Across the nation young families are moving to suburban communities in search of a good education for their children. Increasingly they find themselves in hostile confrontations with fiscally and socially conservative school boards in the battle over who should control schools and children's education? New School Order captures this national dilemma through a nine-month ordeal in a suburban Pennsylvania school district.

North Penn School District, 35 minutes outside of Philadelphia, is experiencing a huge growth in student enrollment as a result of corporations moving into the surrounding area. Increased property values, increased enrollment and diminishing federal subsidies are all resulting in skyrocketing school taxes. The North Penn Taxpayer's Association, made up largely of senior citizens living on fixed incomes, blame educators for the growing tax burden. Fundamentalist Christian conservatives have capitalized on these concerns, which they believe support their ideological agenda. They feel liberal elite educators are at fault for implementing curriculums that are too broad-based, specifically the teaching of sex education and multiculturalism while banning prayer in school. Meanwhile, progressive parents counter that the community has a continuing, primary obligation to support education.

New School Order captures the ensuing drama as a marriage between the North Penn Taxpayer's Association and Christian conservatives creates a powerful voting bloc. Together the two groups bring about startling results in the election of the North Penn School Board. Pitting old-timers against new-comers, religious leaders against religious leaders, conservatives against liberals, and a charge of alleged anti-Semitism against school board candidate Donna Mengel, the election turns into a divisive battle.

See also the New School Order page at the ITVS website.