OPI Scorched By Republican Lawmakers for Mismanaging Program to Boost Starting Teacher Pay, Address High Turnover and Shortages

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, June 21, 2024

CONTACT
gaby@montanademocrats.org

Helena, MT – The Montana Office of Public Instruction (OPI) is under fire again this week, after lawmakers slammed OPI leadership during an interim budget committee meeting for mismanaging a program designed to increase starting teacher pay while addressing the state’s new teacher retention problem.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen’s poor leadership was called out by fellow Republican lawmakers during the meeting:

“OPI dropped the ball on this, did not communicate with the school districts, and as a consequence, one of the more important programs we have for addressing starting teacher pay was underutilized,” said Rep. David Bedey, R-Hamilton, chairperson of the interim budget committee on education.

Low teacher starting salaries, high turnover for new teachers, and teacher shortages have plagued the Montana school systems for years under Arntzen’s watch. Having served as Arntzen’s deputy at OPI for years, Republican candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction, Susie Hedalen, is equally unfit to address the state’s teacher shortage problem.

“Elsie Arntzen’s protégé, Susie Hedalen, wants to continue Arntzen’s disastrous legacy of running OPI into the ground,” said Executive Director of the Montana Democratic Party Sheila Hogan. “We must elect a champion for Montana’s students, teachers, and schools in November who will  properly execute programs designed to address the teacher shortage and improve the quality of our children’s education.”

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