As former school superintendents we have seen our students suffer as a result of the incompetent “leadership” of Elsie Arntzen at the Office of Public Instruction.

And now, Susie Hedalen, Elsie’s protégé and former second-in-command, is attempting to pick up the baton and continue the failed policies, out of touch agenda and the dismantling of the agency whose sole purpose is to support school districts, teachers, students, and their parents.

Montana is starting this school year with over 1,000 vacant educator positions, in part, because we rank dead last in new teacher pay. The quality of a child’s education depends on the quality of the teacher in the classroom. Elsie Arntzen and Susie Hedalen have yet to solve this crisis.

Under their leadership, more than half of our kids are not proficient in reading, math and science. We’ve seen unprecedented turnover of first year teachers and a failure to advocate with the legislature on behalf of students or schools.

Instead, they support using public dollars for private schooling over adequate funding for our public schools, and they fail to work with local Montana curriculum specialists while spending our tax dollars to push an ineffective, extreme national curriculum.

Leadership requires seeking out and listening to teachers, parents and professionals whose goal is to provide a quality education for all of Montana’s children. Both Susie and Elsie have failed miserably on that front. Our school districts enjoyed a strong partnership with the Office of Public Instruction until they took the reins. It is time for a change.

There is only one choice in this election for State Superintendent and that is Shannon O’Brien. Her priorities include raising the cap on the archaic funding formula and making sure our schools have the adequate resources to do their job.

Shannon O’Brien will work with legislators on both sides of the aisle to recruit and retain highly qualified teachers by increasing the Quality Educator payment by $5000. She will ensure our youngest learners are ready for kindergarten which puts them on solid footing in reading and math by the third grade. We now have the opportunity and responsibility to elect a qualified educator who has always put students over politics. It is time to elect Shannon O’Brien.

We Montanan’s have always been proud of our public schools, our teachers, students and communities. We also know that a community is healthy when our school districts are healthy and supported by leaders at both the state and local level.

We have enjoyed a strong partnership between the Office of Public Instruction and our school districts in the past and we have the opportunity this election to return to the days when we had a true advocate for public schools in that office.

Please join us in supporting Shannon O’Brien as our next State Superintendent of Schools. Our kids deserve her vision and leadership.

Jack Copps; Cheryl Crawley; Tammy Lacey; Russ Lodge; Mark Thane; Greg Upham