[Senate Hearing 113-523]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 113-523
INDIAN EDUCATION SERIES: ENSURING THE
BUREAU OF INDIAN EDUCATION HAS THE
TOOLS NECESSARY TO IMPROVE
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
MAY 21, 2014
__________
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COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS
JON TESTER, Montana, Chairman
JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming, Vice Chairman
TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
MARIA CANTWELL, Washington LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska
TOM UDALL, New Mexico JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota
AL FRANKEN, Minnesota MIKE CRAPO, Idaho
MARK BEGICH, Alaska DEB FISCHER, Nebraska
BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii
HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota
Mary J. Pavel, Majority Staff Director and Chief Counsel
Rhonda Harjo, Minority Deputy Chief Counsel
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Hearing held on May 21, 2014..................................... 1
Statement of Senator Barrasso.................................... 2
Statement of Senator Heitkamp.................................... 16
Statement of Senator Johnson..................................... 13
Statement of Senator Murkowski................................... 14
Statement of Senator Tester...................................... 1
Witnesses
Benally, Timothy, Acting Superintendent, Navajo Nation Department
of Dinee Education............................................. 31
Prepared statement........................................... 33
Brady, Thomas M., Director, Department of Defense Education
Activity, U.S. Department of Defense........................... 6
Prepared statement........................................... 7
Brewer, Hon. Bryan, President, Oglala Sioux Tribe; accompanied by
Dayna Brave Eagle, Director, Tribal Education Department....... 21
Prepared statement........................................... 24
Monette, Melvin, President-Elect, National Indian Education
Association.................................................... 41
Prepared statement........................................... 43
Roessel, Charles M., Director, Bureau of Indian Education, U.S.
Department of the Interior..................................... 3
Prepared statement........................................... 4
Appendix
Horse, Jon Whirlwind, President, Dakota Area Consortium of Treaty
Schools, prepared statement.................................... 60
Nez, Angela Barney, Executive Director, Dinee Bi Olta School
Board Association, Inc., prepared statement.................... 53
Response to written questions submitted by Hon. Jon Tester to:
Melvin Monette............................................... 66
Charles M. Roessel........................................... 69
Response to written questions submitted by Hon. Tom Udall to
Charles M. Roessel............................................. 71
Tuba City Boarding School Governing Board, letter to Sally Jewell 64
Yazzie, Albert A., President, Crystal Boarding School Board of
Education, prepared statement.................................. 62
INDIAN EDUCATION SERIES: ENSURING THE BUREAU OF INDIAN EDUCATION HAS
THE TOOLS NECESSARY TO IMPROVE
----------
WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 2014
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Indian Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 3:03 p.m. in room
628, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Jon Tester,
Chairman of the Committee, presiding.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JON TESTER,
U.S. SENATOR FROM MONTANA
The Chairman. Now I want to call the Committee to come to
order. Today the Committee will examine the issues and
challenges facing the Bureau of Indian Education at the
Department of the Interior.
About 41,000 students are educated in BIE schools each
year. It is critical that we make sure those students are
getting the support they need to succeed in the classroom. This
will be the Committee's third haring on Indian education this
Congress. The previous two hearings looked at early childhood
education and education of our Indian students in public
schools. I look forward to continuing these hearings and
identifying a path forward, whether that is through legislation
or administrative solutions, to improve education across Indian
Country.
Last year, the secretaries of Education and Interior
convened at the American Indian Education Study Group to
propose reforms to the BIE system that seeks to improve student
achievement. Today, we will hear from the BIE on their proposal
of redesign.
I would like to note that while the Committee appreciates
Dr. Roessel's attendance here today, we are disappointed that
Secretary Jewell was not able to attend in person. It was one
year ago that she testified before this Committee and stated
that Indian education is an embarrassment. This Committee has
had hoped she would appear today to discuss the efforts being
made by the Department to improve BIE and provide us a renewed
commitment to improving Indian education.
In addition to the BIE, we will hear from the Director of
the Department of Defense Education Activity. The DoDEA and the
BIE are the only two federally-operated school systems
operating in the United States. While they have no schools in
Indian Country, the Department of Defense has approximately the
same number of schools as the BIE. Yet their proposed
replacement school construction budget for next year is $315
million, compared to the BIE's request of $2 million. Clearly,
there is a need for school construction in Indian communities.
I am disappointed that we continue to have this conversation
year after year. I hope the DoD can share with us information
about their programs and perhaps provide some ideas on how to
help the BIE improve their school systems.
The Department of the Interior is not solely to blame for
the challenges that the BIE faces. I often say that when you
point a finger at someone there are three fingers pointing
right back at you. So I look forward to working with our
Committee members, tribes, tribal leaders and BIE and the
Office of Management and Budget to ensure that every student in
Indian Country has the tools necessary to succeed.
I want to thank our witnesses for joining us today. I look
forward to the testimony. Senator Barrasso, you have the floor.
STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN BARRASSO,
U.S. SENATOR FROM WYOMING
Senator Barrasso. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I would just like to second the comments that you made, and
I appreciate your holding this hearing. We both know Indian
children have a remarkable capacity to learn. Many Indian
children excel at school, grow up to become teachers, business
owners, doctors, lawyers, and government leaders. The Federal
Government has important responsibilities in educating Indian
children. But what we do not see is consistent, successful
academic achievement at the Bureau of Indian Education schools.
As you mentioned, Mr. Chairman, on May 15, 2013, in
testimony before this very Committee, Secretary of Interior,
Secretary Jewell, referred to Indian education as an
embarrassment. In recent years, both the Government
Accountability Office and the Department of the Interior
Inspector General have echoed her comment. These offices have
found a lack of consistent leadership. They have found
deteriorating facilities. They have found poor management at
the Bureau of Indian Education.
So I look forward to hearing what progress the Department
has made in addressing these issues and improving student
achievement.
With that, I want to welcome the witnesses and look forward
to their testimony. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Do any other members have opening statements?
Okay, I would like to welcome our first panel. I would like
to remind the witnesses, you have five minutes. Your entire
testimony will be part of the written record. If you stick
close to that five minutes, we will be able to ask you some
interesting questions.
Dr. Roessel is the Director of the Bureau of Indian
Education at the Department of the Interior, our first
panelist. And then Mr. Thomas Brady, who is the Director of the
Department of Defense Education Activity. These folks are going
to be representing the Administration as the only two
federally-operated school systems in the Nation.
Before you start your testimony, Dr. Roessel, well, go
ahead. Just go ahead with your testimony.
STATEMENT OF CHARLES M. ROESSEL, DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF INDIAN
EDUCATION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Dr. Roessel. Good afternoon, Chairman Tester, Vice Chairman
Barrasso and members of the Committee. Thank you for the
invitation to testify and provide the Department of the
Interior's vision for Indian education.
Indian education runs through my blood. I am a Navajo from
Round Rock, Arizona, and I come from a family of educators. My
parents helped begin the first tribally-controlled school and
the first tribal college. I attended Rough Rock Demonstration
School and later became the superintendent of this tribally-
controlled school.
I have taught at Navajo Community College, which is now
Dine College. I view the Bureau of Indian Education not as just
another school system, but my school system.
Today we are here to answer, does BIE have the tools to
improve. This begs the question: what are we crafting with
these tools? Let me say what we are not trying to build with
these tools. We will not build a bigger bureaucracy that
ignores outcomes and accepts mediocrity. We will not bombard
tribes with endless mandates and infringe on their sovereignty.
We will not continue to fail.
Every tool that the BIE employs must be for the explicit
use of creating successful American Indian students to take on
an ever-increasing global society with a passion and pride,
knowing their Native language, history and culture.
In September, 2013, Secretary Jewell and Education
Secretary Duncan convened the study group. To begin this
process, we listened to more than 300 tribal leaders,
principals, teachers, school board members, parents and even
students from BIA operated schools as well as tribal schools. A
lot of what we heard was not new. These challenges include
difficulty attracting effective teachers to BIE schools in
remote locations, attempts to comply with 23 different States'
academic standards, resource constraints, organization and
budgetary fragmentation, and finally, funding tribal grant
support costs at only 67 percent.
Based on the internal discussions and tribal consultations,
the proposed redesign of the BIE focuses on the following four
pillars of reform: highly effective teachers and principals,
agile organization environment, budget that supports capacity-
building mission, and a comprehensive support through
partnerships. At the core of all four of these recommendations
is the belief that tribes are full partners in the education of
their students.
I would like to take a minute to explain how these four
pillars support each other and are not separate. Let's look at
pillar one, highly effective teachers and principals. The most
important tool to students' success is the teacher. BIE and
tribes need tools to recruit, train and retain highly effective
teachers. BIE and tribes also need an agile organization that
is able to respond to the unique challenges with purpose and
vision, to see around the corner so they can understand and
analyze the demographic data that might be needed in order to
hire another kindergarten teacher or a change in standards
where you may need another science teacher.
But to make this work, we also need budgets that are
aligned to the priorities of tribes, schools and the BIE. If
the focus is on training the teachers we already have, then our
BIE and tribal budgets must reflect the need for specific
training in, say, the Common Core State standards. Once
students, teachers and principals have done their jobs,
assessments tell us how well. Yet in more than 60 percent of
our schools we lack the IT infrastructure, both in computers
and bandwidth, to administer online assessments that are linked
to Common Core standards.
And without parental, community and tribal support, these
efforts are doomed for failure. Our students need the
collective support from not just schools, but from the tribal
and Federal community. This is but one example of how these
pillars are integrated to reform the BIE.
In conclusion, the tools addressed today are not the tools
we need for the new BIE. The BIE that reflects a gradual
evolution from a direct provider of education to a provider of
customized support to meet the unique needs of each school and
tribes as they exercise their sovereignty through self-
determination. We are building alongside the tribal nations the
schools that reflect tribal self-determination as we fulfill
our commitment to American Indian students attending our
schools.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I would be
happy to answer questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Roessel follows:]
Prepared Statement of Charles M. Roessel, Director, Bureau of Indian
Education, U.S. Department of the Interior
Good afternoon Chairman Tester, Vice Chairman Barrasso, and Members
of the Committee. Thank you for the invitation to appear today.
I appreciate the opportunity to testify and provide the Department
of the Interior's (``Department'') vision for Indian education in
schools operated or funded by the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE).
This is an exciting time for the BIE. We have made a lot of progress
during the past year and we are hopeful that we have reached a turning
point in the BIE's history. This Administration is committed to
providing high-quality educational opportunities for students educated
in BIE-funded elementary and secondary schools throughout Indian
Country.
The Bureau of Indian Education
The BIE supports education programs and residential facilities for
Indian students from federally recognized tribes at 183 elementary and
secondary schools and dormitories. Currently, the BIE directly operates
57 schools and dormitories and tribes operate the remaining 126 schools
and dormitories through grants or contracts with the BIE. During the
2013-2014 school year, BIE-funded schools served approximately 48,000
individual K-12 American Indian and Alaska Native students and
residential boarders. Approximately 3,800 teachers, professional staff,
principals, and school administrators work within the 57 BIE-operated
schools. In addition, approximately twice that number work within the
126 tribally-operated schools.
The BIE has the responsibilities of a state educational agency for
purposes of administering federal grant programs for education. BIE
responsibilities include providing instruction that is aligned to the
applicable State academic standards set forth in the regulations;
working with the Department of Education to administer education
grants; and providing oversight and accountability for school and
student success. BIE is also responsible for ensuring compliance with
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) and the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), among other federal
laws pertaining to educating students.
The BIE faces unique and urgent challenges in providing a high-
quality education. These challenges include: difficulty attracting
effective teachers to BIE-funded schools (which are most often located
in remote locations), the current Interior regulatory requirement that
BIE-funded schools comply with the (23 different) states' academic
standards in which they are located, resource constraints, and
organizational and budgetary fragmentation. A lack of consistent
leadership--evidenced by the BIE's 33 directors since 1979--and
strategic planning have also limited the BIE's ability to improve its
services. Furthermore, over the years, federal American Indian
education has been contracted or granted to tribes in approximately
two-thirds of the BIE school system, but the BIE's management structure
and budget have not evolved to match the BIE's long-term trajectory of
increased tribal control over the daily operation of schools.
Currently, the Department is funding approximately 67 percent of the
need for contract support costs for tribally-controlled schools. Each
of these challenges has contributed to poor outcomes for BIE students.
A New Vision for the BIE
The challenges before us are daunting; however, we must have the
courage to do what is morally right. The Department and the Obama
administration are fully committed to improving American Indian
education. In fact, in September 2013, Secretary Jewell and Education
Secretary Duncan appointed a set of experts to identify the challenges
and problems faced by the BIE-funded schools, and to develop and
propose recommendations that will help promote tribal control while
ensuring that all BIE students are ready for college and career. The
team combines management, legal, education, and tribal expertise,
ensuring that the recommendations are grounded in a comprehensive
understanding of the federal government's trust responsibility as well
as the elements of effective teaching and learning.
The team immediately went to work and conducted extensive listening
sessions with tribal leaders, educators, and community members across
Indian Country, and analyzed a wide range of primary and secondary
data. Based on those discussions and that analysis, the team began work
on a proposal to redesign BIE that reflects the BIE's gradual evolution
from a direct provider of education to a provider of customized support
to meet the unique needs of each school and tribe. The BIE redesign
would re-prioritize existing staff positions and resources to meet
capacity-building needs in a timely manner, particularly in the areas
of hiring effective teachers and leaders, strategic and financial
management, and instructional improvement.
In April, the team issued draft recommendations for purposes of
tribal consultation that discuss the systemic challenges facing the BIE
and how to resolve them. The proposed recommendations aim to provide an
agile organization that is focused on three core areas:
Sovereignty and Indian Education: Building the capacity of
tribes to operate high-performing schools and shape what
children are learning about their tribes, language, and culture
in schools.
School Improvement: Providing targeted, highly customized
technical assistance to schools through School Improvement
Solutions Teams that are embedded in the regions and in close
proximity to schools.
Responsive Business Operations: Focusing on teacher and
principal recruitment, acquisition and grants, facilities,
educational technology, and communications under the direction
of the Director, BIE, to ensure that the educational
requirements in these business lines are addressed
appropriately.
We conducted four tribal consultations regarding the preliminary
recommendations at BIE-funded schools in Arizona, South Dakota,
Washington, and Oklahoma. The consultations provided valuable insight
and comment on the team's draft report and recommendations. The final
report will incorporate feedback from tribal leaders and other BIE
stakeholders. Although much work needs to be done, we have taken an
important first step--the BIE and tribes have agreed on a general path
forward for the BIE.
Outline of the Proposed Recommendations
Based on internal discussions and tribal consultation, the proposed
redesign of the BIE focuses on the following four pillars of reform:
Highly Effective Teachers and Principals--We would identify,
recruit, retain and empower diverse, highly effective teachers
and principals to maximize the highest achievement for every
student in all BIE-funded schools.
