Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy of Montana wants to abolish the U.S. Department of Education, claiming it aims to “indoctrinate and enslave” students across the country, according to The Daily Montanan.
“We have a Department of Education, which I don’t think we need anymore,” Sheehy said during a campaign stop in Billings earlier this year, according to audio clips obtained by the outlet. “It has to go. That will immediately save us $30 billion.”
“We created that department so that little black girls could go to school in the South and we could integrate education. We don’t need that anymore,” he added.
The Department of Education was elevated to a Cabinet-level agency by then-President Jimmy Carter in 1979, more than two decades after school segregation was declared illegal and integration efforts began. Today, approximately 90% of students in kindergarten through 12th grade attend public school in Montana, which amounts to approximately 150,000 children. The agency enforces federal statutes prohibiting discrimination and ensures equal access to education for every individual.
Conservatives have long pushed to abolish the department in favor of local control over education and blocking subsidies to states. Former President Donald Trump also promised that he would eliminate the agency when he returns to the White House to “stop the misuse of your tax dollars to indoctrinate America’s youth with all kinds of things that you don’t want our youth to hear,” referring to accommodations and nondiscrimination protections for transgender students.
Sheehy, a wealthy Republican businessman who wants to unseat Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) in November, has used similar language to criticize women who fear the loss of their reproductive rights.
“They have been indoctrinated for too long,” Sheehy said during another campaign stop last year. “Abortion is their biggest concern. It’s all they want to talk about. They are voters who choose one issue.”
Montana is one of the biggest targets for Republicans looking to regain control of the Senate next year. Tester, a three-term incumbent, faces an uphill battle in a state that has grown redder in recent years and where Trump is overwhelmingly popular. His chances of winning another term depend on ticket-splitting voters who love Trump but can’t quite stomach Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL with a deeply conservative record on issues like public lands and health care .
Tester slammed his Republican opponent and vowed Tuesday to protect the public school system.
“Tim Sheehy doesn’t care about our public schools. I am a proud product of Montana’s public schools and a former public school teacher – and I will fight to protect them with everything I have,” he said on X, formerly Twitter.
