Bureau of Indian Education

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Bureau of Indian Education
Boie-logo.png
Agency overview
HeadquartersMain Interior Building
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Websitewww.bie.edu
Main Interior Building, where the BIE is headquartered

The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), headquartered in the Main Interior Building in Washington, D.C., and formerly known as the Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP), is a division of the U.S. Department of the Interior under the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. It is responsible for the line direction and management of all BIE education functions, including the formation of policies and procedures, the supervision of all program activities, and the approval of the expenditure of funds appropriated for BIE education functions.[1]

The BIE school system has 184 elementary and secondary schools and dormitories located on 63 reservations in 23 states, including seven off-reservation boarding schools, and 122 schools directly controlled by tribes and tribal school boards under contracts or grants with the BIE. The bureau also funds 66 residential programs for students at 52 boarding schools and at 14 dormitories housing those attending nearby tribal or public schools.[1] It is one of two U.S. federal government school systems, along with the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA).[2]

In the area of post-secondary education, the BIE provides support to 24 tribal colleges and universities across the U.S. serving over 25,000 students. It directly operates two institutions of higher learning: Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU) in Lawrence, Kansas, and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) near Albuquerque, New Mexico.[3] Additionally, the BIE operates higher education scholarship programs for American Indians and Alaska Natives.[1]

Alden Woods of The Arizona Republic wrote in 2020 that the BIE is "an overlooked and often criticized agency".[4]

History[]

Circa 1990 the Hopi tribe began the process of taking BIA schools in their territory into tribal control. They managed this under authorization provided by legislation in 1975, which allowed tribes to contract with the BIA/BIE to manage and operate their own schools.[5]

Prior to August 29, 2006, it was known as the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP).[6]

Operations[]

The federal government funds schools for Native Americans under the treaties it established for reservations and trust lands. In the early years, the government authorized religious missions to establish schools and churches on reservations. At the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries, Congress authorized the government to establish numerous Indian boarding schools for a more concerted program of assimilation of Native American children. These were established at both the elementary and high school levels.[7]

As Indian reservations cannot levy taxes,[8] local school taxes cannot be used to fund Native American schools.[7]

Alden Woods of the Arizona Republic described the BIE as having the characteristics of both a state education agency and a school district, with its supervision and funding of tribally controlled/grant schools making it the former and its direct operation of BIE schools making it the latter.[9] By the beginning of the 21st century, education expenses of the BIE represented 35% of the BIA budget.[10] But studies since the 1969 Kennedy Report have shown that the schools have been underfunded. Despite the education responsibility, much of the BIA staff are specialists in land management rather than education.

Since the 1970s, school boards have been elected on reservations to oversee BIE schools, as in the Southwest United States. [10]

In 2015 the BIE spent about $15,000 per student in the schools it operated, 56% above the per-student average cost for a public school student in the United States. The BIE schools were ranked as among the most costly to operate in the United States.[10]

The predecessor agency OEIP had say only in operations related to instruction, while other BIA agencies had controlled other aspects, such as hiring and other employee issues, and construction and renovation of schools, and related infrastructure such as roads. Severns wrote that the various sources of authority made school accountability difficult.[10]

A 2015 editorial of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune noted that schools in the BIE network were underfunded while schools in the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), the federal military dependent school network, were well funded.[11]

Student body[]

As of 2020 the BIE-funded/grant/direct schools in total had 46,000 students,[9] meaning they educated about 8% of the Native American students in the United States.[12] Because members of some tribes have moved to cities, and many states have increased coverage of reservation and tribal lands through their public school distrits, As of 2020 about 90% of Native American students attend public schools operated by state school districts, rather than federally funded or operated schools.[9]

As of 2021 the BIE schools are located in many isolated areas with some of the lowest incomes in the United States.[8] Maggie Severns of Politico wrote in 2015 that "Students often come from difficult backgrounds".[10]

In 1978, 47,000 Native American K-12 students (17 of the total%) attended schools directly operated by the BIA and 2,500 (1%) attended tribal schools and/or other schools that contracted with the BIA.[13]

Employees[]

Circa 2015 the BIE had 4,500 employees. In November 2015 the BIE had 140 empty teaching slots. The agency had difficulty with teacher retention, especially as many schools are located in isolated areas.[10]

Academic performance and reputation[]

BIA/BIE schools have been criticized for decades for poor academic performance, and for the failure to establish metrics that allow performance to be measured.[10] In 1969 the graduation rate was circa 59%. Circa 1970 the overall dropout rate of BIA schools was 100% higher than the U.S. dropout average. Citing this statistic, that year President of the United States Richard Nixon criticized BIA schools. The 1969 report by the Select Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate in 1969 (known as the Kennedy Report, as it was headed by Robert F. Kennedy prior to his assassination) also criticized BIA schools.[9]

