BILLINGS — Montana U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy said he supports defunding the U.S. Department of Education.
Sheehy, a Republican, held a rally at Bearded Viking Mead Company in Columbus on Monday, where he spoke about immigration, healthcare, and veteran care, then later took questions about education.
MTN was provided with three minutes to ask four questions at Sheehy's rally, following his rejection of a request to participate in both a debate and one-on-one interviews. The only other candidate who did not participate was Green Party candidate Robert Barb, who could not be reached.
“Well, I’ll tell you what that means," said Sheehy when asked about quotes attributed to him in a Daily Montanan article, where he suggested cutting $30 billion from the Department of Education. "We have federal agencies that are far outside their writ, and I don’t think we need a federal Department of Education telling our parents how they need to educate their kids."
Sheehy is running against Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, who is running for his fourth term. Tester's office said he was unavailable for an interview because of time constraints.
Scott McCulloch, chair of the Billings School District 2 school board, has been in education since 1977, and a member of the board since 2018. He defended the federal agency.
“The Department of Education says that the federal government believes education is important, just as important as health and human services, just as important as the military," said McCulloch.
Sheehy is among other Republicans, including former president Donald Trump, vowing to abolish the Department of Education, which primarily focuses on setting education standards and monitoring school performance.
“The notion that we can have a functioning democracy without public education is a notion that’s as flawed as the day is long," said McCulloch.
The defunding of the Department of Education would require congressional action and would not necessarily mean the end of public education, according to Sheehy.
“That’s school choice. That’s if you want to homeschool, that’s public school, that’s private school, (and) that’s charter schools," said Sheehy, who advocated for a switch to block grant funding for schools.
Six percent of Montana's K-12 parents switched their children to private schools last year, according to U.S. Census data.
“Block grant funding has some advantages, but it also has disadvantages when it comes to our education system," said McCulloch, "How do you know that the money’s being used wisely if it’s just sent in a chunk? Could we, in fact, see money going under a voucher system to some program that’s more Harry Potter in nature than it is anything else?”
Sheehy and many other Republicans who express concerns surrounding the Department of Education state their focus is on material being offered in public schools, a notion many educators like McCulloch refute.
“All of a sudden, we’re talking about, you know, this notion that there is, in fact, an agenda to somehow politicize social studies in our schools," said McCulloch.
“During my time as an elected official, serving in both our state legislature and as State Superintendent, I have been a strong proponent of state’s rights. Montanans are best served by a government closest to the people. I believe the federal government should more closely reflect the strong local accountability nature of our great state. Every child is as unique as the communities that make up our great state. A focus on strong local control echoes this uniqueness.”
MTN News also requested an interview from Elsie Arntzen, the Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction, who declined. Her office provided the following statement:
“During my time as an elected official, serving in both our state legislature and as State Superintendent, I have been a strong proponent of state’s rights. Montanans are best served by a government closest to the people. I believe the federal government should more closely reflect the strong local accountability nature of our great state. Every child is as unique as the communities that make up our great state. A focus on strong local control echoes this uniqueness.”