Agile Organizational Environment--We would develop a
responsive organization that provides the resources, direction
and services to tribes so that they can help their students
attain high-levels of student achievement.
Budget that Supports Capacity Building Mission--We would
develop a budget that is aligned with and supports BIE's new
mission of tribal capacity building and scaling up best
practices.
Comprehensive Supports through Partnerships--We would foster
parental, community, and organizational partnerships to provide
the emotional and social supports that BIE students need in
order to be ready to learn.
By focusing relentlessly on the four pillars identified above, the
proposed redesign would allow us to achieve our ultimate goal: world-
class instruction for all BIE students delivered by tribes and the BIE.
This effort will focus especially on supporting and building the
capacity of the tribally-controlled grants schools to improve
educational outcomes. Tribally-controlled schools face numerous
challenges in administering programs. DOI and the BIE will work with
tribally-controlled schools to support implementation of improvements
initiated from within tribal communities.
The BIE faces numerous infrastructure challenges. Of the 183 BIE
schools, 34 percent (63 schools) are in poor condition, and 27 percent
are over 40 years old. These substandard conditions are not conducive
to educational achievement, and impact learning opportunities for
students. As part of the transformation strategy we will develop a six-
year plan aimed at improving school facility conditions, similar to the
six-year strategy used by the Department of Defense Education Agency to
successfully replace and upgrade 70 percent of its schools in poor
condition.
Information Technology (IT) infrastructure is another major
challenge. The current lack of broadband access in the majority of the
BIE school system presents enormous challenges for the BIE. Many BIE-
funded schools are located in the most remote locations in the country.
Most schools have only a T-1 level of connectivity--entirely inadequate
to meet the demands of 21st century teaching and learning. By helping
connect teachers to students and parents--and helping schools share
classes, curricula, and other resources--broadband-enabled teaching and
learning has expanded educational opportunities for many students.
Broadband access is particularly important for schools in remote
locations because it can mitigate the devastating impact that
geographic isolation can have on student achievement. It is especially
critical for the BIE to effectively implement the Common Core State
Standards as well as a 21st century, computer-based online assessment
aligned to these new standards. Less than 30 percent of BIE-funded
schools have the bandwidth and computers necessary to administer these
assessments. Through this transformation, we will be looking at ways to
improve broadband access.
Conclusion
This collective vision for BIE--a vision rooted in the belief that
all children can learn and that all tribes can operate high-achieving
schools--would allow the BIE to achieve improved results in the form of
higher student scores, improved school operations, and increased tribal
control over schools.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I would be happy to
answer any questions the Committee may have.
The Chairman. Thank you for your testimony, Dr. Roessel.
You are up, Mr. Brady.
STATEMENT OF THOMAS M. BRADY, DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
EDUCATION ACTIVITY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Mr. Brady. Good afternoon, Chairman Tester and Vice
Chairman Barrasso, and distinguished members of the Committee.
Thank you for the invitation to appear today.
The Department of Defense Education Activity is responsible
for ensuring that children of our Nation's active duty military
families have the knowledge and skills required to meet the
demands of today's highly-globalized society. DoDEA is a
quality school system built over the past 60 years to provide
specific and critical service to our military and DoD civilian
families across the globe.
We have done this through the extraordinary efforts of our
dedicated teachers, administrators, support staff and
educational leaders. DoDEA schools are highly regarded by our
military families for the quality of life they provide
worldwide, and our school system is recognized as a
contributing factor in the military services' ability to
recruit and retain our high quality all volunteer force.
I appreciate the opportunity to participate in this hearing
and discuss the strategic initiatives DoDEA is implementing
over the next five years to achieve our vision of becoming a
world-class school system. We realize that achieving our vision
requires improvement in two key fundamental areas. We must
improve what we are teaching our students and we must improve
how we are teaching it.
To initiate this process we are increasing the rigor within
our school system by implementing new and college career-ready
academic standards. Our new standards will be complemented by
new curriculum, instructional strategies and assessments. The
three components will be closely aligned to the academic
standards to ensure that teaching and learning in every
classroom is focused on student mastery of not only grade-
essential content knowledge, but also higher orderly thinking
and communication skills.
We are also assessing organizational changes to improve the
support provided to our schools. Through these changes we will
increase the instructional support provided to our teachers and
students and improve the effectiveness and efficiency in which
we provide those services.
We recognize that for DoDEA to achieve new levels of
excellence in student achievement, we must raise expectations
and strengthen accountability throughout our organization. We
will do so by creating an organization culture that stresses
two essential conditions: a common belief that all our students
can and will meet higher standards and a collective sense of
urgency and obligation that focuses organizational capacity or
achieving universal academic success.
DoDEA's increasingly constrained resource environment has
underscored the need for our planning and budget process to be
better aligned. We are not only striving to project program
costs over the long term more effectively, but in anticipation
of further budget cuts, we continue to identify and pursue
opportunities to operate our school system more efficiently.
DoDEA's vision is ambitious and not without real
challenges. But the Department of Defense and the DoDEA team
stand committed to meeting those challenges. Within the next
five years, we intend to be the national leader in preparing
students for success at the next higher grade level and meet
the high demands of today's colleges, career and citizenship
responsibilities upon graduation from high school.
Thank you again for the opportunity to testify today. I
would be happy to answer any questions you may have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Brady follows:]
Prepared Statement of Thomas M. Brady, Director, Department of Defense
Education Activity, U.S. Department of Defense
Introduction
Chairman Tester, Vice Chairman Barrasso, and distinguished members
of the committee, I would like to thank you for inviting me today to
discuss the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA). DoDEA, as
one of only two Federally-operated school systems, is responsible for
planning, directing, coordinating, and managing prekindergarten through
12th grade educational programs on behalf of the Department of Defense
(DoD). DoDEA is globally positioned, operating 191 accredited schools
in 14 districts located in 12 foreign countries, 7 states, Guam, and
Puerto Rico. DoDEA employs approximately 8,000 educators who serve more
than 82,000 children of active duty military and DoD civilian families.
DoDEA is committed to ensuring that all school-aged children of
military families are provided a world-class education that prepares
them for postsecondary education and/or career success and to be
leading contributors in their communities as well as in our 21st
century globalized society.
DoDEA--A Unified School System
The DoDEA Headquarters (HQ) serves in several capacities that
facilitate DoDEA's ability to operate as a unified school system. In
addition to serving as a DoD Field Activity, DoDEA HQ fulfills
responsibilities commonly performed by State Education Agencies (SEA)
and Local Education Agencies (LEA). Similar to an SEA, DoDEA HQ
establishes system-wide policies, academic standards, assessments, and
accountability. Similar to an LEA, DoDEA HQ establishes system-wide
curriculum, instructional frameworks, professional development
programs, and performs system-wide resource management, facility
recapitalization, and strategic planning. By virtue of the HQ
performing the functions of both an SEA and LEA, DoDEA is able to
operate as a unified school system, achieving system-wide coherence and
unity of effort in spite of its global geographic dispersion.
Over the course of the next five years, DoDEA will implement its
new strategic plan for achieving new levels of school system
excellence, most importantly in the areas of school performance and
student achievement. I would like to share with the committee the
strategic reforms DoDEA is preparing to undertake that are essential to
achieving excellence in these two areas.
Pursuit of Excellence
DoDEA's path to achieving new levels of excellence in school
performance and student achievement will largely be determined by our
ability to successfully achieve three conditions in every DoDEA school:
we must establish and communicate high expectations for all students;
we must ensure all students have access to high-quality educational
opportunities; and, most importantly, we must ensure all of our
students achieve high academic standards. To achieve such aspirations,
we have determined that we must focus our strategic efforts on
mastering research-based fundamentals essential to improving what we
teach and how we teach. A key facet of our strategic approach is the
implementation of a school improvement model that establishes the
capacity in each school to be an effective catalyst for higher-level
student learning. The fundamental components of our school improvement
model are summarized below.
Standards-Based System: To fulfill our obligation to prepare all
students to meet the higher demands of today's colleges, careers, and
citizenship responsibilities, we are taking necessary actions to
establish a coherent standards-based educational system. Our standards-
based system will enable our students to progressively master
knowledge, skills, and dispositions essential for success at the next
grade level and postsecondary success upon graduating. A complex yet
critical condition of success for our standards-based system is to
ensure system components--rigorous academic standards, curriculum,
instruction, assessments, professional development, and technology--are
properly aligned.
Rigorous Academic Standards: Over the course of the next five
years, DoDEA will join the majority of states in implementing the
Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in mathematics and English language
arts/literacy. Compared to DoDEA's current academic standards, the CCSS
are more rigorous and better define the essential content knowledge and
higher-order thinking skills students should possess at the end of a
course and/or grade level in order to remain on path for college and/or
career readiness upon graduating from high school. As such, the CCSS
will form the foundation from which all other components of DoDEA's
standards-based system are aligned.
Curriculum: To ensure our curriculum (course/subject area content)
remains aligned to the new standards, we will further develop and
implement a comprehensive, vertically- and horizontally-aligned
prekindergarten through grade 12 curricular framework. The framework,
by providing high-quality course content in sequenced units of
instruction that establish a teaching and learning focus on targeted
standards, will achieve quality and consistency in what is taught and
learned in each course, grade level, and in each of our schools.
Instruction: We recognize that the success of our curriculum
ultimately depends on the ability of our teachers to deliver rigorous
and relevant standards-based instruction that progressively develops
student knowledge, skills, and dispositions. In order for our students
to master rigorous standards, instruction must be equally rigorous in
actively engaging and challenging students so that they develop a deep
understanding of content knowledge and improve higher-order thinking
and communication skills. Likewise, we will emphasize the importance of
students understanding the relevance of what they are learning. To the
greatest extent possible, lessons will require students to apply and
demonstrate targeted knowledge, skills, and dispositions.
Assessment: We will also establish a more comprehensive assessment
system that provides the means to effectively and efficiently measure
the level at which our students are learning to the more rigorous
standards. We will consider a full range of assessments to accommodate
the need for classroom assessments used by teachers to frequently check
for student learning and the need for common assessments that
objectively measure the level of student mastery of course and/or
grade-level academic standards against established performance
benchmarks. In short, our assessment system will be considered fully
developed when it serves to effectively: (1) measure student-level
proficiency in applying/demonstrating targeted knowledge, higher-order
thinking and communication skills, and dispositions; and (2) improve
the quality, consistency, and rigor of curriculum and classroom
instruction.
Teacher and Principal Professional Development: Research clearly
demonstrates that teachers and principals have the most influence on
student achievement within a school. For this reason, we will make the
professional development of our teachers and principals a top priority.
Our professional development effort will focus on ensuring our teachers
and our principals, as instructional leaders, have the requisite
skills, knowledge, strategies, and beliefs necessary to provide
rigorous and relevant instruction. In addition to a robust professional
development program, we will also establish a common instructional
framework. The framework will promote and model research-based teacher
and instructional leader practices and skills crucial to planning and
preparing coherent lesson plans; delivering instruction in a student-
focused, individualized manner that actively engages and challenges
each student to apply and demonstrate targeted knowledge and skills;
and creating a classroom environment that enables student higher-level
learning.
Student Capacity and Motivation to Learn: Our students' ability to
successfully adapt to the increased rigor within our system will
depend, in part, on our ability to build each student's capacity and
motivation to meet higher academic expectations. We recognize that
there are many external factors that influence student dispositions and
contribute to inequities in achievement levels. However, we also
recognize there is much we can do in the school environment to better
prepare our students for the learning process and once in-process,
better meet the unique learning needs of each student. To do so, we
will ensure our educators are more cognizant of the need to
individualize instruction to account for differences in student
learning styles and abilities, to check for student understanding and
provide feedback on a more frequent basis, and create respectful
classroom environments where students feel valued, safe, and at ease
taking intellectual risks.
Technology: We will increase our emphasis on integrating technology
throughout our curriculum to improve the ability of our students to
learn and create in a digital environment. We will do so by continuing
our efforts to improve and standardize the technology infrastructure
within our school facilities and by integrating the digital learning
resources available to students at every grade level. Our transition
from a teacher-centered, rote-learning model to a blended digital
environment geared toward student creation hinges on three initiatives.
First, we will provide high-quality digital materials that comply with
federal accessibility standards and are accessible to all students and
teachers, including persons with disabilities and English language
learners. Secondly, we are implementing a learning management system
where teachers can leverage their creativity in their lesson planning
and delivery, providing a consistent student experience. Finally, we
will provide teachers training on the use of collaborative digital
tools that allow students to show not just what they know, but what
they can construct with that knowledge.
Partnerships: We strongly believe that the success of our school
system and schools depends on our ability to cultivate the shared
commitment of community stakeholders. We strongly emphasize the need to
proactively establish partnerships with parents that empower them to be
effective advocates and partners in their children's education. As all
DoDEA schools are located on military installations and central to our
military communities, we place similar emphasis on the value and need
for our schools to establish close military-community connections.
Through community partnerships, our schools are able to leverage
community resources that serve to improve student educational
opportunities and help address student social-emotional issues related
to the military's transient lifestyle and parental deployments. We also
work closely with the Military Services to remain responsive to their
constituents' educational concerns and force restructuring and
infrastructure consolidation efforts. Lastly, we will continue to
pursue high-value partnerships with public, non-profit, and other DoD
components that are an integral part of our strategy for providing
relevant instruction that actively engages students, especially in the
areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Academic Support Systems: In addition to our educational system
components, we will also ensure the alignment of two priority academic
support systems--the DoDEA Accountability and Data Management Systems.
The two systems work together to convert student performance data into
meaningful information that clarifies what is impacting student
achievement and why, so that appropriate action(s) can be taken by the
appropriate organizational level(s).
Accountability System: Over the course of the next several years,
we will strengthen our accountability system to focus the organization
on achieving standards of excellence in the areas most important to
becoming a high-performing school system. The accountability system
framework will articulate ambitious (but achievable) performance
expectations for our students, schools, and school system. The system
will consist of a comprehensive set of school system performance
indicators that: (1) provide evidence of student learning and whether
students are on track to meet predictive benchmarks along the
educational trajectory (e.g., reading proficiency at the end of the
third grade); (2) identify students and schools in need of support; (3)
establish a laser-like focus on the initiatives, programs, and systems
most essential to improving student postsecondary readiness for all
students, including students with disabilities and English language
learners; (4) provide evidence of improved workforce and system
capacity; and 5) facilitate acknowledgment of exceptional individual
and organizational achievement.
Data Management System: At the core of our school system's
continuous improvement efforts is the need for valid, reliable, and
timely student performance data that reflects each student's academic
performance and progress by content area, grade, and standardized
assessment. To ensure essential performance data is consistently
available to the right system stakeholders in a meaningful way,
especially teachers to facilitate timely instructional decisions, we
plan to develop and implement a more comprehensive and responsive
system-wide data management system. This system will serve as the
``integrity linchpin'' that reliably provides critical student
performance data from our assessment system to our accountability
system.
