LETTER: Gianforte and Arntzen: Threat to education

Public schools in our country are being threatened. They are being challenged in ways that the average voter may not stop to realize. These threats come from apathetic parents, sensationalized and derogatory media coverage, and some politicians. Since election day is fast approaching, let’s focus on the threats that come from certain politicians to our beloved state of Montana.

The candidate for governor is the first threat. Gianforte, a man who made his fortune in technology, is trying to replace foreign language with technology classes (which most schools already have) and offer tax dollars to attend charter schools such as the Petra Academy that he has personally financed. No one is complaining about his donations to the Christian Petra Academy as he is entitled to contribute to any school or religious entity he wishes — even if he and his school believe there is no climate change and the earth is only 6,000 years old, which they do.

The problem as I see it is that he would like the Montana taxpayers — you and I — to help pay for children who attend religious or nonreligious private schools. Would you want a governor who denies science and wants to emasculate our school system by taking shrinking educational funds away from public schools? Gov. Steve Bullock wouldn’t do this, and that is one reason why the educational community supports his reelection.

Candidate Arntzen for Superintendent of Public Instruction, who as a legislator asserted Montana’s right to secede from the union, is another threat. Imagine the leader of our public schools in Montana supporting the idea of using tax dollars for purposes like the Petra Academy — a religious school that discriminates against children of special needs — a charter school where students are handpicked to ensure the facade of academic success. These are schools that privatize our public school system, making a profit on an institution that has a long tradition of educating all of God’s children. Melissa Romano believes in this tradition. —David R. James, Eureka