1.This Act may be cited as the
Native American Indian Education Act
of 2012
.
2.
(a)Congress finds the following:
(1)Native American-serving nontribal college
institutions have a valuable supplemental role to that provided by tribally
controlled community colleges in making available educational opportunities to
Native American students.
(2)Some 4-year Native
American-serving nontribal college institutions provide tuition-free education,
with the support of the State in which the institutions are located, as
mandated by Federal statute, to hundreds of Native American students in
fulfillment of a condition under which the United States provided land and
facilities for colleges to a State or college.
(3)The value of the
Native American student tuition waiver benefits contributed by these colleges
and the States that support them today far exceeds the value of the original
grant of land and facilities.
(4)The ongoing
financial burden of meeting this Federal mandate to provide tuition-free
education to Indian students is no longer equitably shared among the States and
colleges because it does not distinguish between Indian students who are
residents of the State or of another State.
(5)Native student
tuition waiver benefits are now at risk of being terminated by severe budget
constraints being experienced by these colleges and the States which support
them.
(b)It
is the purpose of this Act to ensure that Federal funding is provided to
support and sustain the longstanding Federal mandate requiring colleges and
States to waive, in certain circumstances, tuition charges for Native American
Indian students admitted to an undergraduate college program, including the
waiver of tuition charges for Indian students who are not residents of the
State in which the college is located.
3.State relief from
Federal mandate
(a)
(1)Subject to paragraphs
(2) and (3), for fiscal year 2013 and each succeeding fiscal year, the
Secretary of Education shall pay to any eligible college an amount equal to the
charges for tuition for such year for all Indian students who—
(A)are not residents of the State in which the
college is located; and
(B)are enrolled in the college for the
academic year ending before the beginning of such fiscal year.
(2)For purposes of this
section, an eligible college is any 4-year Native American-serving nontribal
institution of higher education that provides tuition-free education as
mandated by Federal statute, with the support of the State in which it is
located, to Native American Indian students in fulfillment of a condition under
which the college or State received its original grant of land and facilities
from the United States.
(3)The amount paid to any college for each
fiscal year under paragraph (1) may not exceed the amount equal to the charges
for tuition for all Indian students of that college who were not residents of
the State in which the college is located and who were enrolled in the college
for academic year 2012–2013.
(b)Any amounts received
by an eligible college under this section shall be treated as a reimbursement
from the State in which the college is located, and shall be considered as
provided in fulfillment of any Federal mandate upon the State to admit Indian
students free of charge of tuition.
(c)Nothing in this
Act shall be construed to relieve any State from any mandate the State may have
under Federal law to reimburse a college for each academic year—
(1)with respect to Indian students enrolled in
the college who are not residents of the State in which the college is located,
any amount of charges for tuition for such students for such academic year that
exceeds the amount received under this section for such academic year;
and
(2)with respect to
Indian students enrolled in the college who are residents of the State in which
the college is located, an amount equal to the charges for tuition for such
students for such academic year.
(d)In this section, the term Indian
students includes reference to the term Indian pupils as
that term has been utilized in Federal statutes imposing a mandate upon any
college or State to provide tuition-free education to Native American Indian
students in fulfillment of a condition under which the college or State
received its original grant of land and facilities from the United
States.
4.
(a)Notwithstanding any
other provision of law, of all available unobligated funds, $15,000,000 in
appropriated discretionary funds are hereby rescinded.
(b)The
Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall determine and identify
from which appropriation accounts the rescission under subsection (a) shall
apply and the amount of such rescission that shall apply to each such account.
Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall submit a report to the
Secretary of the Treasury and Congress of the accounts and amounts determined
and identified for rescission under the preceding sentence.
(c)This
section shall not apply to the unobligated funds of the Department of Defense,
the Department of Veterans Affairs, or the Department of Education.