Culture of Accountability and Raised Expectations: An imperative
for achieving excellence throughout our school system is an
organizational culture of accountability and raised expectations for
all students and their families. We recognize that to grow from good to
great, every part of our school system must become more accountable for
improving student and school performance. We must also establish a
common belief that all students with appropriate services and supports
are capable of achieving higher academic standards and that our higher
expectations will positively influence student outcomes. Furthermore,
for students to achieve their full academic potential, we understand
that our school system must also meet higher expectations in not only
ensuring equal access to a rigorous curriculum, but in achieving
universal student accomplishment and academic success as well. An
important first step in ``reculturing'' our organization will be to
develop the cultural competence of our workforce and to provide
training that will enable the workforce to educate all children
successfully.
Educational Facility Capital Investment Program: DoDEA's
Educational Facility Capital Investment Program coherently identifies
and prioritizes the sustainment, restoration, modernization, and
replacement of our school facilities worldwide. By 2021, DoD and DoDEA
are committed to ensuring all DoDEA school facilities meet DoD's
acceptable condition standards and are accessible to persons with
disabilities. The program includes centrally managed inspection,
requirements determination, and prioritization processes that
facilitate the inclusion of DoDEA's facility capital investment
requirements in the DoD Future Years Defense Program, which details
DoD's five-year (current year and following four years) program
requirements. The DoD's investment demonstrates its shared commitment
with DoDEA to achieve and sustain quality DoD school facilities that
provide safe and secure 21st century learning environments that are
accessible to all of our students, staff, and their families.
In summary, the strategic reforms DoDEA plans to implement over the
next five years are ambitious and complex. While we understand the
challenges in implementing the reforms are real and should not be
underestimated, we clearly understand our moral obligation to be
resolute in their successful execution. The stakes are too high for our
students and our Nation not to be successful in this endeavor.
Conclusion
Mr. Chairman, in conclusion, I want to thank you and the members of
this committee for the opportunity to provide an overview of DoDEA and
our most important strategic reform initiatives. It is our honor and
privilege to contribute to the education of the children of our
military families. The education of all of the children of our Nation's
heroes must not be among the sacrifices our country asks of them. I
look forward to your questions.
The Chairman. And thank you for your testimony, Mr. Brady.
I will start with teaching vacancies. The BIE has about 183
schools, DoDEA has about 193 schools. Mr. Roessel, how many
teaching vacancies do you have in the BIE schools?
Dr. Roessel. Teacher vacancies?
The Chairman. Yes, how many positions do you have that
aren't filled?
Dr. Roessel. I would not know that number off hand. It
changes. Right now is when contract renewals are taking place.
The Chairman. Any idea? Can you give me a ballpark figure?
Can you give me a number, a percentage?
Dr. Roessel. I would say based on previous knowledge, we
probably have 15 to 20 percent vacancy right now.
The Chairman. Okay, so you don't have that broken out by
elementary and high school and that kind of stuff?
Dr. Roessel. No, we do not.
The Chairman. How about DoDEA? How many vacancies do you
guys have?
Mr. Brady. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. At the beginning of the
year it is usually about 7.5 percent. But during the year it is
limited to about 1.5 percent because of people's retirements
and health issues.
The Chairman. I got you. I believe both of you have housing
programs, is that not correct?
Dr. Roessel. That is correct.
Mr. Brady. We do not provide housing for our teachers. We
provide housing allowances.
The Chairman. You provide a housing allowance, not a house.
Mr. Brady. That is correct.
The Chairman. So this question is more for the BIE. What
percentage of your teachers live in tribal-supplied housing?
Dr. Roessel. For the schools, we would not have that
number, because a lot of our tribal schools, they operate their
schools on their own. So we do not know exactly how many
teachers are living lin tribal housing or BIE-funded housing or
on their own.
The Chairman. I got you. So here is what I would like to
know, so you can get back to me. Get back to me with the solid
figures on vacancies, and I don't want to know them at the end
of the year, I want to know them on average. You guys do
student assessments and how many kids are in your schools, at
the same time, tell me how many teachers you have. Tell me how
many you are down, how many are out. And give me an idea on how
many, what percentage of them housing is provided for.
The point I am trying to make here is that every tribe is a
little bit different. But housing is a big deal. If you don't
have housing, and it is obviously different in DoDEA schools.
But if you don't have housing, you are going to have a heck of
a time finding a teacher, that is all. So I kind of want to get
a grasp or my hands around that, so when we are talking about
budgeting, we are talking about dollars and how we are going to
allocate them. Since money is tight, we need to make sure it
works. If there is a big discrepancy here, we might be able to
make the case to the folks on this Committee and others to be
able to plus up some budgetary items.
With that, I will turn it over to Senator Barrasso.
Senator Barrasso. I appreciate your line of questioning,
Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Roessel, your written testimony recites the significant
work undertaken for the proposed redesign of the Bureau. This
redesign will allow the Bureau to provide world class
instruction for all Bureau students. Could you give me a little
further information on the time lines, maybe the milestones,
that are developed as part of your redesign?
Dr. Roessel. There are some things that we have undertaken
currently, things that we can do in-house, administratively,
that are just common sense. Along those lines is the adoption
of Common Core, aligning curriculum, aligning professional
development. These are things that we can do in-house,
internally, as well as then talk to tribes and try to work with
tribes.
So part of that process then is already undertaken. Now,
what we are looking at, trying to do with the study group is
that we have a few milestones. But we are hoping to try to get
those recommendations, we have just finished consultations. We
are still receiving written consultation and comments through
June 2nd, so we haven't finalized the actual recommendations.
But again, without a definite time line, what we are looking at
is trying to look at starting some more of the implementations
with the new fiscal year. But we cannot afford to wait any
longer, so we are trying to move forward as fast as we can.
Senator Barrasso. Just following up on what the Chairman
had to say, one of the key features of education and the
proposed design is recruiting and retaining highly effective
teachers and principals. As you said, Mr. Chairman, housing is
a big part and component of that. Some States are anticipating
a teacher shortage in the near future. So I am interested in
how the Bureau of Indian Education is going to implement your
recruitment and retention strategy, particularly if there is
this teacher shortage.
Dr. Roessel. I think one of the things we are looking at is
again, the BIE operates 59 schools. The rest are tribally-
controlled, and those teachers in that system are sometimes
employed by the tribes. So they have that information. We don't
necessarily have that information of what happens with the
grant schools or tribally-controlled schools.
So when we look at the BIE, we look at the openings that we
have and we are looking for the vacancies, the expansion. But
when a tribe is looking at trying to hire their teachers, they
are not, we are not talking back and forth. They are doing that
on their own. So we wouldn't know the specific data from the
tribes.
Senator Barrasso. Mr. Brady, your written testimony notes
that teachers or principals really have the most influence on
student achievement within a school. So for that reason, your
educational system focuses on professional development of the
teachers, as well as the principals. Can you explain what
successful recruitment and retention strategies your schools
have implemented for these professionals?
Mr. Brady. Thank you, Senator. The 60 years in DoDEA has
indicated that we are looking for high quality teachers who
have a passion for service to the Nation, for geographical
mobility. And we have a tremendous retention rate of teachers.
They find a number of satisfactions, from working with the
active duty military and the DoD team.
Senator Barrasso. And that effort there is one that makes a
big difference in the schools for the students?
Mr. Brady. I believe that mission is instilled in every
teacher that I have seen in classrooms.
Senator Barrasso. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Barrasso. Senator Johnson?
STATEMENT OF HON. TIM JOHNSON,
U.S. SENATOR FROM SOUTH DAKOTA
Senator Johnson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Dr. Roessel, I have met with several tribal educators from
across the State that have repeatedly stated that there are
budget shortfalls for facilities and maintenance funds. These
schools have had to divert funds from ISEP in order to keep the
lights on. Can you go into detail on how the BIE will address
this issue?
Dr. Roessel. The funding for O&M that comes to the schools
passes through the BIE, but it originates from the BIA. Right
now, maintenance is funded at 100 percent, while operations is
funded at about 50 percent. Because of the uncommonly brutal
winter that we had, a lot of our schools had to dip into ISEP.
We have a contingency fund that we use to try to help alleviate
some of that. But one of the things that we are doing right now
is doing an assessment of all of our facilities to validate
what is put into what we have as our data base for facilities
to see if each school is getting the proper amount of money
that they should be generating based on square footage.
Senator Johnson. The Affordable Care Act expanded the FEHB
coverage for tribal organizations carrying out programs under
the P.L. 93-638 contracts. The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
originally gained control over its schools through 638
contracts, and then converted to 297 contracts. Dr. Roessel,
can you explain how the Department came to the conclusion that
297 schools are not eligible, even though one of the base
findings of the Tribally Controlled Schools Act was to enhance
the concepts of the Indian Self-Determination and Education
Assistance Act?
Dr. Roessel. When the Department looked at that situation,
they saw that while the law was specific for the contract
support or contract schools, schools under contracts, it was
not specific for tribal grant schools. So we are looking, we
are working with Committee staff to try to find a remedy for
this. I believe it was just an oversight. But we are trying to
find a way to get through this.
But I think the other thing that is important is that the
tribe has to first be the person, the entity that decides
whether it has and wants Federal health benefits. And so we
don't want to put the school in front of the tribe. So that is
a concern that we have as we move forward in trying to find a
remedy to this.
Senator Johnson. As a follow-up, the tribal schools and my
office have worked on this issue since 2012, and only just
recently were we given the original 2012 Solicitor opinion. Why
has the process been so delayed and how can we move forward on
this issue?
Dr. Roessel. Well, I can't speak to why it has been so
delayed. I can get something back to you in writing with that.
But we are trying to move forward quickly. It is something that
has been brought to our attention and we are trying to find a
remedy for that as fast as we can.
Senator Johnson. I would appreciate your written statement.
Mr. Brady, as Chairman of the Mil-Con/VA Appropriations
Subcommittee, I have been proud to work with DoDEA to fund
military school construction. Can you share with the Committee
how the DoD establishes priority lists to ensure facilities are
in proper condition and what best practices you have learned to
complete these improvements in a timely manner?
Mr. Brady. Thank you, Senator. In 2009, we hired a number
of engineering firms to make independent assessments of all 191
of our schools: 134 of those schools were in category three or
category four, fair to poor. So we began, thanks to the DoD
effort and assistance to devise a five-year capital program
that weighted the worst to best, in beginning a systematic
approach to each one of those things, overseen by the troop
redeployments, et cetera, so that we could best meet the needs
of our young men and women.
Senator Johnson. I yield back.
The Chairman. Senator Murkowski.
STATEMENT OF HON. LISA MURKOWSKI,
U.S. SENATOR FROM ALASKA
Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Dr. Roessel, let me ask you, as you know, in Alaska the
situation on how we educate our Native students is different
than we have here in the Lower 48. The Department of the
Interior began pulling out of Alaska, beginning in the 1930s.
In 1985 it formally turned over the last BIA school to the
State of Alaska. Since that time, with the exception of
Johnson-O'Malley funds, Congress has prohibited the Department
from expending BIA funds in the State.
The Federal trust responsibility then has flowed through
the Department of Education to Alaska's public schools. There
is conversation going on now in the State as a result of a
statement of regulation coming out of Assistant Secretary
Washburn's office that Alaska tribal lands may be considered
eligible to be taken into trust. If Alaskan tribal lands are
taken into trust by Department of the Interior, would BIE have
the capacity to open BIE schools in the State of Alaska or
otherwise provide for BIE funding for the education of Alaska
Native students living in Indian Country?
Dr. Roessel. I would not be the one to make that decision
ultimately. But I think I can get back to you in writing in
terms of what the Department is looking at with that, with the
current funding, I think it would be very difficult to be at
that level, just to be honest and frank with you. But I can get
back to you in writing.
Senator Murkowski. I would appreciate your looking into it.
Because again, this is the discussion that is underway in the
State. I have asked some very directed questions to Mr.
Washburn about what land into trust for Alaska would mean, it
would be a change in policy. So I am trying to understand not
only the impact on our ANCSA lands, but the education piece as
well. And it doesn't appear to me to be very clear about
whether or not there would be sufficient capacity, from
everything that I have learned sitting on this Committee, in my
12 years here in the Senate. We are not enlarging the pie. And
if we are not enlarging the pie and yet we are adding more to
that in terms of responsibility, I am not quite sure how you
make that happen.
And I guess a further question would be, given the years of
complaints about the BIE schools that we have had from Lower 48
tribal communities, the chairman started off this hearing by
noting the Secretary of Interior's own comments about the poor
shape that our schools are in. And really, the schools'
historic inability to prepare a majority of these young people
to their full potential. It really does beg the question as to
whether or not Alaska tribes and Native organizations should
welcome BIE back to the State of Alaska.
So I would appreciate your weighing in on this. There is a
lot obviously that we need to discuss. There is clearly a lot
that needs to be discussed within Mr. Washburn's office. But if
you can help us out with that, I would certainly appreciate it.
One other question for you. You have testified that it is
BIE's intention to replace and upgrade 70 percent of these BIE
schools that are in poor condition. Do you have a ballpark
figure in terms of what that will cost, how many years it will
take to complete this overhaul of the school facilities?
Dr. Roessel. The school facilities, there was a report that
was done through negotiated rulemaking that put that figure at
about $1.3 billion to repair all of our current structures to
bring them to a level of acceptable. So that would be about
$1.3 billion. In terms of the IT infrastructure that we are
talking about, around $40 million to $50 million is what we
would need to bring them to a level where they could actually
take the current assessment that is online.
Senator Murkowski. Mr. Chairman, I had an opportunity to go
to, I was in Point Hope in April, a very small whaling
community in the northwestern part of the State. I decided that
I wanted to test our fabulous capacity in our Native villages,
so I Skyped, not Skype, it was VTC with Anuktuvuk Pass School
in Barrow. It is a larger community. But I wanted to hear
straight from the kids, because we back here in Washington,
D.C. are patting ourselves on the back and saying, we are
expanding our broadband capacity, our kids are coming into the
21st century. And to use the teenage vernacular, when I asked,
how does this all work, they basically said, it sucks.
And I apologize for the terminology, but this is what the
kids are saying. They are saying, look we have great tools, but
when you can't access the internet because you have a
basketball team from another village that has flown in and they
are staying at the school, and 30 additional students tried to
get on the system, it crashes. They were in the middle of MAP
testing.
The first day, the entire system was down, so they couldn't
test. The second day, the system is up, they get 25 minutes
into their testing, it goes down. It is out for 20 minutes.
Okay, everybody come back again, they are scrambling.
