Today’s Austin American-Statesman has a front-page article by Kate Alexander on the Republican candidates for the State Board of Education’s District 10.

Cynthia Dunbar’s decision to leave the State Board of Education at the end of her first term has sparked a spirited three-way Republican primary to succeed her.

Dunbar has been a powerhouse of the board’s conservative bloc, and all three District 10 candidates — educators Rebecca Osborne and Marsha Farney and patent lawyer Brian Russell — insist that they, too, are good conservatives.

But they seem to lack Dunbar’s penchant for partisan provocation that has at times made her a subject of controversy, such as her statement that public schools are a “subtly deceptive tool of perversion.”

The 800-word article describes the candidates’ backgrounds and positions, illustrating them with numerous quotes. Among the interesting similarities and distinctions between the candidates:

• Osborne and Farney are professional educators, Russell is not.
• Farney has a child in public school, Russell’s children are home-schooled.
• Unlike Dunbar, whose home is in Fort Bend (near Houston), all three of these candidates hail from the Austin area.