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Elsie Arntzen

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Elsie Arntzen
17th Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 2, 2017
GovernorSteve Bullock
Greg Gianforte
Preceded byDenise Juneau
Member of the Montana Senate
In office
January 5, 2015 – January 2, 2017
Preceded byMary Caferro
Succeeded byMargaret MacDonald
Constituency26th district
In office
January 7, 2013 – January 5, 2015
Preceded byGary Branae
Succeeded byCary Smith
Constituency27th district
Member of the Montana House of Representatives
from the 53rd district
In office
January 3, 2005 – January 7, 2013
Preceded byChristine Kaufmann
Succeeded byDave Hagstrom
Personal details
Born (1956-05-07) May 7, 1956 (age 68)
Billings, Montana, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseSteven Arntzen
Children2
EducationUniversity of Montana (BA)
Montana State University (BA)

Elsie Arntzen (born May 7, 1956) is an American educator and politician from the U.S. state of Montana who serves as the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State of Montana. Prior to this, she was a member of the Montana Legislature.[1]

She is the tenth woman to hold the position.

Early life and career

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In 1992, Arntzen became a 5th grade school teacher for the Billings School District.[2]

Montana State Legislature

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In 2004, Arntzen was elected to Montana House of Representatives for District 53, which includes a portion of Yellowstone County.[3][4]

In 2012 Arntzen was elected to the Montana Senate for a four-year term.[5]

Superintendent of Public Instruction

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In 2016, Arntzen was elected as the Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction, which leads the state's prime education agency, the Montana Office of Public Instruction.

In Artzen's first year in office, Montana received $24 million over the course of three years through the U.S. Department of Education's Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy Program, in effort to advance literacy skills in the state.[6] As the newly elected superintendent, Arntzen was responsible in implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in Montana. Her office released their state ESSA plan in September 2017 and subsequently had the plan approved by the U.S. Department of Education in January 2018.[7] In the same year, Arntzen offered new online mental health and suicide prevention resources available for teachers. The program is provided through Montana's Learning Hub through the Project AWARE-MT SOARS grant funding. The contract, with Kognito Interactive Programs, provided unlimited access for all Montana educators, school staff, and OPI partners over a 12-month period.[8] In June 2018, Arntzen announced that Montana was one of ten states to receive a $3.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense for the Troops to Teachers program.[9] Arntzen's Montana Ready initiative has promoted career and technical education, work-based learning, individualized learning, and expanded public-private partnerships.[10]

During the 2019 Montana legislative session, she advocated for legislation to keep predators out of Montana classrooms.[11] In an editorial published on January 31, 2019, Arntzen criticized the Montana Public Education Center (MT-PEC) for opposing the Student Safety Accountability Act, which banned sexual activity between an employee of a school district and a student.[12] MT-PEC is noted as being a statewide organization that is composed of the Montana School Boards Association, the School Administrators of Montana, the Montana Quality Education Coalition, the Montana Federation of Public Employees, and the Montana Association of School Business Officials.[13]

She is a member of the Council of Chief State School Officers School Safety Steering Committee.[14]

Personal life

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Arntzen's husband is Steven. They have two children. Arntzen and her family live in Billings, Montana.[1][2][4] Her husband, Steven is the President and CEO of Century Gaming Technologies.[15] Century Gaming Technologies is the largest route operator of gambling gaming machines in Montana.[16]

In 1992, Arntzen became a 5th grade school teacher for the Billings School District.[2]

Electoral history

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2004

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2004 General Election for Montana's 53rd House of Representatives District[17]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Elsie Arntzen 2,125 54.61
Democratic Carol A. Gibson (incumbent) 1,766 45.39
Total votes 3,891 100
Republican gain from Democratic

2006

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2006 General Election for Montana's 53rd House of Representatives District[18]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Elsie Arntzen (incumbent) 2,084 64.86
Democratic Teddee Cuomo 1,129 35.14
Total votes 3,213 100