So when we talk about this great equalizer of what can come
with broadband capacity, what comes with the tools and the
apps, I think we need to be very cognizant that a lot of this
is not coming together in application yet. We have a long ways
to go before we are patting ourselves on the back when it comes
to making sure that there is equal access out there.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Senator Heitkamp?
STATEMENT OF HON. HEIDI HEITKAMP,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NORTH DAKOTA
Senator Heitkamp. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you,
witnesses. Tough challenges. I know we have kind of glossed
over that part of it, but only 52 percent of all Native
American kids graduate. You have two-thirds of your schools are
in poor or bad condition. We are failing.
So I think we need to say that pretty plainly. We are
failing as educators, and we are failing as leaders and really
the school board in many ways, which is in this horseshoe. And
we have to absolutely focus a razor-like attention on getting
this done. Because education has always been the great
equalizer in our Country. And these are kids who are getting
left behind.
And I just have a quick question, and I know the chairman
raised some concerns about what is the level of commitment
within the Administration, what is the level of commitment
within DOE. These problems aren't new. So when you looked at
the President's 2015 budget, were you satisfied that the 2015
budget actually reflected the needs of the BIE schools? Dr.
Roessel?
Dr. Roessel. The short answer is no.
Senator Heitkamp. Right. And I think we hear that all the
time here at this table, where you represent the
Administration, and so we are a little tough on you. But we
expect you to be an advocate within that organization and we
expect the Administration to respond to these concerns. You
will never solve this problem if you don't reflect a solution,
not only in collaboration and all the things we are talking
about today but in budget.
You can't fix a school on good hope. You can't hire a
teacher on please come. You have to be able to get all of the
resources put together, and that is going to require an
increase in dollars. I forget the number you provided, but 67
percent of total costs, there is no other way to get those
costs made up. And when you do have an unseasonably cold
winter, and we saw it in our State, where you are taking, you
are laying off staff, maybe you are not cleaning the school
until Friday because you have to pay the propane bill.
So we want you to be an advocate for education. And I met
you in my office, I was very impressed, very hopeful that we
are on a path forward. I want to just build on what Senator
Murkowski is saying. We talked about the importance of
teachers, and everybody knows, in education it really is about
teachers. But it also is about facility. It is also about
broadband. Can you tell me what you are doing, the E-RATE
program has been successful in connecting some of more remote
locations to a broadband opportunity. Obviously libraries, who
has a library any more, you have the internet. And if you don't
have the internet, you don't have a library. So that is how
critical this program is.
Most of us represent, most of us left here represent States
that are very remote, not as remote as Alaska, I am learning
every day about the challenges of providing services in Alaska.
But we want to know what you are doing to encourage the FCC,
what you are doing to build up broadband.
Dr. Roessel. I think one of the challenges that faces all
of our BIE schools, whether it is a BIE-operated school or
whether it is a tribal grant school, is that to fill out those
E-RATE applications is very difficult. It is very specific. And
a lot of our schools, even schools that are in areas where they
have a greater capacity, they don't have the people that can
specifically look at those applications and build an
infrastructure that might be needed at a school.
So what we have done is try to work with the Department to
provide that resources to these schools out in the field to
allow them to do that. I think the other thing is that we have
been working through this study group, working very closely
with FCC to try to find a way that we can address this issue.
We have to do it in two areas. One is, a lot of our schools
don't know what they don't know. So we need to build that
capacity so they can build and create the type of school they
want. Because a school in Arizona may look different than a
school in North Dakota. So that capacity is needed.
At the same time, we need to be able then to link
partnerships in terms of what kind of education they want that
E-RATE to buy. I think that is something that a lot of schools,
they never get to that question. They are too busy fumbling
through the application process and then the deadline passes.
We need to fix that first problem, which is getting the
capacity to fill out these applications, but also to have a
concerted effort where we know where we are going with
technology.
I think one of the problems is just as bad, is you get all
of this and it just sits in a closet somewhere.
Senator Heitkamp. Is there any capacity-expanding that can
be done on private-public partnership or within the
philanthropic world that can actually provide that assistance
to your agency or the assistance to various schools?
Dr. Roessel. That is part of the study group has looked at
how we can build those partnerships, pillar four is all about
partnerships. And one of those things is to deal with, how do
we get those partnerships in those areas. People want to give
to areas that are not served some times. So we are trying to
build that, and that is a big part of this redesigned BIE.
Senator Heitkamp. Just one last comment. There is an
incredible urgency to this.
Dr. Roessel. Yes.
Senator Heitkamp. An incredible urgency to this. And I will
tell you this. You tell kids they are valued every day, but
they go to a school that is in poor condition, they don't feel
valued. So if we really are going to begin that process,
building capacity, building the next generation of powerful
leaders, we have to change what we do in education. I know you
personally feel that commitment, and we stand ready to help you
in any way we can to make that happen. But we are going to
judge this Administration on what goes in that budget document.
And we want you to be a strong advocate for these kids.
Dr. Roessel. Thank you, Senator.
The Chairman. I am going to ask another round, if you guys
want you can, or we can go to the next panel. But I have some
questions.
Mr. Brady, when it comes to rebuilding schools or new
school construction, do you have a schedule for that? Do you
have a list?
Mr. Brady. Yes, sir, we do. We have a nine-year projected
list, identified by schools, with some capability to,
obviously, make changes.
The Chairman. And that includes retrofit or new
construction?
Mr. Brady. Absolutely, yes, sir. Either renovation or new
construction based on projected needs.
The Chairman. Dr. Roessel, do you have a list of retrofits
or new construction from the Department of the Interior?
Dr. Roessel. We have a priority construction list from 2004
that we have just now funded for the final school, Beatrice
Rafferty School, to begin the design process. Beyond that, we
do not.
The Chairman. Okay, so how many years out do you have it?
Dr. Roessel. Well, it was 2004, so you are talking about,
we are behind. So we don't have a list going forward for new
construction.
The Chairman. I got you. And I think it is pretty important
to dovetail onto what Senator Heitkamp was talking about. Two-
thirds of your schools are fair to poor. And if you don't plan
for the future, you certainly aren't going to be able to
address that issue. I am not saying the DoD is doing a
marvelous job, but they are certainly doing a better job in a
nine-year program out.
We have to demand better. We just have to demand better. If
we don't, we are never going to pull Indian Country out of
poverty. It is never going to happen. It is just never going to
happen. Maybe it is because I am a former teacher that I say
that, but the truth is, this is the key. And by the way, the
Department of Defense has some advantages you don't have,
truthfully. A lot of folk here don't understand trust
responsibility. They do understand what happens when you put
soldiers in the field. But that is not an excuse. You have to
stay diligent.
I have another question. It deals with the study group on
education that was done with the Department of the Interior and
Department of Education. They were issued some recommendations.
I am sure you are familiar with the study group. Propose
incentives for tribes to assume school operation functions from
the Bureau, can you give me any idea what kind of incentives we
are talking about, are we talking money or are we talking
something else?
Dr. Roessel. We are talking about money. We are talking
about trying to get tribes to assume, I think tribes have
historically been able to operate schools, but now we are
trying to get them to do additional things.
The Chairman. So are we talking a per student allowance, or
are we talking per tribe allowance? How are these incentives
allocated?
Dr. Roessel. I think the incentives we are looking at right
now is to begin by offering it as a competitive grant. Because
only those tribes that would want to engage in that process to
be able to initiate those reform efforts.
The Chairman. So it would be a lump sum figure?
Dr. Roessel. Yes.
The Chairman. I am just trying to flesh out how far along
they are. Have they developed criteria to determine which
tribes are ready for it? Because some tribes could take it over
and it would be worse. Some tribes could take it over and it
could be a heck of a lot better.
Dr. Roessel. Yes. Well, we have looked at that. We have
looked at a way to not only start that process, but it also has
to be sustainable. One of the problems we have is that we give
a grant, we start and then it ends. So what we have looked it
is trying to find, how do we make that sustainable. We have
done that by saying, a tribe that has three or more schools,
they inherently are able to probably operate as a school
district and then it becomes sustainable.
The Chairman. Were you in on the consultation that happened
on this proposal?
Dr. Roessel. Yes.
The Chairman. What was the tribe's perspective on the grant
process? On granting dollars versus per pupil?
Dr. Roessel. In terms of this incentive grant, most of them
were supportive of it. They were supportive of that, yes.
The Chairman. Of the incentive grant?
Dr. Roessel. The idea behind at least the concept of it.
The Chairman. Okay. One more thing here. This is for you,
Mr. Brady. It deals with what you are doing as a federally-
operated school versus what the Department of the Interior is
doing. And I know we are comparing apples and oranges. We are
comparing areas that are in much more severe poverty than
others. But are there things that you do from a DoDEA
standpoint that you could offer to the Department of the
Interior that might offer them some success, opportunity for
success, I should say?
Mr. Brady. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We are certainly
working and coordinating with the BIE. It is a remarkably
complex issue, but I think in the strategic planning area and
the commitment to resourcing area and the excellence at the
school level, we can certainly pass along our best practices,
absolutely.
The Chairman. I would appreciate that.
Senator Johnson, do you have anything else?
Senator Johnson. One more question for Mr. Roessel. I
noticed you made reference to competitive grants. It sounds
like to me Race to the Top, which is entirely unpopular in
South Dakota. Because they tend to reward great grant writers
and great grant writers don't necessarily lead to education
improvements where they are needed.
Could you comment on that? Is there a correlation between
grant writers and grants?
Dr. Roessel. Well, I agree with the comment. I think though
what we are trying to do here is something which is a little
different in that the purpose of this grant would be to
actually allow tribes that ability to operate and exercise
sovereignty over their school system. So it is not so much a
grant-writing process, it is looking at, what are those ideas,
what are those problems and challenges that have kept our
school systems from succeeding. And some of them are
structural. Some of them are that we have 127 directions.
So what we are trying to do is see how we can help the
tribe be able to better control and operate their schools. That
is a very different concept than Race to the Top. What we are
saying to tribes is, how can we try to help you do a better job
of operating your schools, not having the BIA come in and tell
you, do this or do that. So I think it is not so much based on
a grant writer, it is more based on the idea. I think tribes
know how to exercise their sovereignty, they understand what it
means for self-determination.
So I think what we are trying to do is something very
different from rely on just a grant writer. But we are trying
to actually empower by saying, what do you want. How do you
want to control your education. What do you want your students
to look like at the end of the sixth grade, twelfth grade,
college. And empowering them to give that money so that they
can create that structure within their tribe.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Johnson.
Before I let you go, I love you both. I think you both do
great work. But let me give you some statistics. My staff
contacted the Department of the Interior 30 days ago to let the
Department know this hearing was going to take place. We sent
an official invitation 19 days ago. I took this issue up with
Secretary Jewell when she was in Montana a few months ago. The
Department once again was unable to provide this Committee with
testimony in a timely manner.
And I will tell you, Committee aside, it almost appears
that we have a systemic problem here. The problem is that we
don't have lists on school construction, we don't have lists on
teachers that are not there, this is pretty basic stuff. We
don't get our Committee hearing stuff in on time so we can take
it and scrutinize it. And I am telling you, I don't like to
beat up on administrative officials. You guys have a tough job.
I have an incredible amount of respect for Secretary Jewell.
But by the same token, sitting beside you is the Department
of Defense, who was able to provide the testimony by the
requested deadline, and quite frankly, I am growing weary of
the fact that when we have hearings, the Department should know
by now we have an Indian Affairs Committee meeting every week.
It is a rare exception when we don't. And we would like to get
the testimony in one time. I think it is a courtesy to my
staff, to the minority staff and to the members of this
Committee that it gets in on time.
I would just like you to take that message back. Because it
is not going to get better with time if we continue to be tardy
with this stuff. It is important. We need it. And I appreciate
your work, I really do. You do good work and I appreciate both
of your work. We need to be prouder of it.
So thank you both. I appreciate your coming in very, very
much. Thank you.
Now we will get the second panel up. I would like those
folks to come forward. Our first witness is the Honorable Bryan
Brewer, President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota.
Our second witness is Mr. Timothy Benally, who is the Acting
Superintendent of the Navajo Nation Department of Dine
Education. And finally, Mr. Melvin Monette is the President-
Elect of the National Indian Education Association from the
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota.
I want to welcome you here today. I would ask Senator
Johnson if he has any comments about Bryan Brewer, and I would
also ask Senator Heitkamp if she has any comments about Melvin
Monette. Senator Johnson?
Senator Johnson. President Bryan Brewer is an excellent
leader of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. He has been at it for several
years, and welcome, President Brewer.
Senator Heitkamp. I would just say that the Turtle Mountain
Band of Chippewa have a rich history of producing greater
tribal leadership, especially in education. We know your people
well. My niece and nephew were enrolled. And I certainly
appreciate all the leadership you provide, especially on this
critical issue. Thank you.
The Chairman. Thank you, both Senator Johnson and Senator
Heitkamp. I want to welcome all of you. You have five minutes
for your testimony. Your full written testimony will be a part
of the record. If you can keep it to five minutes, it would be
good.
With that, you may begin, President Brewer.
STATEMENT OF HON. BRYAN BREWER, PRESIDENT, OGLALA SIOUX TRIBE;
ACCOMPANIED BY DAYNA BRAVE EAGLE,
DIRECTOR, TRIBAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
Mr. Brewer. Thank you. [Greeting in native tongue.]
I would like to thank you, Mr. Chairman, Vice Chairman, and
I would like to thank the members of the Committee. It is an
honor to be here. This is my first time ever, and I must say
that I am a little nervous.
I would like to say that I have been the President of our
tribe for a year and a half. I am a formally educated teacher,
principal, just like Mr. Tester. So I think we both know the
challenges of those positions.
I would like to also say that I am the Secretary of the
Great Plains Tribal Chairmen's Association, and I am speaking
for many of those tribes.
The first thing I want to say is, and I know we get tired
of saying this, but we are here because of our treaties. And we
ask the Federal Government to honor that, to meet our treaties,
to meet that trust responsibility. This hearing, the title of
this hearing, I believe is wrong. I believe it should be, how
do we ensure that our tribal schools have the tools necessary
to improve educational opportunities for our students.
I worked for the BIE for many years. I have been frustrated
a good part of those years with the funding that we received.
It was not good. One of the things that we fail to note, the
Pine Ridge Reservation, we are the second largest tribe in the
United States, next to the Navajo. But yet Pine Ridge is the
poorest tribe in the United States. With that comes the poverty
and the many problems and the ills that go with that.
I see our children coming to school every day with
problems. They come in abused, physically abused, mentally
abused, sexually abused. They come to school hungry.
As an educator, this is very difficult. Because of
everything that we already do, and all the rules that we have
to follow, the laws, we are not able to meet those students'
needs, our children's needs. How can they learn when they come
to school with these problems?
Yet the BIE does not recognize this, and makes no attempt
to meet the needs of these children that come to school with
those problems. How can our children learn when they are hungry
or they have been abused?
Yet we don't worry about that. We talk about other things.
