that, she moved to Athens with her husband, who established his own small business. As self-employed workers, the couple had to fund their own insurance. However, Grace struggled with this, as her past disease was considered a preexisting condition. Grace said she is now generally healthy. “We need to have access to health care and treatment that is legal throughout the country,” said Grace. “(Planned Parenthood) is not something that people need because they’ve been irresponsible or negligent. It’s something that women — and men — need access to.”Another point of interest for Grace within the bracket of health care is improved addiction support.“So many families are just being ripped apart and devastated, and we have to provide the resources to have options for treatment and care,” Grace said, though she acknowledged that all addiction cases are different and require different solutions.On the issue of charter schools, a member of College Democrats commented that these schools receive copious amounts of funding, but have few regulations. Many of the taxpayer dollars that fund these schools go to for-profit organizations across the state.Grace said she believes that the government should require accountability in attendance and results, as well as transparency in spending.Grace is currently preparing to discuss all of these issues and more during the upcoming debate system.