Montana GOP Leaders Target Teachers’ Union, Vow Legislative Action Aimed at ‘Woke’ Annual Conference

Montana’s superintendent of public instruction and Senate president took joint aim at the Montana Federation of Public Employees (MFPE) — the state’s largest union which represents public schoolteachers — on Monday, announcing in a press release they would champion legislation to “end woke teachers’ conferences” in the 2027 legislative session. It’s a cry that echoes a national trend as political pressure is causing teachers to modify their curriculums or instruction in order to not be seen as too progressive.

The outcry came after Finley Warden posted three audio recordings on X, apparently from the MFPE’s annual conference, which was held in Missoula Oct. 16-17. Warden said he attends school online at Liberty University but grew up attending public school in Missoula and Polson. He said he’s been involved in state politics for several years as an advocate. His X bio identifies him as an “America first activist” who goes “undercover to expose the far left.” He chose to attend the conference of his own volition in both 2024 and 2025.

“And after attending this year, I made the decision that, ‘hey, I think this really needs to be on the record,’” Warden said in an interview with the Beacon. “So, I made the choice just on my personal social media account to release some of the clips from the recording from the session.”

Amanda Curtis, the president of MFPE, said the conference had over 320 sessions, all organized by educators. She added MFPE collaborates with the state’s Office of Public Instruction on the conference, and the organization has said it follows the law and district and state policies. MFPE shared a full list of sessions from this year’s conference in a press release Monday. The list included sessions centered on school funding, classroom research, science, school libraries and more.

“We’ve been providing this conference for 30 years because teachers in Montana need 60 units to renew their teaching certificate,” Curtis said in an interview with the Beacon. “And we firmly believe, as do pretty much everybody else in the field, that the best professional development comes from teachers, by teachers, for other teachers. And this is the only place where Montana’s teachers experience that.”

The three recordings Warden posted on his personal X account ranged from under a minute to nearly two minutes in length. Warden said two of the recordings he posted were from this year’s conference, and one was from last year’s. They came from sessions focused on libraries, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in art education and a session about LGBTQ issues.

Those issues have served as flashpoints for conservatives. President Donald Trump’s Education Department threatened funding for K-12 schools with DEI programming earlier this year. Conservatives in Montana have also raised alarms about “gender identity instruction,” passing legislation in 2025 requiring parents to opt their children in for such lessons. Many such concerns have grown under the auspices of the “parents’ rights” movement, which has gained steam in recent years. That movement has pushed for legislation giving parents more oversight in schools as they raise worries about library books, course material and instruction related to DEI, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Warden’s posts caught the attention of Senate President Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, and Superintendent of Public Instruction Susie Hedalen. Both have since promised to revive a 2025 bill that would have stopped providing state-mandated days off for teachers’ union professional development. In a press release, Hedalen also said OPI would be investigating professional development providers.

“Montana has been closing schools and paying teachers for two days every year to attend this conference in order to develop professionally and better serve their students,” Regier said in a Monday press release. “But instead of learning how to instruct students on core skills and prepare them for life, these conferences have been indoctrinating teachers with leftist political extremism.”

Curtis said the conference’s contents were designed by teachers, for teachers. She referred to the claims proliferating about ideological indoctrination as examples of misinformation.

Since Warden posted the audio recordings last week, they have been reposted by the right-wing “Libs of TikTok” account, which boasts 4.5 million followers on X, and by conservative journalist Andy Ngo, who has a following of 1.7 million. Several conservative sites in the state have also written about them.

And I think that if I were teaching K-12 right now, I would look at censorship, and I would look at the Nazi regime and what Hitler did with abstraction, right? That became inappropriate, disgusting art. It would be helpful to look at how that’s played, how censorship has played out in history, and to have discussions with students as to whether or not it’s okay.

MFPE presenter featured in the recordings Warden posted on X

THE RECORDINGS

One clip apparently came from a panel discussion entitled, “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Art Education.” MFPE’s conference session list did not have a session by that name. It did list a “Fishbowl Seminar” titled “DEI & A in the 2025 Art Room.” That session was offered twice on the morning of Oct. 17.

The clip Warden posted to social media consisted of an unnamed panelist discussing censorship of the work of Sally Mann, a renowned American photographer.

Mann’s collection, “Immediate Family,” which was produced in the 1990s and became part of the culture war then, was on display at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth’s 2024 exhibition “Diaries from Home.” Mann’s collection offered a look at her family’s rural life, and included several photographs depicting her children nude. Fort Worth police seized the artwork in January, apparently as part of a child abuse investigation, per the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU sent a letter to the Fort Worth police department in February, alongside the more conservative-leaning free speech watchdog the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and the National Coalition Against Censorship requesting the artwork be returned.

“While some may find the images inappropriate,” stated the letter, “that does not strip them of the First Amendment protection afforded to artistic expression.” 

The presenter at MFPE’s conference went on to say it is a “dangerous place” when the government takes control of art.

“And I think that if I were teaching K-12 right now, I would look at censorship, and I would look at the Nazi regime and what Hitler did with abstraction, right?” the presenter said.

Adolf Hitler’s regime referred to abstract art as “degenerate,” and hosted a Degenerate Art Exhibition in 1937. Per reporting from the BBC, the Nazis claimed the artwork in the show was produced by Jewish people and the Bolsheviks. Only a small number of artists with work in the show were actually Jewish. The Nazis later burned some of the art in the show.

“That became inappropriate, disgusting art,” the presenter in the recording from the MFPE conference continued. “It would be helpful to look at how that’s played, how censorship has played out in history, and to have discussions with students as to whether or not it’s okay.”

A second clip detailed a librarian’s effort to keep a book on the shelves of a middle school library after a colleague removed it without authorization. The recording never explicitly mentioned the book’s title. A joint press release from Regier and Hedalen Monday identified it as one of the books in the “Heartstopper” series. Warden’s post on X also identified it as that book.