No Child Left Behind, we need another assessment. We have many
problems.
One of the things the BIE, they control, they administer.
This has been one of the problems that we face. It is time that
the Native people, we say it is time for us to decide what our
children will learn and how they will learn it. Because it has
been a failure so far.
We said that 50 percent of our children do not graduate
from school. That is even worse for our children that live off
the reservation. As the president of the tribe, I am concerned
about the children on the reservation, and I am also concerned
about our children who live off the reservation. In Rapid City,
there are 15,000 Indians who live there, and the dropout rate
is 85 percent.
They are going to Rapid City, and not to point fingers, but
what can we do, even with our problems, we have our children in
Rapid City and urban areas that we are losing. They are
receiving a lot of Impact Aid monies, but where does our money
go? Does it go to help the children? No, it builds new track
fields, new buildings, things like that. So there are a lot of
things.
Mr. Roessel is here, and I want to work with him, we need
to work with him. But I want Mr. Roessel to be our superstar.
Because we haven't had a superstar in a while. We need someone
to come before this, we need someone to fight for us and
demand. I know it is difficult and I talked to Dr. Roessel
about this before, and we have our own people. It makes it
tough because we have to protect the program. But he has to
protect the BIE. I think it is time that the BIE work with the
tribes and become the fighter for us, give us our rights. We
have trust responsibility of our people.
So I am asking Mr. Roessel, be our superstar. Work hard for
us and demand that our treaties be met. Demand that our
children be given what they need. That is what is going to
happen, and I have faith in him. Because he has been through
this. He has experience and he has the background.
One of the things I want to talk about is the immersion. I
know Mr. Ryan Wilson has been before all of you. And in 25
years, the Lakota in Pine Ridge are going to lose their
language. We need help. We need help with this. Yet the BIE has
been teaching the Lakota language in our school since the early
1970s. And the BIE has not produced one single speaker yet.
Because they don't listen to us.
Turn that over to the tribes. Let us decide how our
children will be taught the Lakota language. Right now they are
getting schools, when they are babies, we are getting them into
our day care centers, and we have Lakota speakers with them. So
the babies, they are listening to the Lakota language and they
are learning. And most of the parents are young, and we would
like to see our young people learn with their children, learn
our language, have programs for them. Then when they do get to
school, there will be a curriculum built for them. When all of
our curriculum on the reservation, the things that I would
really like to talk about is getting tribal control of our
schools. One of our six different schools plus the BIE, the
BIE, my mind is going everywhere here, the schools, we have to
control, we have to say what is there. They are doing different
curriculums. We are not meeting the needs of our children. We
have so many children that go from school to school, just
because of the housing.
I testified that last year, on housing, I said my tribe, we
need 4,000 homes. When I got back and I got accurate data,
which it is hard to get, and I found out that I don't need
4,000 homes, I need 12,000 homes to meet our needs of our
people. It is very difficult when you have three families
living in a home. I feel for our young ladies that don't have a
room of their own.
I know when my daughter was growing up, I was lucky, my
daughter had her own room, she had her own space, which many of
our children don't. And then there is alcohol and drugs and
this is where we get some of our problems with our young girls
being abused.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Brewer follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Bryan Brewer, President, Oglala Sioux Tribe;
accompanied by Dayna Brave Eagle, Director, Tribal Education Department
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
The Chairman. Thank you, President Brewer. You have a lot
to say and I appreciate it. You are over time.
Mr. Brewer. I thank you, and I wish there was a way this
Committee could come to our reservation, or to the Midwest and
listen to us, not only listen to the leaders, but also listen
to some of our educators, talk to some of our students who have
made it. We do have success stories. And talk to the ones that
didn't make it.
The Chairman. We appreciate your bringing your reservation
to us. Thank you very much, and we appreciate the invitation.
Thank you for your testimony.
Tim, you are up.
STATEMENT OF TIMOTHY BENALLY, ACTING
SUPERINTENDENT, NAVAJO NATION DEPARTMENT OF DINE EDUCATION
Mr. Benally. Chairman Tester and members of the Committee,
my name is Timothy Benally, Acting Superintendent of Schools at
Navajo Nation Department of Education. Thank you for this
opportunity to present testimony on ensuring the Bureau of
Indian Education has the tools necessary to improve.
Seventeen school districts operate on the Navajo Nation,
with a total of 244 schools. Thirty-eight thousand one hundred
nine Navajo students attend these schools. Over 60 percent of
these students attend public schools. Of the rest,
approximately 21 percent attend 31 BIA-operated schools. And
approximately 18 percent attend 32 grant and one contract
school.
BIE operated, contract and grant schools comprise
approximately 20 percent of all schools on the Navajo Nation.
These schools operate under different sets of curriculum and
accountability standards from Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and
BIE. The Navajo Nation best understands the needs of its
children but currently lacks the ability to effectively lead
the education for Navajo children.
For over 140 years, BIE and State public schools have
dominated education on Navajo Nation. Today, Navajo students on
BIE schools are the lowest-performing in the Country. My
written testimony demonstrates the steadily declining student
achievement at BIE-funded schools on Navajo. With so many
accountability systems on Navajo, we cannot get a full picture
of how our children are performing. We have a shortage of
highly-qualified teachers, lack professional development
opportunities and teacher turnover is high. Teacher evaluation
forms are inconsistent and in some cases, are the same as those
used for non-instructional staff.
We have seen some improvement with BIE. BIE has been more
than proactive in inviting Navajo to the table. BIE realignment
of the Navajo agency has helped people focus on academics and
improve fiscal management. BIE seems committed to a focus on
building capacity. Making reading and math coaches available to
assist with content knowledge and instruction methods has the
potential to improve student achievement. Within the last two
years, BIE has been working closely with Navajo to bring teams
into the school to work on professional development. It will
likely take a few years before we see results from these
efforts.
Schools on Navajo Nation are in an education crisis. The
BIA schools and public schools are only responsible for our
children until they turn 18. When they fail to be productive
citizens, we are left to pick up the pieces. Our efforts to
improve education have seen results. Student outcomes for
students attending tribally-controlled schools on Navajo who
have consistently enrolled with Navajo Nation have improved at
a greater rate than schools that have not.
Tribally-controlled schools who have participated in using
data processing, UDP training offered by Navajo Nation, have
demonstrated greater student outcomes than schools that have
not worked with the Navajo Nation. Tribally-controlled schools
that have implemented instruction with cultural content
infusion in math and science have greater academic gains than
schools that have not implemented cultural infusion content.
We have plans to improve education on Navajo Nation, but we
require your help and support. First, Navajo Nation seeks to
acquire State education agency status for the Department of
Dine Education. Navajo Nation must have first access to the
minds of its children. The Navajo Nation is committed to the
exercise of sovereignty over the education of Navajos. It has
established Dine education content standards curricula and
assessment tools in the Navajo language, culture, history,
government and character development. ESEA data will provide
uniformity in the currently fragmented education system at the
tribally-controlled schools on Navajo.
Second, Navajo Nation has submitted an alternative
accountability workbook, as authorized under No Child Left
Behind. The accountability workbook includes the Dine content
standards. This will enable us to exercise a greater degree of
authority over education at our tribally-controlled schools.
Third, we must be able to meaningfully evaluate student
performance. The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act,
FERPA, must be amended to allow tribes to access their student
data. Fourth, language and cultural programs are critical for
the success of Navajo students. Our research shows that Navajo
students grounded in understanding of their language and
culture perform better academically. Congress must provide
greater support for these important programs.
Fifth, support higher education funding for scholarship, so
that we can build capacity on the Navajo Nation. We need an
educated workforce with professional skills necessary to be
highly qualified teachers. Navajo Nation provides scholarships
to eligible students, but less than 50 percent of eligible
students actually receive an award. Tribal priority allocation
scholarship funding should be fully funded.
Lastly, as Congress works on updating the ESEA tribal
rights to exercise sovereignty, education must be respected and
encouraged.
Thank you for your time today. I look forward to answering
your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Benally follows:]
Prepared Statement of Timothy Benally, Acting Superintendent, Navajo
Nation Department of Dinee Education
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
The Chairman. Thank you, we appreciate your testimony, Mr.
Benally. Thank you very much.
We will turn it over to you, Mr. Monette.
STATEMENT OF MELVIN MONETTE, PRESIDENT-ELECT, NATIONAL INDIAN
EDUCATION ASSOCIATION
Mr. Monette. Chairman Tester, Senator Johnson, thank you
for convening the hearing on tools needed to improve the Bureau
of Indian Education.
I am Melvin Monette, and I, like Dr. Roessel, do call the
BIE tribal grant schools and tribal colleges and universities
my education system. And certainly, looking at the faces behind
you and the faces behind me, the BIE has a number of successes
that we can count as ours.
I am President-Elect of the National Indian Education
association, and a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of
Chippewa Indians. NIA was founded in 1969, and has a mission to
advance comprehensive educational opportunities for all
American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians
throughout the United States.
I also want to thank you for hearing the collective call of
tribes and Native communities regarding the need to address the
current state of Native education. As the Nation celebrates the
60th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme
Court decision, we must highlight that our communities are
still fighting for equal educational opportunities in Native-
serving schools. The renewed commitment of this Committee to
improve the education system serving Native students is
critical, as we look to end current disparities and create
equitable educational opportunities for our students.
As all of us realize, Native education is in a state of
emergency. Unfortunately, the Federal Government's own studies
encompassing Native test scores, treaty-based appropriation
decreases, and Government Accountability Office reports, among
others, illustrate the continued inability of the Federal
Government via the BIE to uphold the trust responsibility.
The BIE has been failing its mission for years and should
no longer be in the business of providing direct education
services to tribal communities. Instead, the BIE should shift
its capacity to providing educational resources that support
tribes who wish to administer education services to their
students. To support this reform, change is critically needed
within the Department of the Interior to fix the BIE's broken
system and ensure tribal self-determination is strengthened as
well as address the persisting issues in the BIE.
Tribes understand the children's needs best and are suited
to provide the most effective and efficient services in their
communities. However, IE reform that supports tribes must begin
locally and at the direction of our tribal leaders and Native
education stakeholders. This effort cannot be a top-down
approach, but a measure created through grassroots support at
the tribal level. The current proposal for BIE reform, while
well-intentioned, was not a direct result of tribal
consultation, but a Department-led initiative that has caused
concerns to tribes. We appreciate the efforts and ideas, but
without tribal support at the local level, we cannot expect BIE
reform to succeed.
The following recommendations are based on membership
resolutions and through our work with tribal leaders in Native
communities. However, it is important to note that NIA is still
awaiting input from our stakeholders who attended the recent
consultation sessions on BIE reform. This testimony is to serve
as input for improving the BIE and not formal comments on the
Department's reform proposal.
Key among our recommendations is that the BIE should be
transformed into an entity that provides technical assistance
to build tribal capacity where lacking for the administration
of education services. Assimilation and termination robbed
tribes of their ability to administer education. As the era of
self-determination progresses, now is the time for the BIE to
alter its focus on education delivery into an entity that
disseminates technical expertise similar to a regional
education laboratory that would work in partnership with
tribes, tribal colleges and universities, school districts and
State departments of education to utilize data and research and
distribute best practices for improving their students'
academic outcomes.
But as the BIE alters its capacity, this reform should not
increase the administrative burden or drive funds away from
local assistance. Reforms should not be an internal Bureau-wide
capacity-building effort set on hiring an influx of staff in
Washington. Rather, we need a BIE restructuring that supports
collaborators who will sit with tribal leaders to find local
tribal solutions.
As the ESEA, the BIE must have the resources necessary to
increase its ability to assist tribal schools, whether they are
implementing full-day language immersion or developing high-
speed internet connectivity. To support such efforts, there
must be internal support within DOI. We propose this Committee
work to create a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Indian Education
position within the DOI. Tribes have spoken clearly that Indian
education belongs within the Department of the Interior to
ensure the Federal trust responsibility is upheld.
While scaling up staff in Washington is unnecessary, we
need an appointed leader to pursue education reform at the top
levels of the administration. Our students need a Federal
leader who understands Native education and has the ability to
address colleagues and the President on the Federal
Government's trust responsibility.
Further, we request that the DOI form a tribal education
budget council, so education leaders and Federal officials have
the opportunity to formally address difficult issues facing
Native education and the BIE. Too often, education falls aside
as tribal leaders are forced to prioritize more pressing issues
like fire prevention or community violence. Providing a formal
negotiating body to address Native education and BIE issues
will ensure DOI recognizes persisting problems, such as the
lack of BIE budget authority. I realize BIE reform and the
state of Native education is a difficult issue, but please know
that we are here to work with you, to provide ideas for
addressing these problems. Together, we can make sure that the
BIE has tools necessary to strengthen tribal self-determination
and support programs that create student success, like language
immersion.
NIA appreciates the continued leadership of this Committee.
For a full list of BIE recommendations, please see our written
testimony. Thank you again, and I look forward to addressing
your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Monette follows:]
Prepared Statement of Melvin Monette, President-Elect, National Indian
Education Association
Chairman Tester, Vice Chairman Barrasso, and members of the
Committee, thank you for inviting the National Indian Education
Association (NIEA) to testify. I am Melvin Monette, President-elect of
NIEA and a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians. On
behalf of NIEA, I am grateful for this opportunity to provide testimony
for the record on ``Ensuring the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) has
the Tools Necessary to Improve,'' as part of the Committee's Indian
Education series. I would also like to thank the Committee for hearing
the collective call of tribes and Native communities regarding the need
to address the current state of Native education. The renewed
commitment of this Committee to focus on improving all education
systems serving Native students is critical as we work together to
ensure equitable educational opportunities.
NIEA, founded in 1969, is the most inclusive Native organization in
the country-representing Native students, educators, families,
communities, and tribes. NIEA's mission is to advance comprehensive
educational opportunities for all American Indians, Alaska Natives, and
Native Hawaiians throughout the United States. From communities in
Hawaii, to tribal reservations across the continental U.S., to villages
in Alaska and urban communities in major cities, NIEA has the most
reach of any Native education organization in the country.
Native Education Crisis Due to Federal Mismanagement
As all of us realize, Native education is in a state of emergency
partly due to the inability of the Federal Government to uphold its
trust responsibility. Native students lag behind their peers on every
educational indicator, from academic achievement to high school and
college graduation rates. Just over 50 percent of Native students are
graduating high school, compared to nearly 80 percent for the majority
population. For students attending BIE schools, rates are even lower.
According to the latest results from the National Assessment of
Educational Progress (NAEP), BIE schools are among the worst performing
in the nation. The Federal Government's continued inadequacy in
directly educating our students hinders our children from developing a
strong education foundation that prepares them for future success.