In 1988 a Department of Interior report blamed all levels of leadership for substandard test scores.[10] In 2001 the Government Accountability Office (GAO) wrote "The academic achievement of many BIA students as measured by their performance on standardized tests and other measures is far below the performance of students in public schools. BIA students also score considerably below national averages on college admissions tests."[14] Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama made attempts to improve BIE schools. In 2015 Maggie Severns of Politico wrote that BIE students "have some of the lowest test scores and graduation rates in the country".[10]

In the 2018-2019 school year, the percentage of BIE students passing their schools' standardized examinations was about 10% for mathematics and 15% for the English language.[9] In 2011 BIE students scored better on examinations than students at Detroit Public Schools, but every other large urban school district outperformed students of BIE schools.[10]

In 2015 the graduation rate was 53%.[10] In the 2017-2018 school year, the graduation rate was 64%, but in 2018-2019 the graduation rate had declined to 59%.[9] In 2015 the average United States graduation rate was 81%. The graduation rate for Native American and Alaska Native students enrolled at school district-operated public schools was 67%.[10]

From circa 2017 to 2020, the BIE did not follow the terms of the Every Student Succeeds Act. As of 2020 the BIE does not have a consistent testing system for all schools, nor does it provide the public academic outcomes information that traditional public schools are required to publish under state laws.[9]

Schools[]

Map of zip codes within the contiguous United States which contain a BIE school

BIE network schools are often located in rural, isolated areas where alternative options for schooling are not feasible.[9] As of 2020 there were 180 schools in the BIE network.[12]

In 1987 the BIA supported 58 tribal schools and directly operated 17 boarding schools, 17 day schools, and 14 dormitories housing students enrolled in public schools operated by local school districts.[13]

Directly operated[]

As of 2020 the BIE operates about 33% of the schools in its system.[9] A listing of schools directly operated by the Bureau of Indian Education:[15]

  • Crownpoint, New Mexico Resource Center:
    • Baca/Dlo'ay Azhi Community School (Prewitt, New Mexico)
    • Ojo Encino Day School (Cuba, New Mexico)
    • Pueblo Pintado Community School (Cuba, New Mexico)
    • Lake Valley Navajo School (Crownpoint, New Mexico)
    • Mariano Lake Community School (Crownpoint, New Mexico)
    • T'iis Ts'ozi Bi'Olta' (Crownpoint, New Mexico)
    • Tohaali' Community School (Newcomb, New Mexico)
    • Tse'ii'ahi' Community School (Crownpoint, New Mexico)

Cottonwood Day School[]

It was dedicated in 1968.[16]

Crystal Boarding School[]

Crystal Boarding School is a K-6 boarding school in Crystal, New Mexico.[17] In 2014 about 30 students boarded but most did not. Only one dormitory was open, as another was deemed unsafe.[18] In 2013 5% of the students were classified as having mathematics skills on par with their grade levels even though the school had already shifted most of its instruction to mathematics and reading at the expense of science and social studies. In 2015 Politico stated that the school's campus was in a poor condition. It had no school counselor.[10]

Dennehotso Boarding School[]

Dennehotso Boarding School in Dennehotso, Arizona serves grades K–8.[19] The two buildings are OFMC projects: a 46,545-square-foot (4,324.2 m2) school facility for 186 students and a 10,072-square-foot (935.7 m2) dormitory for 33 students. The scheduled groundbreaking was February 11, 2013. The previous buildings scheduled for demolition had a total of 78,626 square feet (7,304.6 m2) of space.[20] The school provides transportation for students between Baby Rocks and Mexican Water, and asks families living outside of that area and/or distant from the highway to have their children stay at the dormitory.[21]

Rocky Ridge Boarding School[]

It is a K-8 boarding school in Kykotsmovi, Arizona.[22]

In 2020 its enrollment was over 100. Alden Woods of The Arizona Republic stated "One former student described it as a refuge from a rural community struggling through generations of trauma", stating that the school provides room and board to children with no other reliable source of food and lodging.[4]

On March 16, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Arizona, the State of Arizona closed district-operated public schools. BIE schools were not required to close at that time, though several did. After employees met that day, COVID spread through the school's community.[4] Once COVID infections were diagnosed, the school temporarily closed.[23]

It holds an equine (horse) festival every year.[24]

Tribally operated[]

There are also tribally operated schools affiliated with the BIE.[15]

American Horse School[]

It was established in 1931 as the consolidation of Day School #20 and Day School #21, with the former buildings of those two schools becoming teacher housing. As of 2021 its enrollment is 330.[28] Its service area, in addition to Allen, includes Kyle and Martin, and includes the Lacreek, Pass Creek and Medicine Root Creek districts of the reservation.[29]

In 2015 the Minneapolis Star-Tribune editorial board wrote that American Horse had poor insulation, had too many students relative to building capacity, has tile flooring in poor repair and using asbestos, and "lacks the electrical and communications infrastructure needed to support the technology used in modern education."[30]

