Arntzen destroying public education

I am writing this letter in response to – and in support of - the recent letter that all seven of Montana’s AA school superintendents wrote to our current Superintendent of Public Schools, Elsie Arntzen. This is Ms. Arntzen’s second term in this position and she has done much to destroy our public education system in the past five years.

Instead of doing the job that she was elected to do, she has consistently gone out of her way to criticize and destroy public school policies while voicing her support for anti-mask, anti-government efforts, most recently by speaking at a rally in support of a homeschooling lobbying organization called Moms for America, a group that encourages people to find ways to attack local school boards.

According to the letter signed by these Montana school superintendents, one of the Office of Public Instruction’s main functions is to ensure that people who teach in our public schools are certified. There is currently a backlog of teachers needing licensure (due to a severe reduction in staff), further decreasing the number of teachers available to work in our schools. Other tasks include those of updating state education content standards and ensuring that school districts meet the state requirements for accreditation. She is way behind in these areas, too.

Montana Federal Employees Program (MFPE) is currently circulating a petition supporting our public educators and requesting that Arntzen start doing her job. As a Montanan concerned about our public education, please consider signing at www.mfpe.org/arntzenisfailing/

— Diane Magone, Superior