Native Student Demographics Snapshot \1\
\1\ National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of
Education Sciences, United States Department of Education. National
Indian Education Study 2011. (NCES 2012-466). http://nces.ed.gov/
nationsreportcard/nies/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
378,000, or 93 percent of Native students, attend U.S.
public schools, with the remainder attending federally-funded
BIE schools.
As of the 2011-2012 school year, there are 183 Bureau-funded
elementary and secondary schools, located in 23 states, serving
approximately 41,051 Indian students.
Of all Native students, 33 percent live in poverty, compared
to 12 percent of Whites (2011-2012 school year).
29 percent of these students attend high-poverty city public
schools, compared to 6 percent of Whites (2009-10 school year).
Only 52 percent of Native students live in two-parent
households, compared to 75 percent of Whites (2011).
After the most recent census, only 65,356 Natives ages 25
years and older had a graduate or professional degree.
The Trust Responsibility to Native Education
NIEA's work for more than forty years has centered on reversing
these negative trends. We are making sure our communities have the
future leaders needed to help tribes thrive as well as preserve and
strengthen local cultural and linguistic traditions. This begins by
providing our future generations' equal educational opportunities that
prepare them for academic success no matter where they attend school--
tribal grant and contract, charter, or public. As tribes work to
increase their footprint in education, there must be support for that
increased participation. The Federal Government must uphold its trust
responsibility. Established through treaties, federal law, and U.S.
Supreme Court decisions, this relationship includes a fiduciary
obligation to provide parity in access and equal resources to all
American Indian and Alaska Native students, regardless of where they
attend school.
The Federal Government's trust corpus in the field of Indian
Education is a shared trust between the Administration and Congress
with federally-recognized Indian tribes. To the extent that measurable
trust standards in Indian education can be evaluated, NIEA suggests
this Committee refer to the government's own studies encompassing
Native test scores, treaty-based appropriation decreases, and
Government Accountability Office (GAO) Reports, among others, which
illustrate the continued inability of the Federal Government via the
BIE to uphold the trust responsibility.
Recommendations to Improve the Bureau of Indian Education
The BIE's mission, as stated in Title 25 CFR Part 32.3, is to
provide quality education opportunities from early childhood through
life in accordance with a tribe's needs for cultural and economic well-
being, in keeping with the wide diversity of Indian tribes and Alaska
Native villages as distinct cultural and governmental entities. The BIE
is to manifest consideration of the whole person by taking into account
the spiritual, mental, physical, and cultural aspects of the individual
within his or her family and tribal or village context.
Unfortunately, the BIE is failing its mission by inadequately
educating our children. Reform, without abrogating the federal trust
responsibility and treaty obligations, is needed within the Department
of the Interior (DOI). Agency reform should begin locally in BIE
schools and at the direction of our tribal leaders and Native education
stakeholders. To ensure the support of our communities, the Federal
Government must work with tribal leaders and experts in order to ensure
change addresses the concerns and prerogatives tribes have called for
over the last several decades. Tribally controlled contract and grant
schools are the future of Indian education and as such, those
institutions of self-determination must be supported based on local
needs, not at the direction of the Department or the Administration.
The following recommendations are based on resolutions passed by
our membership as well as through local work with tribal leaders and
Native communities. However, it is important to note that NIEA is still
awaiting additional input from our stakeholders who attended recent
consultation sessions on BIE reform. This testimony should not be
considered our comments on the Indian Education Study Group's report on
the BIE. This testimony is to serve as general recommendations for
improving the federal education system serving Native students to make
sure the system has the tools necessary for strengthening and
supporting tribal self-determination.
I. Strengthen Tribal Self-Determination
The Federal Government implemented assimilation and termination
policies in the 19th and 20th Centuries by breaking down traditional
family patterns in Native communities and forbidding the use of
cultural traditions. Education systems, such as boarding schools,
supported these efforts and restricted traditional family structures.
The United States then separated Native children from their parents and
tribal families in order to destroy cultural kinship. Through these
systems, the U.S. robbed tribes of their ability to educate their
children.
As tribes fought and achieved the ability to once again exercise
their inherent rights as sovereign governments in the latter 20th
Century, tribes began contracting with the Bureau of Indian Affairs
(BIA) to administer education functions under the Indian Self-
Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 (P.L. 93-638).
However, as a result of history and legal statutes, the Federal
Government had positioned itself as the direct education provider for
many Native communities. Through this context, the Federal Government
created an inability for BIE reform to succeed internally because the
system functioned and continues to operate under a model rooted in
outdated practices that often run counter to tribal self-determination.
Precedence of Self-Determination
Even as tribes reasserted their ability to perform some education
functions under statutes, such as the Tribally Controlled Schools Act
of 1988, other legal barriers such as those under Public Law 107-110,
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), continue to drive
the Bureau's means for working with tribes, families, and students. As
a result, BIE schools working with local communities have developed an
internal bureaucratic mentality that tribes often work to support local
Bureau schools rather than BIE schools serving tribes and supporting
self-determination.
Congress should create federal policy and ESEA reform that ensures
the BIE collaborates with and supports tribes in their self-
determination, rather than dictating local educational policy on tribal
communities. To facilitate the critical reform that is needed, Congress
should provide BIE the tools and resources necessary for developing its
capacity to support tribes as they administer education functions and
ensure that self-determination statutes take precedence over ESEA and
other restrictive mandates.
II. Support and Strengthen Native Language and Culture
Native language revitalization and preservation is a critical
priority to tribes and Native communities because language preservation
goes to the heart of Native identity. In many ways, language is
culture. Learning and understanding traditional languages helps Native
students thrive and is a critical piece to ensuring the BIE is serving
Native students effectively. Immersion programs not only increase
academic achievement, but guarantee that a student's language will be
carried forward for generations. Our communities' unique cultural and
linguistic traditions are crucial for the success of our students and
are critical cornerstones for providing relevant and high quality
instruction as part of an education that ensures Native students attain
the same level of academic achievement as the majority of students.
NIEA requests the Committee work with tribes and the BIE to ensure that
reform strengthens the ability of the Federal Government to support
tribes in the delivery of culturally-relevant curricula.
Expansion of Language Immersion and Congressional Intent
NIEA supports expanding immersion opportunities in BIE supported
schools. P.L. 100-297, Tribally Controlled Grant Schools Act, and P.L.
93-638, Indian Self Determination and Education Assistance Act, as well
as P.L. 109-394, Esther Martinez Native American Languages Preservation
Act of 2006, all promote a policy of both self-determination and
investment in Native languages--specifically language immersion
schools. Further, the White House Initiative on American Indian and
Alaska Native Education promises to support expanding opportunities and
improving outcomes for Native students by promoting education in Native
languages and histories.
NIEA acknowledges that exemplary immersion models, such as those at
Niigaane Ojibwemovin Immersion Program and School serving the Leech
Lake Band of Ojibwe and Rough Rock Community School serving the Navajo
Nation, have won the prestigious NIEA cultural freedom award for their
efforts in full-day language immersion. However, federal agency
interpretation and administrative procedures often restrict tribes from
running schools, such as Niigaane and Rough Rock, by creating barriers
to tribal self-determination. To begin addressing this issue, NIEA
requests that congressional intent of legal statutes, rather than
agency interpretation, be utilized so that tribes can deliver effective
education programs.
III. BIE Internal Reform
BIE as a Technical Service Provider
As the Administration progresses its reform agenda for the BIE,
Congress should work with tribes and the Administration to ensure the
BIE becomes a technical assistance provider that has the ability to
strengthen tribal self-determination in education. The BIE should
become an entity that assists tribes who wish to participate in the
delivery of their children's education by working with tribes as they
strengthen their education agencies. Since the late 20th Century,
Congress has worked to strengthen tribal capacity to directly serve
their citizens in other services. In this spirit, tribes should have
the same ability as state and local education agencies to administer
education. To assist those efforts, the BIE should become a central
nexus that provides technical assistance to its local BIE contract and
grant schools, charter, and even public schools where requested.
The BIE should become an entity similar to a Regional Educational
Laboratory (REL) that would, rather than providing direct education to
Native students, work in partnership with tribes, tribal colleges and
universities, school districts, and state departments of education, to
be a technical and best practices provider that collects and utilizes
data and research to help tribally-administered schools improve the
academic outcomes of Native students.
BIE Capacity Transition
In order to successfully reform the BIE into a technical provider
and capacity builder, DOI and the BIE staff need a fundamental shift in
thinking in Washington and regionally. Some staff at the BIE have
served their communities for decades, which builds experience and
expertise. However, that expertise is based on a flawed and outdated
model that has yet to decrease the achievement gap among our students
and the majority population. NIEA suggests that DOI ensure educators
and administrators understand the needs of their local Native
communities and prepare them to engage and work with tribes and their
education agencies.
BIE reform should not be an internal, Bureau-wide capacity building
effort set on hiring an influx of new thought leaders in Washington.
Rather, we need a change in capacity and a restructuring that supports
community collaborators who will sit with a principal chief in Oklahoma
or a pueblo governor in New Mexico to find solutions to local problems.
Simply, we need the right people in the right positions supporting
tribal capacity to administer education services. Tribal leaders
understand their children best and tribal communities can better
address a child's unique educational and cultural needs. Rather than
directly educating Native students, the BIE should be situated to
provide support services to tribal leaders and education agencies,
similar to the Indian Health Service's (IHS) relationship with tribes
as they administer health services.
IV. BIE Funding
As tribes work with Congress and the Administration to reform
education institutions and increase tribal responsibility in
administering education, federal leaders should also increase treaty-
based appropriation levels for tribal governments and Native education
institutions in order to repair the damage caused by shrinking budgets
and sequestration. Historical funding trends illustrate that the
Federal Government is abandoning its trust responsibility by decreasing
federal funds to Native-serving programs by more than half in the last
30 years. These shortfalls persistently affect the ability of the BIE
to provide transportation services, construct new buildings, and
effectively educate Native students. These issues would be unacceptable
in any other school system and must be addressed now if we are to
systemically improve the BIE's ability to serve our communities and
strengthen self-determination.
BIE Budget Authority
For too long, bureaucratic issues between the BIA and the BIE have
decreased the ability of the BIE to meet the educational needs of our
youth. Congress and federal agencies should fund Native education
programs that strengthen tribal self-determination, such as tribal
education agencies, and ensure adequate resources are appropriated to
the BIE to address tribal concerns and needed systemic changes. To
start, the Department of the Interior should transfer budget authority
from the BIA to the BIE to increase its efficiency and effectiveness by
decreasing the bureaucracy inhibiting funds from positively impacting
Native students and tribal self-determination.
As a result of BIA authority over the BIE budget, the BIE is often
low in priority when compared to other programs. Recently, internal BIA
FY 2014 Operating Plan reallocations reduced BIE Johnson O'Malley
Assistance Grants by $170,000 as well as cut BIE higher education
scholarships. While the reduced lines were under tribal priority
allocations, such reductions were not authorized by tribal leaders but
were a result of internal redistributions in the agency. Although the
reductions are small as compared to the overall increase in the BIA
budgets after Congress postponed sequestration, rescissions without
appropriate consultation are unacceptable. Providing the BIE the
ability to develop its own budget would ensure the BIA cannot
reallocate funds from the BIE as it would be a separate Bureau with its
own budget authority.
BIE Grant Pilot
As the BIE works to support tribes and their education agencies,
BIE reform would be strengthened by providing funds for a competitive
grant pilot that incentivizes capacity building in tribally-controlled
grant and contract schools. This grant program would be modeled on best
practices from existing competitive grants in use within the Department
of Education. For $3 million, the BIE would administer a pilot to spur
urgent and abrupt systemic reform that would substantially improve
student success, close achievement gaps, improve high school graduation
rates, and prepare students for success in college and careers.
The three-year competitive incentive-based grant, similar to
existing Race to the Top initiatives for which BIE continues to be
excluded, would provide resources to tribes for accelerating local
reforms and aligning education services to tribal education priorities
that include language and culture. Further, performance metrics for the
grant would include student attendance rates, graduation rates, college
enrollment rates, and measures on educator accountability. In order to
catalyze reform efforts and create a set of high-performing, tribally-
controlled grant schools, the BIE would also provide on-going technical
assistance to build the capacity of those schools that applied for, but
did not receive, a grant.
Tribal Grant Support Costs
NIEA was happy to see Indian Health Service and BIA contract
support costs fully funded under self-determination and self-governance
contracts and compacts this year. However, Public Law 100-297 grant or
Public Law 93-638 self-determination contracted BIE schools were exempt
from full funding, which will result in budget shortfalls. Full funding
for tribal grant support costs in FY 2015 and subsequent years is just
as important as full funding for contract support costs as these
dollars help tribes expand self-determination and tribal authority over
education programs by providing funds for administrative costs, such as
accounting, payroll, and other legal requirements. The BIA currently
funds only 65 percent of support costs in the 126 tribally managed
schools and residential facilities under the BIE purview. This forces
the schools to divert critical classroom education funding in order to
cover unpaid operational costs, which make it unrealistic to improve
educational outcomes and bridge the achievement gap among Native and
non-Native students.
Connect BIE Schools to Educate
The President's goal in the ConnectED Initiative is to connect 99
percent of America's students to the Internet through high-speed
broadband by 2018. Unfortunately, tribal areas are already far behind
their counterparts due to geographical isolation, ineligibility, and
inadequate capacity to apply for funds. The BIE recently reported 130
to 140 BIE schools applied for and received E-rate funds over the last
nine years-out of a total 183 BIE entities. However, of the E-rate
funds committed for these BIE schools over the past nine years, only 60
percent was actually spent. Furthermore, many eligible BIE schools did
not apply because they did not meet the 80 percent threshold to receive
a discount. These statistics illustrate persistent gaps in E-rate
adoption among BIE schools that are similarly prevalent in other
Native-serving institutions due to their geographical isolation and
inability to meet Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC)
guidelines. If BIE schools are, on average, spending just 60 percent of
E-rate awarded funds then there should be further collaboration among
Congress, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and BIE to
ascertain these reasons and work to ensure internal broadband capacity
is present.
We must work together to make sure tribes and Native-serving
schools benefit under this initiative. Limited data already suggests
overall connectivity funding for schools and libraries on tribal lands
is disproportionately low and inadequate for connectivity. To prevent
tribal nations and their citizens from becoming the one percent that
remains disconnected, this Committee should work with the FCC, the BIE,
and tribes to decrease barriers that hinder tribal participation in the
E-rate program and 21st Century education.
V. Elevate Native Education
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Indian Education
Tribes have spoken loudly that Indian education belongs within the
Department of the Interior in order to ensure the federal trust
responsibility is upheld. Unfortunately, DOI continues to fail at
including education experts and educators in key policy and budget
decisions. As we work to find ways to increase the effectiveness of the
BIE and improve the state of Native education, we must have people
leading in Washington who understand the needs of our students and have
the authority to drive successful reform.
