OPI Superintendent Elsie Arntzen gives Thumbs Down to Biden Plan
After hearing President Biden’s ‘American Families Plan’ on Wednesday evening, Montana’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen told KGVO News that she have given the plan a thumbs down rating when it comes to education.
“The President is doing a very much of a top down federalist one-size-fits-all approach, and that doesn't fit for Montana,” said Arntzen. “We are a local control state, and I'm hoping that our congressional delegation supports my attitude that we must put our students, our families and our unique communities first, not have a federal top down plan.”
Arntzen said as she sees the funding for this bill, teachers have been left behind.
“This plan only offers one half of 1% of the total funding to our teachers and the professional development to get them there,” she said. “He also is talking about different types of teachers that we really don't have in Montana, and teacher programs that don't fit our classroom models that we have.”
On that theme of federal spending, Arntzen said it doesn’t take a math genius to see that the Biden administration is preparing to bankrupt future American generations.
“The President has called this the American Families Plan, and I firmly believe that this is not the Montana families plan,” she said. “The total cost of this is $1.8 trillion. Well, just do the simple fifth grade additional math on this. You add the Cares Act, the American Rescue Plan, and infrastructure spending, and this is going to add up to $8 trillion to our debt, and our children are going to be paying that way into their future.”
Arntzen closed by saying that the President’s plan will tear families apart, rather than bring families together.
"Right now this plan is attacking our families. It's attacking attacking the individualities and the flexibilities that we have put into play," she said. "And it is making sure that that top down mandate is being firmly cemented as we move forward. And I'm hoping that again, our congressional delegation stands firm and does say no, thank you, President Biden."
President Biden’s American Families Plan will cost the nation $1.8 trillion dollars.