Sheehy says he supports funding from the U.S. Department of Education

BILLINGS – Montana U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy says he supports gutting the U.S. Department of Education.

Sheehy, a Republican, held a rally Monday at Bearded Viking Mead Company in Columbus, where he spoke about immigration, health care and veterans care, and later answered questions about education.

MTN was given three minutes to ask four questions during Sheehy’s meeting: following his rejection of a request to participate in both a debate and one-on-one interviews. The only other candidate not running was Green Party candidate Robert Barb, who could not be reached.

“Well, I’ll tell you what that means,” Sheehy said when asked about quotes attributed to him in a Daily Montanan articlewhere he proposed cutting $30 billion from the Department of Education. “We have federal agencies that are way outside their mandate, and I don’t think we need a federal Department of Education telling our parents how to raise their children.”

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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 due to time constraints.

Billings School District 2 School Board President Scott McCulloch has been in education since 1977 and has served on the board since 2018. He defended the federal agency.

“The Department of Education says the federal government believes education is important, as important as health care and human services, as important as the military,” McCulloch said.

Sheehy is joining other Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, in vowing to abolish the Department of Education, which focuses primarily on setting education standards and monitoring school performance.

“The idea that we can have a functioning democracy without public education is an idea as flawed as the day is long,” McCulloch said.

Defunding the Department of Education would require action from Congress 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 a public school, that’s a private school, (and) those are charter schools,” said Sheehy, who advocated for a move to block grant funding for schools.

Six percent of Montana K-12 parents switched their children to private schools last year. according to U.S. Census data.

“Block grant funding has a number of advantages, but also disadvantages when it comes to our education system,” says McCulloch. “How do you know the money is being used wisely if it’s only sent in parts? Could we in fact see money going through a voucher system to a program that is more Harry Potter-esque than anything else?”

Sheehy and many other Republicans raising concerns about the Department of Education say their focus is on materials offered in public schools, a notion that many educators like McCulloch refute.

“All of a sudden we’re talking about, you know, the idea that there is, in fact, an agenda to somehow politicize social studies in our schools,” McCulloch said.

“During my time as an elected official, both in our state legislature and as state superintendent, I have been a strong supporter of states’ rights. The people of Montana are best served by a government that is closest to the people. I believe the federal government must better reflect the strong local responsibility 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 reflects this unique character.”

MTN News also requested an interview with Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen, who declined but did provide a statement.