Our students need a federal leader to address colleagues and the
President on the Federal Government's trust responsibility to Native
education. We request this Committee pursue a means to create a Deputy
Assistant Secretary of Indian Education in order to elevate the needs
of our students. While the recent attention on the BIE is welcome and
necessary, this focus often ebbs and flows. There should be an advocate
in DOI that works with tribes to maintain this focus and ensure our
Native students become the highest-achieving students in the country
and that the BIE is supporting tribes who are running state of the art
schools.
DOI Tribal Education Budget Council
We also request that DOI create a Tribal Education Budget Council
that functions similar to the Tribal Interior Budget Council and is
presided by tribal leaders and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Indian
Education. This would help guarantee that education issues do not fall
in priority. Tribal leaders are often forced to choose between issues
and focus on providing for present-day emergency measures, such as fire
prevention or medical funds, as compared to long-term preventative
solutions to education. Providing equity to education and a venue to
address our students' needs is crucial to elevating Native education
and ensuring that persistent issues are addressed.
Conclusion
NIEA appreciates the continued support of this Committee and we
look forward to working closely with its members under your leadership.
We share your commitment to Native education.
Strengthening our partnership will ensure all Native-serving
schools are as effective as possible and that tribes have more access
to administer education services. We must make sure BIE has the tools
necessary to improve and assist tribes and Native communities in
providing services to our citizens, but only if that is supported by
the local community. This effort cannot be a top-down approach, but a
measure created through grassroots support at the tribal level. The
current proposal for BIE reform, while well intentioned, was not a
direct result of tribal consultation. We appreciate the efforts and
ideas, but without tribal support, we cannot expect BIE reform to
succeed.
To achieve success, there must be collaboration among all entities
that touch a Native child's life and at all levels--tribal, federal,
state, and local. We appreciate this 2014 education series because it
is difficult to speak of increasing the success of Native students when
addressing only one facet of the education system. Only by working with
all stakeholders in all education systems will we increase our
students' preparedness for success. Once again, thank you for this
opportunity.
The Chairman. Mr. Monette, thank you very much.
Let me just say this. Your last point about working
together we saw is a fact. That is not us with you or you with
us, it is the Department and you and us and tribal leaders and
everybody getting together that can make a big difference. I do
appreciate Dr. Roessel staying and listening to the testimony.
I very much appreciate that.
Senator Johnson, did you have some questions?
Senator Johnson. Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
President Brewer, thank you for your excellent testimony
before us today. Can you expand on how students are impacted by
budget shortfalls for facility maintenance and construction
funding?
Mr. Brewer. Thank you for that question, Senator Johnson.
Dayna Brave Eagle is the Indian Education Director from Pine
Ridge. If it would be possible, could I bring her up and have
her answer?
The Chairman. Absolutely.
Ms. Brave Eagle. Good afternoon. I would like to respond to
that question, Senator Johnson. Because of the shortfalls in
facility and operations, schools are having to use
instructional dollars to cover these costs. We are not going to
allow our children to go hungry or without adequate
transportation or without heating the school buildings. So a
potion of the instructional funding is used to cover these
shortfalls, thus causing shortfalls in academic resources,
updated curriculum and highly-qualified teachers.
Unsafe conditions of current school buildings is creating
an non-conducive learning environment for our students. These
are the shortfalls we are experiencing because of facilities.
Senator Johnson. Have you been forced to use ISEP money in
exchange for propane gas and transportation issues?
Mr. Brewer. When I was teaching, we couldn't do that. But
now they are doing it. And what happens is the school has to
make a decision to buy fuel or to lay off a teacher. And that
is what is happening. Instructional money is being used to
cover these costs.
Senator Johnson. President Brewer, how is the BIE creating
barriers for tribes when it comes to self-determination and
what are some of the programs that your schools would like to
implement but cannot? Either one of you.
Mr. Brewer. I will turn this over to Dayna. But the biggest
thing is funding. That is the biggest issue right there, is we
are not able to do any of those programs or anything, or meet
the needs.
Senator Johnson. Besides language instruction, what other
programs can you do, Dayna?
Ms. Brave Eagle. One of the biggest programs that the BIE I
know as a part of the BIA is the Maximal program, which does
the facilities. It used to be called the FEMA system and then
they switched over to Maximal. Well, Maximal is not fully
functioning right now, so a lot of our schools are unable to
log into the Maximal and log in all their backlog on
facilities. That is a program that has been imposed on school
systems but is not fully functional.
The other thing is partnership. The tribal education
agencies have formed partnerships with the BIE and have MOAs
and agreements with the BIE that are not upheld also. These
MOAs are in school improvement grants, such as professional
development, curriculum building, teamwork and partnership with
the Bureau, which have not been fully implemented or successful
at the partnership.
Senator Johnson. President Brewer or Dayna, what are some
of the key priorities that you would like to see included in
the BIE reform plan? Has the BIE consulted with you?
Mr. Brewer. One of the things I have to say, Senator, is
that we are against the reform plan. We believe that the tribes
should be empowered to make these decisions. We really feel
that when you look at it, the end result is giving more power
to the BIE director. I believe that power should be with the
tribes, let us make those decisions, empower us.
Ms. Brave Eagle. I have two solutions to some of the things
that came up. One solution on facilities, we do understand that
facilities comes through the BIA. We are asking that it comes
through the BIE. We are asking that it be forward funding, like
all of our other instructional dollars that adhere to P.L. 100-
297 and that our schools, our educational entities, receive
forward funding in facilities.
Another suggestion on the FEHB is that the Bureau, the BIE
ask their solicitor to reconsider her opinion, her legal
opinion that our 297 schools are not 638 contracts, that that
opinion be reconsidered with all the documents that have come
forward.
Senator Johnson. Thank you. My time is expired, but I
suggest that you, the Chairman and the Ranking Member pay close
attention to what these individuals have to say.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Johnson, and we will.
Mr. Benally, I want to talk about the BIA proposed redesign
with you. Could you briefly tell me your opinion of the
proposal, and what its impacts might be on the Navajo Nation?
Mr. Benally. We have been visiting on this last couple of
weeks with the consultation, I think it was within the last
year that it was initiated. One of the things that was
mentioned here earlier about incentive grants, we have received
nothing in writing. It has been verbally shared with us. So to
that extent and the criteria that it has, we are not sure about
that.
The other thing is that as far as 297-638, the contract
grant school authority that rests with those laws, doesn't
really give more authority to the tribe. Do we have fiscal and
academic authority that increases those authorities in those
areas, we don't know that. So until we see what the criteria
are in there, we won't know what it holds for us.
The Chairman. Your testimony mentioned issues related to
teacher retention at BIE-funded schools. Your assessment of why
the teacher turnover rate is so high?
Mr. Benally. Teacher turnover rate, I have been a teacher,
I have been a principal, I have been a superintendent. We
recruit all the way to Indiana, Florida and all the way up into
the northeast. We bring teachers from there onto Navajo. But
for whatever reason, we are pretty isolated. When you say
rural, Webster's definition of rural school, I don't think it
really means what it means. When you take it to the third
exponent, that is where we are in some of these schools. So
when it is pretty quiet and when the wind is talking, maybe it
is a little bit scary to some of these teachers. They stay
there one year or two years, and they leave.
So one of the solutions that I mentioned is that our
scholarship, we have 16,000 applicants, but only half of those
are granted. So people from the same area, people from there
educate them, because they are from there, they have no place
else to go. So if we have that, we are hoping that that is
going to be fulfilled.
And another thing too is that because of these
requirements, some of these laws, some of these laws, No Child
Left Behind, and highly-qualified, some of those laws, because
we have to do that, we have to take a teacher out of a
classroom or take a sub that is doing good out of a classroom
to put somebody else new in there because of some of these
laws. So the law is good, it has a good intention, but at the
same time, we hurt our children.
The Chairman. Let's talk a little bit about No Child Left
Behind. Your testimony talks about clarifying what is meant by
alternative definitions of AYP in the Reauthorization Act, the
Elementary-Secondary Education Act. What sort of reforms are
you looking at?
Mr. Benally. One specific point that I want to bring out,
and one of my colleagues has shared that, dropout rate.
The Chairman. Yes.
Mr. Benally. Our children are in an identity crisis. Over
here is grandpa, and over here is mainstream. And our children
are in there somewhere. As far as their purpose, of knowing
where they want to belong, there is a confusion. So our intent
from here is that within that alternative formula, as far as
calculation, as far as content, we want to put character
education in there. We want to mandate it such that the school
has to do it. Because they say that, well, it's at home, but
our children leave, and they are at school at 8 o'clock, and
they come back at 6 o'clock, 4 o'clock in the evening. So in
those, weighing those options, it seems that at school, that is
where it needs to happen. That is where they have for the
purpose of doing that, so the identity crisis is not there,
that you know your purpose when you go to the school, it is
there.
So that is one of the unique things of the alternative
formula that is going to be embedded in there, that we
requesting an amendment to that law for Indian Country.
The Chairman. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Benally.
Mr. Monette, does NIEA have a position on the reform plan,
the proposal?
Mr. Monette. Yes. Yes, we do. We believe that there does
need to be a reform at all levels within the DOI, all the way
down to the BIA ands BIE. Since the late 20th century, Congress
has worked to strengthen tribal capacity to directly service
citizens and other services. So in this sphere, tribes should
have the same ability to manage their own education systems.
As tribes work to increase self-determination, we need a
BIE that can support tribes in their efforts and provide
technical assistance rather than providing direct educational
services.
The Chairman. So let me ask you this. Local control is
good, especially when it comes to education.
Mr. Monette. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. Are you concerned about capacity of the
tribes, to be able to take care of the education at the local
level? And I am talking overall. Are you concerned about that
issue, or that is not a problem?
Mr. Monette. We are concerned about that issue, and we do
plan to work in consultation with the BIE on that.
The Chairman. Perfect. I think it is very, very important.
Let me talk a little about your testimony. You talked about
the problem with the BIE being low on the priority list of the
BIA budget, which is a double negative, it takes it down quite
a ways. You recommend that the Department of the Interior
transfer the BIE budget authority to the BIE itself. What
response, first of all, have you floated this out to the
department and if you have, what has been the response?
Mr. Monette. I can't answer that question as President-
Elect. As a board member, our executive director can certainly
get that question back to you.
The Chairman. I would love that if you could, just try to
get an idea.
Let me go back to you, Mr. President Brewer. In your
testimony, you had concerns about the hiring functions at BIE.
As I understand it, currently BIA staff, BIA staff with no
background in education conduct the hiring process for BIE. I
am going to tell you, this puts the BIA staff at a tremendous
disadvantage. If you don't have a background in education, I
think that is a problem. I think this is a minimum change that
we could all agree on.
What is your perspective on that?
Mr. Brewer. The BIE, we have one school that is BIE-
operated at Pine Ridge. Their turnover is very low because they
have good salaries there, Federal employees. So they have very
low turnover.
The Chairman. That is good news.
Mr. Brewer. Yes, it is. But our grant schools, they have a
problem there. When you asked Dr. Roessel the number of
vacancies, right now we have almost a third of our total
teachers who are vacancies right now. I believe that is over
40, close to 40 vacancies that we have right now and that we
have to fill before this new school year starts. That is a
problem there.
The Chairman. I just want to say thank you all very much
for your testimony. I very much appreciate it. Dayna, thank you
for joining the panel.
We have issues here. One last thing I will say, as far as
language immersion goes, I happen to have a little bill that
might be able to help you guys out, and we are going to push
that. So thank you for bringing that up.
Stay involved, this is a critically important issue if we
are going to break the cycle of poverty in Indian Country and
bring it up to where it can be. So thank you all very, very
much.
Again, I just want to thank the witnesses for their
testimony, and Dr. Roessel, thank you very much for sticking
around. I very much appreciate that. I think it speaks to your
commitment to being a superstar. So we thank you for that.
The hearing is going to remain open for two weeks for any
additional comments. With that, this hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 4:28 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
Prepared Statement of Angela Barney Nez, Executive Director, Dinee Bi
Olta School Board Association, Inc.
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
______
Prepared Statement of Jon Whirlwind Horse, President, Dakota Area
Consortium of Treaty Schools
Introduction
Chairman Tester, Vice Chairman Barrasso, and members of the
Committee on Indian Affairs, my name is Jon Whirlwind Horse, and I am
an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux tribe and President of the
Dakota Area Consortium of Treaty Schools (DACTS).
There are fifteen tribes from Nebraska, North Dakota and South
Dakota represented by our member schools: Oglala Sioux, Omaha Nation,
Santee Sioux, Winnebago, Spirit Lake Sioux, Turtle Mountain Chippewa,
Mandan, Hidatsa & Arikara Nations, Standing Rock Sioux, Cheyenne River
Sioux, Rosebud Sioux, Yankton Sioux, Crow Creek, Lower Brule, Flandreau
Sioux, and Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux.
Since 1994, DACTS has been advocating in Congress and the Executive
Branch for quality school facilities for Indian students so they might
pursue the best education possible. On behalf of DACTS, I submit this
Prepared Statement for the Record and want you to know how much our
member tribes appreciate your holding this important hearing.
Background and History of the School Construction Bond Concept
Beginning in 1994, the DACTS began working with our friends in
Congress to address the sad state of school facilities in Indian
country. The fact is that for many Native kids, the poor condition of
their schoolhouses makes getting a solid education extremely difficult.
Leaky roofs and shabby school construction make life in the cold, harsh
winters on the Plains difficult.
Over these twenty years, the executive and legislative branches
have made efforts to get new school facilities built by appropriating
additional funds to the Interior Department. From fiscal years 2001 to
2009, $2.013 billion was appropriated for replacement school
construction and facilities improvement and repair. Beginning with the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 (``ARRA,'' a/k/a the
Stimulus Act) through fiscal year 2014, $708 million was appropriated
for these two accounts.
While we appreciate the additional appropriations, DACTS also
proposed a creative way to finance more new school construction in a
much faster way. The proposal was to authorize Indian tribes to issue
bonds to raise capital and, in turn, use the funds raised to build new
schools. Unlike traditional bond financing, the purchasers of these
bonds would receive tax credits in lieu of interest which they would
use to offset taxes from income.
Congressional Support for School Construction Bonds
In the early 2000s, Senators Tim Johnson, Thad Cochran, and Patty
Murray and former Senators Ben Nighthorse Campbell and Tom Daschle
introduced legislation to authorize the establishment of this bonding
mechanism. While these bills were not enacted, they laid the groundwork
for partial success which came with passage of the ARRA.
The ARRA contained authority for Indian tribes to issue $400
million in tax credit allocation for 2009 and 2010. While no tribe took
advantage of the program, DACTS is reliably informed by the Congress
that this $400 million remains available for use. One thing the ARRA
bond program did not include was an escrow account the issuing tribes
would use to repay principal once the bonds are issued.