Chitimacha Tribal School[]

In 1937 a two classroom public school building condemned by the St. Mary Parish School Board was moved to Charenton, and began serving the community as a 1-8 school; the student population went over 60. In 1968 the kindergarten was established. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) built a new school, which began operations in 1978, to replace the former facility. It had 38 in the 1978-1979 school year, but this went down to 29 in 1980-1981 and 22 in 1981-1982. In 1982 it got a funding cut due to Reaganomics, which led to fears that the school could close.[31]

Lukachukai Community School[]

The campus has 44 acres (18 ha) of property and includes a dormitory.[32] In 1976 the 7th grade at Lukachukai ended so that grade was sent to Chinle Boarding School (now Many Farms Community School).[33] In 2015 the school was under-resourced, and the school community made an effort to get a replacement facility. Principal Arthur Ben personally recruited teachers, including some who were previously retired.[10]

Theodore Roosevelt School[]

Theodore Roosevelt School (TRS) is a tribally controlled middle school in Fort Apache, Arizona. It includes grades 6-8.[34] It is in the White Mountains and serves the White Mountain Apache Tribe.[35]

The dormitories opened sometime after 1935. A cafeteria opened in 1948. In 1995 it had 100 students. By 1995 conditions at the school had deteriorated to the point where students had to be boarded at ad hoc dormitorites as the standard dormitory buildings needed heating repairs and asbestos removal. Additionally the cafeteria was at times unusuable; the school took students to a restaurant so they could eat there.[35]

Wingate Elementary School[]

As of 1956 the Wingate Elementary dormitory is a former military barracks that also houses students at Wingate High.[36] In 1968 the girls' dormitory had 125 girls; the Associated Press stated that the dormitory lacked decoration and personal effects and was reflective of a campaign to de-personalize Native American students. At the time the school strongly discouraged students from speaking Navajo and wanted them to only speak English.[37] Circa 1977 it opened a 125-student $90,000 building which used a solar heating system.[38]

Former facilities[]

Includes the BIE, OIEP, and predecessor agencies:

  • Albuquerque Indian School
  • Manuelito Hall in Gallup, New Mexico, a dormitory which housed Native American students attending Gallup-McKinley County Schools. In 1973 it had about 300 students, including 12 from Arizona. That year the BIA closed Manuelito Hall, planning to move students to various boarding schools. The public school system's funding was not anticipated to be harmed by this closure. There were some families that wanted their children to remain at Gallup-McKinley schools as they perceived them to be better than BIA schools. The BIA planned to send the Arizonans to Arizona, and of the remaining students: 110 high school students to Wingate High School, 80 elementary students to Crownpoint Boarding School, 45 elementary school students to Wingate Elementary School, and others to Chuska Boarding School and Tohatchi Boarding School.[39]
  • Mount Edgecumbe High School in Sitka, Alaska, now operated by the State of Alaska
  • Phoenix Indian School
  • Eight Mile School District - Public school district that was BIE/OIE-funded from 1987 to 2008; in 2008 the BIE declared that it was not tribally controlled and therefore should never have received BIE funds.[40]

See also[]

