HELENA — Republican Elsie Arntzen says she’ll seek re-election next year as Montana’s superintendent of public instruction.
Arntzen’s announcement Tuesday sets up a possible rematch of the 2016 superintendent race that Arntzen won against Democrat Melissa Romano.
They are the only two announced candidates so far to lead the agency that oversees public schools in Montana.
Arntzen is from Billings and was a teacher and a legislator. She says she has successfully led efforts to bring together different groups to promote career and college readiness for students beginning in middle school, and also pushed for education funding and student safety.
Romano is a fourth-grade teacher in Helena who won Montana Teacher of the Year in 2018. She has criticized Arntzen for what she called a lack of leadership as the head of the Office of Public Instruction.