NEW: Tim Sheehy Calls to Defund the Department of Education

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, October 14, 2024

CONTACT
rehm@mtdems.org

Breaking new reporting uncovers audio of Sheehy calling to abolish DOE by “throwing it in the trash can” and saying “I don’t think we need anymore”

Daily Montanan: “His comments on the campaign trail offered more talking points from Project 2025”

Helena, MT – Breaking new reporting from the Daily Montanan revealed that multimillionaire Tim Sheehy has repeatedly attacked public education and called to abolish the Department of Education. 

On the campaign trail, Sheehy advocated for defunding the Department of Education and claimed that the public education system was meant to “enslave” kids. These comments echo extreme plans from Project 2025 that would eliminate the public education system in Montana and the United States.

Sheehy’s attacks are wildly out-of-step with hardworking Montana families. Nearly 90% of Montana’s students are educated by the public school system, and Montana schools rely on federal funding to keep their doors open.

Read more below:

Daily Montanan: Sheehy’s plan for education includes throwing Department of Ed ‘in the trash’
October 14, 2024
Keila Szpaller
 

• Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Tim Sheehy said at multiple campaign stops this year that he wants to do away with the U.S. Department of Education…
   

• “We have a Department of Education, which I don’t think we need anymore,” Sheehy said. “It should go away. That’ll save us $30 billion right there.”
   

• Although he lobbed criticisms at public education from elementary schools all the way to college, his comments on the campaign trail offered more talking points from Project 2025 than they do specific plans that would benefit Montana, according to audio clips provided to the Daily Montanan.
   

• In Billings, Sheehy shared part of his rationale for axing the Department of Education: “We formed that department so little Black girls could go to school down south, and we could have integrated schooling. We don’t need that anymore.”
   

• According to the Office of Public Instruction, roughly 150,000 children attend public school in Montana; Kids Count data show 89.6% of students in kindergarten through 12th grade attend public school in Montana. Data from OPI also show that at the school level, federal money accounts for roughly 12% of the funding per student.
   

• Project 2025 is a plan designed by more than 100 conservative groups that includes a massive overhaul of the federal government. An analysis by the National Education Association said the plan would “gut” funding for education and hurt students who are the most vulnerable.
   

• Lance Melton, head of the Montana School Boards Association, said federal dollars are significant in Montana for at least a couple of reasons. He said they are especially important in areas with smaller taxable values, including some of the Native American reservations.
   

• American Indian students graduate at about 64% compared to the overall population that’s eligible for free and reduced lunch at 72%, Melton said — or the average rate overall, which is in the high 80%-range.
   

• Additionally, Melton said, the state gets $40 million alone to help students in public schools who have disabilities. The amount represents just 15% compared to the 40% it’s supposed to be, he said, but it’s more than zero.
   

• “Fairly significant harm would be implemented in Montana’s public schools if we suddenly snapped our fingers and said, ‘No more federal funding of education,’” he said.
   

• Sheehy’s campaign did not respond to an interview request to discuss his plan for public education. In audio clips of his comments at six different events this year, he said the other two priorities for him are immigration and the crisis at the southern border, common political talking points.
   

• His campaign website offers five sentences on the topic of education. However, the criticisms the Bozeman businessman levies at public education don’t always reflect the systems he’s fighting against, and his plan for solutions isn’t always clear.
   

• At different campaign events, Sheehy gave other criticisms of public education that echo the GOP’s stance on social issues or offered a more sweeping agenda for federal agencies.
   

• Sheehy [...] suggested federal money for education should be provided to the states in the form of block grants to save money.
   

• “Across the board, for many problems, we need to solve this by cutting out federal agencies,” Sheehy said.
   

• The National Education Association analysis said Project 2025 calls for block grants to states with lax oversight and weakened regulation, and it said the result would be a strain on already tight public school budgets.
   

• In his comments, Sheehy said one of the reasons he and mostly his wife home-school their children is because public schools aren’t teaching them the history of this country or “to believe in their faith,” and they aren’t “in line with our values.” “We need to return faith and family to the classroom,” he said.
   

• He said the “national education system” is meant to “indoctrinate and enslave,” and he described the results as he sees it. “We got a bunch of over-educated, unemployable nincompoops,” Sheehy said.
   

• According to a federal student aid database, both Montana State University in Bozeman and the University of Montana in Missoula had no students defaulting on loans from the 2021 and 2020 cohorts; for the 2019 classes, MSU had a default rate of 1.2% and UM had a 3% default rate.
   

• According to the Montana University System, in Montana, all 16 campuses of Montana University System deliver trade and technical education, and those students also are eligible for federal loans. MSU Northern focuses on technical degrees and offers scholarships for students in diesel technology.
   

• MUS data notes more than 80% of state resident graduates join the workforce in Montana; an MUS dashboard said the average salary for a graduate after five years is $55,917.
   

• The MUS website said colleges and universities have partnerships with private businesses, and it said Gallatin College has one with Bridger Aerospace, which Sheehy and his brother founded, although MUS said the information is not current. (Sheehy resigned as CEO of Bridger Aerospace earlier this year, although a spokesperson declined to disclose whether he still holds shares in the company.)

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