  • Bureau of Indian Affairs
  • Charles Monty Roessel

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Indian Affairs FAQs". Bureau of Indian Affairs. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  2. ^ "Education, Public Safety, And Restoration Of The Environment". Bureau of Indian Affairs. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  3. ^ "Schools". Bureau of Indian Education. Archived from the original on 4 September 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c Woods, Alden (2020-04-06). "Did failure to close a school expose more people to the coronavirus in Navajo communities?". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 2021-07-29. - Alternate link at ProPublica
  5. ^ Woods, Alden (2020-12-28). "What happened when the Hopi took their schools back from the Bureau of Indian Education". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
  6. ^ "Bureau of Indian Education". Bureau of Indian Affairs. Retrieved 2021-07-24.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b "Why are Native Students Being Left Behind?". . Teach for America. 2014-12-11. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b Woods, Alden; Philip, Agnel (2021-06-09). "The Bureau of Indian Education Hasn't Told the Public How Its Schools Are Performing. So We Did It Instead". ProPublica. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i Woods, Alden (2020-08-06). "The Federal Government Gives Native Students an Inadequate Education, and Gets Away With It". ProPublica. The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 2021-07-29. As a result, the BIE is the only [...] severity of student discipline.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Severns, Maggie (2015-11-25). "How Washington created some of the worst schools in America". Politico. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  11. ^ "While tribal schools suffer, military schools prosper". Minneapolis Star-Tribune. 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2021-08-13.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b Woods, Alden (2020-09-28). "Feds promised Native American students computers and internet. Many are still waiting". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 2021-07-29. - Alternate link: Woods, Alden (2020-09-29). "The Federal Government Promised Native American Students Computers and Internet. Many Are Still Waiting". Tucson Weekly. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b Green, Donald E.; Tonneson, Thomas V., eds. (1991). "American Indians: Social Justice and Public Policy" (PDF). University of Wisconsin System Institute on Race and Ethnicity. p. 186 (PDF p. 198/282).
  14. ^ "BIA and DOD Schools: Student Achievement and Other Characteristics Often Differ from Public Schools'". Government Accountability Office. 2001-09-28. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b "National Directory June 2015" (Archive). Bureau of Indian Education. Retrieved on June 16, 2015.
  16. ^ "Cottonwood School Dedication". Navajo Times. 1968-02-29. p. 5.
  17. ^ "Crystal Boarding School". Bureau of Indian Education. Retrieved 2021-07-12. - The maps and surveys here match a site in Crystal CDP. It is not in Navajo CDP.
  18. ^ "Native American schools face decay, poverty". Associated Press. 2014-10-19. Retrieved 2021-07-12.
  19. ^ "National Directory June 2015" (Archive). Bureau of Indian Education. Retrieved on June 16, 2015.
  20. ^ "Dennehotso Boarding School Replacement Gets Going Following Ground-breaking" (Archive). Bureau of Indian Affairs. p. 16/44. Retrieved on June 16, 2015.
  21. ^ "2019/2020 BIE NAVAJO DISTRICT STUDENT-PARENT HANDBOOK" (PDF). Dennehotso Boarding School. p. 39/48. Retrieved 2021-04-27.
  22. ^ "Rocky Ridge Boarding School". Bureau of Indian Education. Physical Address 10 Miles on Dinnebito Road, Kykotsmovi, AZ, 86039
  23. ^ Allen, Krista (2020-03-28). "Rocky Ridge school closed after infections reported". Navajo Times. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  24. ^ "Rocky Ridge Boarding School holds annual equine fest". Navajo-Hopi Observer. 2008-05-21. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  25. ^ "Directions". Moencopi Day School. Retrieved 2021-07-30. Moencopi Day School Inc 322 AZ-264, Tuba City, AZ 86045 - Compare with the US Census Bureau Map of Moenkopi
  26. ^ "Home". Little Singer Community Grant & Charter Jr. High School. 2011-08-28. Retrieved 2021-07-12. Little Singer Community School, 6 miles SE of Birdsprings Rte 71, Winslow, AZ 86047 - "Little Singer Community School". National Center for Educational Statistics. Retrieved 2021-07-12. Physical Address: 6 miles south of Birdspring [sic] Chapter Winslow, AZ 86047
  27. ^ "About". Little Eagle Grant School. Retrieved 2021-08-06. Sitting Bull School will be having[...]
  28. ^ "About American Horse School". American Horse School. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  29. ^ Mercer, Bob (2018-06-20). "Three schools and tribe get juvenile sub-grants". Capital Journal. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  30. ^ "Pine Ridge schools: Amid beauty, deterioration". Minneapolis Star Tribune. 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  31. ^ Stouff, Roger E. (1982-04-01). "Chitimacha Day School headed for extinction?". St. Mary and Franklin Banner-Tribune. 98 (92). p. 1. - Clipping from Newspapers.com.
  32. ^ "Lukachukai Community School". Dekker Perich Sabatini. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  33. ^ "Chinle Boarding School Relocates to Many Farms". Volumes 1-6. Education Division, Navajo Area, Bureau of Indian Affairs. September 1976. p. PT241.
  34. ^ "Theodore Roosevelt School". Bureau of Indian Education. Retrieved 2021-08-04.
  35. ^ Jump up to: a b Sowers, Carol (1995-09-10). "Many of BIA's schools 'in disgraceful condition'". Arizona Republic. Phoenix, Arizona. pp. B1, B5. - Clipping of first and of second page at Newspapers.com.
  36. ^ "Fort Wingate Is A Landmark In New Mexico's History". The Gallup Independent. Gallup, New Mexico. 1956-08-07. p. Section F page 13. - Clipping from Newspapers.com.
  37. ^ "'Sit, Wait' Is Indian School Curriculum". Tucson Daily Citizen. Associated Press. 1968-12-20. p. 10. - Clipping from Newspapers.com.
  38. ^ "NM school installs solar heater". Las Vegas Optic. Las Vegas, New Mexico. Associated Press. 1977-11-07. p. 10. - Clipping from Newspapers.com.
  39. ^ "BIA Closes Manuelito Hall". Gallup, New Mexico: The Gallup Independent. 1973-04-14. pp. 1, 6. - Clipping of first and of second page at Newspapers.com.
  40. ^ Eckroth, LeAnn (2008-04-20). "Trenton officials trying to overcome money woes". Williston Herald. Retrieved 2021-08-12.

Further reading[]

External links[]

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