That series of graphic novels by Alice Oseman follows two teen boys who “discover their unlikely friendship might be something more as they navigate school and young love.” A Netflix show based on the series first premiered in 2022. Hedalen’s and Regier’s release characterized the book as “sexually explicit” and claimed it “includes multiple passages of explicit softcore pornography.”

“And this was a situation where this librarian struggled to maintain objectivity,” the librarian in the recording states. “Again, her heart was in the right place, 100%. Her heart was in the right place, but she was leading with her heart and not her head and it caused the book to essentially be censored from my library.”

The book eventually returned to the school’s library, according to the librarian in the recording.

The final audio recording came from a presentation from Anthony Brisson. Brisson was identified as a policy analyst with the National Education Association (NEA). It was posted first by the “Libs of TikTok” X account as a “collab” with Warden. Warden said it came from a session at the 2024 conference entitled the “LGBTQ State of the State.” Curtis confirmed Brisson had spoken at last year’s conference.

In the recording, Brisson spoke about six modules developed for K-12 educators and administrators to discuss gender and sexuality, including the “gender unicorn.” The tool, developed by Trans Student Educational Resources, aims to teach students the difference between gender — the sex one is assigned at birth or the sex one identifies as — and sexuality, which refers to physical and emotional attractions.  

Montana passed a law during the 2025 legislative session requiring parents to opt their children in for lessons on human sexuality and identity. Hedalen’s OPI sent school districts a letter reminding them to adhere to that law last week.

In an interview with Montana Public Radio about the letter, Hedalen said she did “not have concrete examples” of any school districts failing to follow that law, or another that outlawed the display of personal and ideological flags in government buildings, including schools.

Warden said he had more recordings that he planned to post from the two years’ worth of teachers’ conferences he attended. He chose to post what he viewed as the most “blatant and clear examples of far left indoctrination.”

I mean, I’ll just continue to extend an open invitation to the president of the Senate, the superintendent of public instruction, any elected leader to attend the educator conference. To walk into a classroom anywhere in Montana and see what teachers are really doing. Because that kind of experience will spread the truth, and that’s the only way to combat this kind of misinformation.

Amanda Curtis, president of MFPE

THE RESPONSE

Last Tuesday, Hedalen and the Office of Public Instruction (OPI) sent school administrators a letter warning them to comply with state and federal laws to maintain funding and accreditation. The letter and a media release Hedalen shared alongside it made reference to schools engaging in “ideological indoctrination.”

“There has been media coverage of school boards engaging in discussions of both HB 471, which addresses identity instruction, and HB 819, concerning the display of personal and ideological flags in schools across various districts statewide,” McKenna Gregg, OPI’s spokesperson, wrote in an email about what spurred OPI to send the letter. “Additionally, recent news coverage from the MFPE conference last week has highlighted these issues further.”

She did not provide clarification as to what news reports she was referencing.

Curtis said the claims of ideological indoctrination at the teachers’ union conference or in classrooms are an example of misinformation. Instead, Curtis pointed to teacher recruitment and retention as topping the list of problems facing Montana’s classrooms. She wishes elected officials would focus on trying to solve those issues, rather than piling onto it with politicized attacks.

“We are really, really proud as MFPE members to pool our resources, to elevate our profession for the good of students,” Curtis said. “Last year, not counting this year’s conference, we as MFPE members supported 224 hours of professional development and issued over 900 renewal certificates so that teachers could renew their licenses. And we just really strongly believe in the quality and the volume of our professional development and that that’s irreplaceable for Montana’s teachers.”

She also said failure to adhere to the laws the legislature passes can result in educators being personally sued. She pointed to that as part of the reason why MFPE’s professional development is critical. It offers several sessions aimed at teaching educators how to follow the laws.

Hedalen’s release also contained a promise that Hedalen would support legislation in 2027 to end the use of state-mandated pupil-instruction-related days for teachers’ union conferences. Similar legislation came forward during the 2025 session in the form of House Bill 557. That bill stalled after it failed to garner the necessary votes to pass its third reading in the Senate.

Regier, who was the Senate president in 2025, attributed HB 557’s failure to internal sparring in the Republican Senate caucus. That internal divide dominated headlines throughout the legislative session as nine GOP senators aligned with Democrats to block changes to the state’s judiciary branch, keep Medicaid expansion in Montana and pass property tax reform.

The Monday joint release from Regier and OPI announced Regier had reserved a bill title — the first of the 2027 legislative session — to “revise education laws related to teacher training and education and meetings of teacher organizations.” The intention is that the bill will revive the failed legislation from 2025.

“It comes down to frustration,” Regier said of the reason he reserved the bill title now, rather than closer to the session. “Frustration, I think, not just on my part, but on conservative Republican legislators’ part too, as well as the public.”

Regier and some of his fellow Republicans have pointed out that the state has trended red in recent years. They have argued that trend has provided a mandate to enact more conservative policies.

Regier also said he recognizes there’s a lot of good people in the public education system and the teachers’ union.

“I mean, my dad was a public-school teacher for 28 years,” Regier said. “I’m a product of the public education system.”

But he worries there are some “bad apples” teaching content, like “gender ideology,” that he views as inappropriate for students.

As for the concerns raised by Regier, Curtis has an answer: attend the MFPE conference or visit any Montana classroom.

“I mean, I’ll just continue to extend an open invitation to the president of the Senate, the superintendent of public instruction, any elected leader to attend the educator conference,” Curtis said. “To walk into a classroom anywhere in Montana and see what teachers are really doing. Because that kind of experience will spread the truth, and that’s the only way to combat this kind of misinformation.”

[email protected]