Like the readers of this article, I am frustrated and saddened by
the lack of progress Congress is making on any number of fronts. With
the $400 million in tax credit authority still on the books, all that
is left to do is establish the escrow account. I believe the time is
right for Congress and the Administration to make this a priority in
2014.
When she testified before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in
May 2013, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said that the state of Indian
education--student performance as well as the condition of Bureau of
Indian Education facilities--is ``an embarrassment to you and to us.''
After becoming Chairman of that Committee in February 2014, Senator
Jon Tester issued a very strong opinion piece about the importance of
Indian education. He said that ``education is the foundation for sound
life choices that increase economic security and helps us climb the
ladder of success.''
These statements by the Secretary and the new Chairman demonstrate
that we have friends in high places, as they say.
That, together with the bi-partisan, bi-cameral support Indian
issues traditionally have enjoyed, makes me believe success and hope
for new schools for Indian kids are just around the corner.
Thank you for your leadership on these important matters and your
ongoing support for the well-being of Native people across the country.
______
Prepared Statement of Albert A. Yazzie, President, Crystal Boarding
School Board of Education
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
______
Tuba City Boarding School Governing Board--Letter to Sally Jewell,
Secretary--Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior and Kevin
Washburn, Assistant Secretary
RE: American Indian Education Study Group Tribal Consultation:
Proposal to Redesign the U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian
Education
Dear Secretary Jewell and Assistant Secretary Washburn:
As the Navajo Nation Local Control Education Governing Board we
are very thankful to be given the opportunity to provide additional
comments on the ``Draft Proposal to Redesign the U.S. Department of
Interior's Bureau of Indian Education (Dated: April 17, 2014).'' In
many respects, we are very supportive of the goals, objectives, and
statements contained in the draft proposal, especially with its
emphasis on promoting tribal control, achieving high performing
schools, as well as and increasing and improving services and support
that builds tribal capacity. In line with these goals, the Navajo
Nation reiterates its prior position regarding the American Indian
Education Study Group and expresses strong support for a Navajo Nation
State Education Agency, the Navajo Nation's alternative definition of
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), and Navajo Nation's Alternative
Accountability Workbook.
In particular, we strongly support the goals contained in the
working draft because it:
1. Promotes Tribal Control
Align BIE's path forward with President Obama's policy of
self-determination for tribes because tribes understand the
unique needs of their communities best.
With a careful transition plan in place, gradually transform
BIE's mission from running schools to serving tribes to conform
with the reality that most BIE schools are now operated by
tribes.
2. Achieve High-Performing Schools
Ensure BIE meets its responsibility that all students
attending BIE-funded schools receive a world-class and
culturally appropriate education, are prepared for college and
careers, and can contribute to their tribe and country.
Provide necessary resources and support (e.g., facilities
and human capital) to schools so that they can meet the demands
of 21st century teaching and learning.
3. Increase and Improve Services and Support that Tribal Build
Capacity
Scale up best practices in successful tribally controlled
schools to other schools.
Support chronically failing schools with adequate support
and research-based interventions, if necessary.
Provide pathways for tribes that wish to take over control
of remaining BIE-operated schools by providing technical
assistance and guidance on operating high-achieving schools.
In the December 2011 White House Tribal Nations Conference
Progress Report, the Obama administration expressed strong
support for a proposal to enhance the role of tribal
educational agencies through a new pilot authority, called the
State Tribal Education Partnership (STEP) grant,5 which would
support tribal educational agencies in working closely with
public school districts and schools located on reservations.
This pilot authority and grant presently allows the Navajo
Nation to enter into collaborative agreements with State of New
Mexico and two of the largest public school districts serving
Native American students in the United States and to assume
responsibility for some state-level functions in administering
ESEA programs.
We also agree with key priorities highlighted in the draft
proposal because it also provides for:
World Class Instruction for all BIE Students--Challenge each
student to maximize his or her potential and be well-prepared
for college, careers and tribal/global citizenship.
Highly Effective Teachers and Principals--Help tribes to
identify, recruit, retain and empower diverse, highly effective
teachers and principals to maximize the highest achievement for
every student in all BIE-funded schools.
Agile Organizational Environment--Build a responsive
organization that provides the resources, direction and
services to tribes so that they can help their students attain
high-levels of student achievement.
Budget that Supports Capacity Building Mission--Develop a
budget that is aligned with and supports BIE's new mission of
tribal capacity building and scaling up best practices.
Comprehensive Supports through Partnerships--Foster
parental, community and organizational partnerships to provide
the emotional and social supports BIE students need in order to
be ready to learn.
In line with those goals, we also recommend:
1. In line with identifying, recruiting, retaining highly
effective teachers/principals, and building teacher/principal
capacity (human capital) we strongly recommend that the BIE and
other appropriate government agencies to enact a teacher/
principal scholarship program that is very similar to the
Indian Health Service (IHS) scholarship program. Ever since the
IHS Scholarship Program's creation in 1977, the program has
successfully supported thousands of American Indian and Alaska
Native students in their quest for a health/medical professions
degree leading to a career in Indian health. A scholarship
program that is specifically targeted to identify, recruit, and
support teachers, including principals, especially in hard-to-
fill Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM)
areas, would significantly help our schools to meet the demand
and need for highly effective teachers/principals. Not only
would such a scholarship program enable tribes to build
capacity, because scholarship recipients would be committed to
serving several years on the Navajo Nation or in other Native
American schools.
2. Changing, amending, or waiving rules, regulations that
negatively impact rural schools such as the regulation [25
C.F.R. 36.11(a)(5)] that limits the number of days that
schools can employ long-term substitute teachers. Because of
extreme remoteness and difficultly hiring highly effective and
fully qualified and licensed teachers, many of our schools have
little to no choice but hire long-term substitute teachers who
may need to teach students much longer than the existing
regulation allows. Changing, amending, or waiving this
regulation may allow our schools to provide the continuity in
instruction that students need until a fully qualified and
licensed teacher can be hired to fill that position.
3. Any education plan to reform and restructure the BIE must
also provide strong support, including funding, to identify,
recruit, and enhance the role and capacity of highly effective
bilingual teachers. There is statistically significant research
that shows that students who are educated in their language and
culture perform better academically, while also reinforcing
their self-identity, and preserving their language and culture.
At the moment, many of the existing bilingual teachers who
possess strong content knowledge, including the ability to
effectively teach Navajo language and culture, are on the verge
of retirement or leaving our schools, which further complicates
attempts by tribes to preserve and maintain our language and
culture. The Navajo Nation has lead the way in many respects,
by working with 3 different states to enact alternative teacher
licensing regulations, which presently allows persons who are
knowledgeable and competent in Navajo language and culture to
teach in our schools. We have also enacted the Navajo Nation's
Five (5) Content Standards (Navajo Language, Culture, History,
Government, (Character), which can readily be incorporated into
many school's curriculums because it also complements the
Common Core State Standards (CCSS).
4. In light of the recommendations provided in the draft
proposal to build tribal control of education and capacity, we
also recommend that the BIE (or other appropriate government
entities), to consult and meet with tribes such as the Navajo
Nation to conduct an evaluation/assessment of a tribe's
existing capacity or provision of funding to accomplish that
objective.
As we move forward with redesigning/transforming the Bureau of
Indian Education (BIE) and improving the quality of education that our
Navajo/Native American students receive, it is extremely important to
remember that we are fighting for the lives of our children and that we
can no longer afford to lose another generation of young people to a
failing education system or to continue to make excuses for failure and
low expectations. We must always put the needs of our children and
students first; not adults, special interests, or politics. When we put
the needs of our students first, it will make many of the tough
decisions that must inevitably be made, easier, clearer, and worth the
fight. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Marie B. Acothley, Tuba City WNA Board President
Juanita Burns-Begay, Vice-President
Sarana Riggs, Secretary
Frank Bilagody, Member
Irvin Begaye, Member
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Jon Tester to
Melvin Monette
Question 1. Do you think the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) has
the internal ability to serve tribes as a capacity builder? If not,
what Departmental reforms are needed?
Answer. Not presently. BIE's internal structure inhibits the agency
from supporting tribal self-determination and increasing tribal
capacity to deliver education services. Although tribes administer
education services via tribal grant and contract schools under P.L.
100-297, Tribally Controlled Grant Schools Act, and P.L. 93-638, Indian
Self Determination and Education Assistance Act, BIE systemic issues
inhibit the federal school system from providing the necessary support.
A fundamental shift, both in Washington and in the field, is
required in order for the BIE to successfully become a capacity builder
for tribes. Some Department of Interior (DOI) and BIE staff members
have served their communities for decades building experience and
expertise. Yet, much of the past work experience is based on a flawed
and outdated model that has yet to decrease the achievement gap between
our students and the majority population. Research and models
illustrate that Native education success and the health of Native
communities in general, are best supported by culturally-relevant
education models. Thus, DOI should ensure the BIE has the ability to
shift personnel in order to guarantee that tribes and their education
representatives are working with educators and administrators who are
willing to utilize education strategies that include and strengthen the
cultural needs of their local communities.
Further, NIEA remains concerned with the BIE budget structure.
Control of BIE's budget, procurement, hiring, and facilities
maintenance and construction reside not within BIE but within the
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Deputy Assistant Secretary-
Management (DAS-M). This structure is problematic because of the added
bureaucracy and abstraction. We maintain that change is necessary for
leadership stability and accountability within the BIE and hope DOI
will provide those who best understand the education system more
autonomy from the BIA. We also recommend that DOI, BIA, and BIE include
and consult with tribes throughout any process to ensure active
engagement and inclusion of local funding needs.
Additionally, a DOI transfer of budget authority would support
tribal self-determination goals. Budget authority is crucial for
ensuring the necessary resources are provided to tribes under the BIE.
If placed in the hands of those directly utilizing the resources, the
most efficient and effective allocation decisions can be made. This
budget authority should not create a new budget office within the BIE
or increase duplication with BIA. Rather, it should allow the BIE
director and staff to have the ability to fund areas of need and act as
an internal advocate for the agency. Decades of budget authority within
the BIA has allowed the BIE to continue underfunded and
underrepresented within the DOI and in negotiations with the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB).
Question 2. Why were only 60 percent of E-rate funds spent over the
last nine years and what do you think the solution is to make sure
Indian Country can benefit from this Initiative?
Answer. There is no definitive reason provided from the BIE. Given
the other internal issues with BIE, technical reporting of E-rate may
have fallen aside since the BIE provided their information without any
explanation. Regardless, statistics illustrate persistently low levels
of E-rate adoption and spending among BIE schools, which are similarly
prevalent in other Native-serving institutions due to geographical
isolation and inability to meet the Universal Service Administrative
Company (USAC) guidelines. The top three barriers to participation in
E-rate are lack of awareness, uncertainty of eligibility, and a
complicated application process.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has continually
emphasized that Indian Country represents some of the most unserved and
underserved areas of the U.S. The data highlighted in our full May 21,
2014 testimony regarding tribal participation in the E-rate program is
just a glimpse of this disparity. Part of this can be attributed to the
rural nature of many tribal lands and the consequent difficulty of
broadband deployment to tribal schools, including BIE, and libraries. A
prevalent lack of knowledge about the E-rate program also exists as
does a pervasive absence of training for tribal schools and libraries
in regards to the application process and USAC reporting requirements.
Resources should be expended to close this education gap for tribal
school and library administrators. First, the FCC should direct its
Office of Native Affairs and Policy (ONAP) to develop educational
materials as part of the FCC's Native Learning Lab. Native Learning
Labs are instrumental in acquainting participants with the Commission's
web-based resource systems and applications. Many tribes have found the
Native Learning Lab to be an important tool for educating themselves
about FCC policies and programs. Unfortunately, the Native Learning Lab
does not contain resources to assist in E-rate compliance. Adding such
materials would introduce tribes to the program while providing
essential guidance on the application and reporting processes.
Second, the FCC should direct USAC to appoint a formal ``Tribal
Liaison'' for the sole purpose of assisting tribes in E-rate matters.
This assistance must take multiple forms. In partnership with ONAP, the
USAC Tribal Liaison should be charged with the following:
Conducting outreach to tribes, especially those who have not
previously participated in the E-rate program;
Providing basic training and developing modules for the E-
rate program;
Attending significant national and regional tribal meetings
where BIE, tribal school, and library administrators are
present;
Developing educational materials that will be part of the
Native Learning Lab, and providing these material directly to
tribes via web portal or physical hard copy;
Providing assistance to tribal school and library awardees
to comply with E-rate regulations; and
Ensuring accessibility to tribes during critical times of
the annual funding cycle to answer questions and provide
additional assistance as needed.
Most importantly, the USAC Tribal Liaison must be someone whom
Indian Country can trust to assist them. Throughout the years, Indian
Country has come to trust that the staff of ONAP is there to provide
assistance on all Universal Service Fund matters. It is important that
the USAC Tribal Liaison also be committed to working with Indian
country in a similarly respectful manner.
Question 3. What have you seen as the biggest impact recent budget
shortfalls have had on the ability of the BIE to provide quality
education? Is it teacher turnover, condition of schools facilities and
transportation, materials, etc.?
Answer. Budget shortfalls have a wide-ranging impact on the ability
of the BIE to effectively educate Native students. No one impact should
be compared to others since BIE education programs should be fully
funded as part of the federal trust responsibility to tribes. With that
said, however, a student cannot learn, instructors cannot effectively
teach, and a school cannot attract effective personnel if the structure
itself is inadequate and in a state of disrepair.
Insufficient school replacement funding has a wide-ranging effect
on a number of issues affecting Native student outcomes in BIE
schools--including those mentioned in the question. Therefore, in the
NIEA FY 2015 budget document, we expressed the need for school
construction and repair funding to be set at $263.4 million to ensure
adequate funds for new school construction, facilities improvement and
repair, and replacement school construction. Piecemeal construction
projects are not sufficient with the scope of repairs needed in many
schools. There must be funding to replace schools where it is needed in
order to increase the education services provided to Native
communities. Likewise, there must be accountability in funding
allocation so that funds can be used efficiently and effectively.
Transparency is the key to highlighting the correlation between funding
new schools and increased academic achievement, so the BIA must
distribute the relevant information to tribes, school administrators,
Native community leaders, and appropriators.
Question 4. Your testimony mentions that the BIE is low on the
priority list within the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) budget, and
therefore, suggest transitioning BIE budget authority from the BIA to
the BIE. What response have you received from the Department of the
Interior about this suggestion?
Answer. NIEA has not received a response from the Department of the
Interior regarding our recommendation to transfer budget authority from
the BIA to the BIE. There has been some concern expressed within OMB
that any internal DOI shift must not create two separate construction
offices in each Bureau in order to avoid duplication of services.
NIEA's proposed solution would not require a separate office within the
BIE but would provide BIE leadership the ability to work with BIA, DAS-
M, and the OMB during funding negotiations.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Jon Tester to
Charles M. Roessel
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Tom Udall to
Charles M. Roessel
[all]