2008

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2008 General Election for Montana's 53rd House of Representatives District[19]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Elsie Arntzen (incumbent) 2,200 58.05
Democratic Linda Wetzel 1,590 41.95
Total votes 3,790 100

2010

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2010 General Election for Montana's 53rd House of Representatives District[20]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Elsie Arntzen (incumbent) 1,572 60.51
Democratic Chris "Shoots" Veis 1,026 39.49
Total votes 2,598 100

2012

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2012 General Election for Montana's 27th State Senate District[21]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Elsie Arntzen 3,414 51.42
Democratic Gary Branae 3,225 48.58
Total votes 6,639 100

2016

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2016 General Election for State Superintendent of Public Instruction[22]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Elsie Arntzen 253,790 51.65
Democratic Melissa Romano 237,590 48.35
Total votes 491,380 100

2020

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2020 General Election for State Superintendent of Public Instruction[23]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Elsie Arntzen (incumbent) 310,111 52.19
Democratic Melissa Romano 259,886 43.74
Libertarian Kevin Leatherbarrow 24,202 4.07
Total votes 594,199 100

References

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  1. ^ a b "Copper Book: Lawmakers of Montana, Legislative Session of 2015". Montana State Legislature. Montana Legislative Services Division. p. 12. Retrieved June 10, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "About Elsie Arntzen". mtstandard.com. January 25, 2014. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  3. ^ Montana Legislature. "Elsie Arntzen". Archived from the original on 27 January 2012. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  4. ^ a b "Elsie Arntzen's Biography". Vote Smart. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  5. ^ "Elsie M. Arntzen". The Montana Legislature. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  6. ^ "State gets $24 million federal grant to aid literacy". The Great Falls Tribune. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  7. ^ "U.S. Secretary of Education Approves Montana's ESSA Plan". State of Montana Newsroom. Archived from the original on 31 July 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  8. ^ "OPI to offer online mental health and suicide prevention resources for teachers". Great Falls Tribune. Retrieved 2019-07-31.
  9. ^ "Montana receives 5-year, $3.4 million grant to continue operating troops to teachers programs". State of Montana Newsroom. June 8, 2018. Archived from the original on July 31, 2019. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
  10. ^ lucy.tompkins@missoulian.com, LUCY TOMPKINS (10 April 2018). "Hellgate High students encouraged to find careers in trades". missoulian.com. Retrieved 2019-07-31.
  11. ^ "MT bills banning student consent to sexual relationships with school employees backed". KPAX.com. 2019-01-26. Retrieved 2019-07-31.
  12. ^ ARNTZEN, ELSIE (31 January 2019). "Why oppose bill to remove predators from classrooms?". Helena Independent Record. Retrieved 2019-07-31.
  13. ^ "Home - Montana Public Education Center". www.mt-pec.org. Retrieved 2019-07-31.
  14. ^ "State Chiefs Join Together to Lead School Safety Steering Committee | CCSSO". ccsso.org. Retrieved 2019-07-31.
  15. ^ "Steven Arntzen". LinkedIn.
  16. ^ "About Century Gaming Technologies". Century Gaming Technologies. Retrieved Nov 26, 2020.
  17. ^ "2004 Statewide Montana General Election Results" (PDF). Montana Secretary of State. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  18. ^ "2006 Statewide Montana General Election Results" (PDF). Montana Secretary of State. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  19. ^ "2008 Statewide Montana General Election Results" (PDF). Montana Secretary of State. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  20. ^ "2010 Legislative General Election Canvass" (PDF). Montana Secretary of State. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  21. ^ "2012 Legislative General Election Canvass" (PDF). Montana Secretary of State. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  22. ^ "2016 General Election Canvass" (PDF). Montana Secretary of State. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  23. ^ "Montana Statewide Election Results". Montana Secretary of State. November 3, 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
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Political offices
Preceded by Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction
2017–present 		Incumbent
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