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

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

MTN was given 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 attend was Green Party candidate Robert Barb, who could not be reached.

“Well, I’ll tell you what that means,” Sheehy said when asked about the quotes attributed to him. in an article in the Daily Montananwhere he suggested cutting $30 billion from the Department of Education. “We have federal agencies that are far beyond their purview, and I don’t think we need a federal Department of Education telling our parents how to educate their children.”

America’s Votes: Montana’s Race for US Senate

Sheehy is running against Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, who is running for a fourth term. The Tester’s office said he was not available for an interview due to time constraints.

Scott McCulloch, president of the Billings School District 2 school board, has been in education since 1977 and a board member since 2018. He defended the federal agency.

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

Sheehy is among other Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, who have vowed to dismantle 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 as wrong a notion as the day is long,” McCulloch said.

Defunding the Department of Education would require action by Congress and would not necessarily mean the end of public education, according to Sheehy.

“This is school choice. That’s if you want to home school, that’s public school, that’s private school (and) that’s charter schools,” said Sheehy, who advocated a change to block grant funding for schools.

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

“Block grant funding has some advantages, but it also has disadvantages when it comes to our education system,” McCulloch said. “How do you know money is being used wisely if it’s just sent in lump sum? Could we actually see money going through a voucher system to a program that is more Harry Potter in nature than anything else?”

Sheehy and many other Republicans who express concern about the Department of Education say it is focusing on the materials offered in public schools, a notion that many educators like McCulloch reject.

“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,” McCulloch said.

“During my time as an elected official, serving both in our state legislature and as State Superintendent, I have been a strong supporter of state’s rights. Mountaineers are best served by a government that is closest to the people. I believe the federal government should more closely reflect the strong local ownership nature of our great state. Every child is as unique as the communities that make up our great state. An emphasis on strong local control echoes this uniqueness.”

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

“During my time as an elected official, serving both in our state legislature and as State Superintendent, I have been a strong supporter of state’s rights. Mountaineers are best served by a government that is closest to the people. I believe the federal government should more closely reflect the strong local ownership nature of our great state. Every child is as unique as the communities that make up our great state. An emphasis on strong local control echoes this uniqueness.”