Arntzen, Leatherbarrow and Romano square off in state superintendent race: Kevin Leatherbarrow

Libertarian Kevin Leatherbarrow has entered the ring in the race in which Democrat Melissa Romano is challenging Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen in a rematch of their 2016 election.

A Libertarian means fiscal responsibility and accountability, Leatherbarrow said.

"Making sure that these things, these funds and spending goes to where it needs to be going," he said. 

He said being very heavily fiscally responsible and accountable goes along with what it means to have a Libertarian in the office.

The purpose of the superintendent of public instruction position is to make sure every child receives its education and making sure every child's needs are met including the special needs and native children, he said.

"That is our duty to be very, very  transparent," he added. "I think families need to know and they need to be on that page, I think that is where their concern comes from; they are never involved, they don't feel like they're involved."

He said he would like there to be a lot more transparency in the superintendent's office, especially with COVID-19 and the new way of learning.

"I think being very transparent more out in public and letting them know that  we are doing the best that we can in that office," Leatherbarrow said. "It's a high responsibility to educate these children and make sure they get a great education."

Fiscal responsibility is a big issue that he is concerned about in the office, he said.

He added that he also sees children with special needs as an issue facing the office, especially with the pandemic that has come, which he said he thought special needs children were left behind before the pandemic but even more now.

"That is very important to me to make sure those things are put in place for our special needs kids as well, very much so," he said.

Children with special needs in Montana have lost many services, he said, the Individualized Education Programs were, before the pandemic underserviced, districts fell short holding needed help for reading and math, speech and more needs.

He said after COVID-19 the services for these children have fallen drastically, he said. 

He said he is the best candidate because he is not part of the establishment, not part of the back-and-forth arguing - he is kind of middle ground.

"I think it's time we set that middle ground and we have that kind of separation, have kind of a third party voice and have that voice there that's kind of different," Leatherbarrow said.

He gives the state D in how it handled COVID-19, he said.

He said the state had plenty of time not only when COVID hit and the state closed down everything, but had time prior to this to have better technologies in the classroom and in online classes.

Remote learning should have been something put in place a long time ago, as well as vouchers and choice to go to private schools before COVID, he said.

"If we could've had a voucher system put into place prior to this happening a lot of those special kids needs and a lot of those kids who needed could've received a voucher," Leatherbarrow said. "... I would've liked to see the voucher system put into place and maybe a voucher system up and running the six months before school opened.

"I know the federal government on their end loves voucher systems - it's school choice, so working with them, although I do know they do come with many hidden agendas I would make sure that those hidden agendas are up and transparent with us," he added. "But, if they want to give me $10 to whatever million dollars to put this system in place I'm sure they would've backed a great voucher system and I would've had a voucher system in place."

He said he is all for using state funds for private schools such as the tax credit for private school scholarship donations and proposals in previous legislative sessions to fund charter schools that don't need state accreditation.

The Supreme Court just ruled on this, he said, and they ruled on it correctly because of some of the discriminatory language that was put in there and some of the legislation didn't go through.

The Montana Supreme Court said that no donations for scholarships to any private school could be used for a tax credit because it conflicted with the Montana Constitution's prohibition of public funding going to religious education. Rather than preventing the credit for religious schools, the Montana court prohibited it for any private schools.

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned that, saying it discriminated against religious schools.

"I feel the ruling made by The Supreme Court on Espinoza vs Montana was justified in the manner, it seems to show based on the variance of the Blaine Amendment that was placed in the Montana Constitution first in 1889 and kept during the rewrite of the Montana Constitution in 1972, which the court has recognized, placed unconstitutionally," Leatherbarrow said. "The supreme court, I feel, has recognized that the amendment which passed in the U.S. House of Representatives and did not receive the necessary two-thirds vote in the U.S. Senate which never received the level of representation to become law."

The Blaine Amendment was a proposed federal constitutional amendment prohibiting public funding for religious schools proposed in the 1800s which failed. Many states after that put the requirement in their own laws or constitutions.

He said the Montana Constitution says, "It is the goal of the people to establish a system of education, which will develop the full educational potential of each person. Equality of educational opportunity is guaranteed to each person of the state."

He feels the court ruled correctly, he said, when it based some of its merit on the fact discrimination was found and that the two measures show a clear conflict with each other.

  "I support a voucher system that supports school choice for all students and parents no matter what their beliefs are or are not, Leatherbarrow said. "Now, if we got into the Catholic schools or such this would be going to students who need, not to the schools directly - those parents get to make those choices," he added. "I'm all for that voucher system. I'm all for making sure they have school choice. I'm all for charter schools either a state board charter, a school run or a non - I know some states do that in some manners that's perfectly fine, that's up to them whatever fits them, but whatever would fit Montana and how that would kind of look. I support it very strongly."