    [House Hearing, 117 Congress]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                     EXAMINING THE POLICIES AND PRIORITIES
                       OF THE BUREAU OF INDIAN EDUCATION

    =======================================================================

                                 JOINT HEARING

                                   BEFORE THE

                                SUBCOMMITTEE ON
                          EARLY CHILDHOOD, ELEMENTARY,
                            AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

                                     OF THE

                        COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR

                                    AND THE

                                SUBCOMMITTEE FOR
                             INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF
                               THE UNITED STATES

                                     OF THE

                         COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
                         U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                        ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                                 SECOND SESSION
                                   __________

                 HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, JUNE 28, 2022
                                   __________

                               Serial No. 117-50
                                   __________

          Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and Labor
                     and the Committee on Natural Resources

                      [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

       Available via: edlabor.house.gov, naturalresources.house.gov, or
                                www.govinfo.gov

                                   __________

                        U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

    48-199 PDF                 WASHINGTON : 2023

                        COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR

                 ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia, Chairman

    RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona            VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina,
    JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut              Ranking Member
    GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN,      JOE WILSON, South Carolina
      Northern Mariana Islands           GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania
    FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida         TIM WALBERG, Michigan
    SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon             GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin
    MARK TAKANO, California              ELISE M. STEFANIK, New York
    ALMA S. ADAMS, North Carolina        RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia
    MARK DeSAULNIER, California          JIM BANKS, Indiana
    DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey          JAMES COMER, Kentucky
    PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington          RUSS FULCHER, Idaho
    JOSEPH D. MORELLE, New York          FRED KELLER, Pennsylvania
    SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania             MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS, Iowa
    LUCY McBATH, Georgia                 BURGESS OWENS, Utah
    JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut            BOB GOOD, Virginia
    ANDY LEVIN, Michigan                 LISA C. McCLAIN, Michigan
    ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota                DIANA HARSHBARGER, Tennessee
    HALEY M. STEVENS, Michigan           MARY E. MILLER, Illinois
    TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico   VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
    MONDAIRE JONES, New York             SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin
    KATHY E. MANNING, North Carolina     MADISON CAWTHORN, North Carolina
    FRANK J. MRVAN, Indiana              MICHELLE STEEL, California
    JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York, Vice-Chair  CHRIS JACOBS, New York
    MARK POCAN, Wisconsin                Vacancy
    JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas                Vacancy
    MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey
    ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York
    KWEISI MFUME, Maryland
    SHEILA CHERFILUS-McCORMICK, Florida

                       Veronique Pluviose, Staff Director
                      Cyrus Artz, Minority Staff Director
                                     ------

      SUBCOMMITTEE ON EARLY CHILDHOOD, ELEMENTARY, AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

       GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN, Northern Mariana Islands, Chairman

    JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut            BURGESS OWENS, Utah
    RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona              Ranking Member
    JOHN A. YARMUTH, Kentucky            GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin
    FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida         RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia
    MARK DeSAULNIER, California          FRED KELLER, Pennsylvania
    JOSEPH D. MORELLE, New York          MARY E. MILLER, Illinois
    LUCY McBATH, Georgia                 MADISON CAWTHORN, North Carolina
    ANDY LEVIN, Michigan                 MICHELLE STEEL, California
    KATHY E. MANNING, North Carolina     Vacancy
    JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York              Vacancy
    ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia  VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina
                                           (ex officio)
                         COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES

                        RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona, Chair
                 JESUS G. ``CHUY'' GARCIA, Illinois, Vice Chair
           GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN, Northern Mariana Islands,
                           Vice Chair, Insular Affairs

    GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California      BRUCE WESTERMAN, Arkansas
    JIM COSTA, California                  Ranking Member
    GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN,      LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas
        Northern Mariana Islands         DOUG LAMBORN, Colorado
    JARED HUFFMAN, California            ROBERT J. WITTMAN, Virginia
    ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California        TOM McCLINTOCK, California
    RUBEN GALLEGO, Arizona               GARRET GRAVES, Louisiana
    JOE NEGUSE, Colorado                 JODY B. HICE, Georgia
    MIKE LEVIN, California               AUMUA AMATA COLEMAN RADEWAGEN,
    KATIE PORTER, California                 American Samoa
    TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico   DANIEL WEBSTER, Florida
    MELANIE A. STANSBURY, New Mexico     JENNIFFER GONZALEZ-COLON,
    NYDIA M. VELAZQUEZ, New York             Puerto Rico
    DIANA DeGETTE, Colorado              RUSS FULCHER, Idaho
    JULIA BROWNLEY, California           PETE STAUBER, Minnesota
    DEBBIE DINGELL, Michigan             THOMAS P. TIFFANY, Wisconsin
    A. DONALD McEACHIN, Virginia         JERRY L. CARL, Alabama
    DARREN SOTO, Florida                 MATTHEW M. ROSENDALE, Sr., Montana
    MICHAEL F. Q. SAN NICOLAS, Guam      BLAKE D. MOORE, Utah
    JESUS G. ``CHUY'' GARCIA, Illinois   YVETTE HERRELL, New Mexico
    ED CASE, Hawaii                      LAUREN BOEBERT, Colorado
    BETTY McCOLLUM, Minnesota            JAY OBERNOLTE, California
    STEVE COHEN, Tennessee               CLIFF BENTZ, Oregon
    PAUL TONKO, New York                 Vacancy
    RASHIDA TLAIB, Michigan              Vacancy
    LORI TRAHAN, Massachusetts

                         David Watkins, Staff Director
                           Luis Urbina, Chief Counsel
                   Vivian Moeglein, Republican Staff Director
                       http://naturalresources.house.gov
                                     ------

            SUBCOMMITTEE FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THE UNITED STATES

                   TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico, Chair

    RUBEN GALLEGO, Arizona               JAY OBERNOLTE, California,
    DARREN SOTO, Florida                   Acting Ranking Member
    BETTY McCOLLUM, Minnesota            AUMUA AMATA COLEMAN RADEWAGEN,
    MICHAEL F. Q. SAN NICOLAS, Guam          American Samoa
    ED CASE, Hawaii                      JERRY L. CARL, Alabama
    JESUS G. ``CHUY'' GARCIA, Illinois   MATTHEW M. ROSENDALE, Sr., Montana
    MELANIE A. STANSBURY, New Mexico     LAUREN BOEBERT, Colorado
    RAUl M. GRIJALVA, Arizona            CLIFF BENTZ, Oregon
      (ex officio)                       Vacancy
                                         BRUCE WESTERMAN, Arkansas
                                           (ex officio)

                                C O N T E N T S

                                  ----------
                                                                       Page

    Hearing held on June 28, 2022....................................     1

    Statement of Members:
        Sablan, Hon. Gregorio Kilili Camacho, Chairman, Subcommittee
          on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education....     1
            Prepared statement of....................................     4
        Owens, Hon. Burgess, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Early
          Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.............     5
            Prepared statement of....................................     6
        Leger Fernandez, Hon. Teresa, Chair, Subcommittee for
          Indigenous
          Peoples of the United States...............................     8
            Prepared statement of....................................     9
        Obernolte, Hon. Jay, Acting Ranking Member, Subcommittee for
          Indigenous Peoples of the United States....................     7
            Prepared statement of....................................     8

    Statement of Witnesses:
            Dearman, Tony, Director, Bureau of Indian Education......    27
            Prepared statement of....................................    30
        Sirois, Beth, Assistant Director, U.S. Government
          Accountability Office......................................    11
            Prepared statement of....................................    13

    Additional Submissions:
        Questions submitted for the record by:
            Chairman Scott

            Acting Ranking Member Obernolte..........................    63
            Morelle, Hon. Joseph D., a Representative in Congress
              from the State of New York.............................    63
        Response to questions submitted for the record by:
            Bureau of Indian Education...............................    66

    EXAMINING THE POLICIES AND PRIORITIES OF THE BUREAU OF INDIAN EDUCATION

                                  ----------

                             Tuesday, June 28, 2022

                      House of Representatives,
                       Subcommittee on Early Childhood,
                   Elementary, and Secondary Education,
                          Committee on Education and Labor, and
                    Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples
                                  of the United States,
                                Committee on Natural Resources,
                                                        Washington, DC.
        The Subcommittees met, pursuant to notice, at 11 a.m. via
    Zoom, Hon. Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (Chairman of the
    Subcommittee) presiding.
        Present: Representatives Sablan, DeSaulnier, Manning,
    Bonamici, Leger Fernandez, Soto, Stansbury, Owens, Grothman,
    Allen, Keller, Cawthorn, Obernolte, Radewagen, and Bentz.
        Staff present: Alston Brittany, Staff Assistant; Phoebe
    Ball, Disability Counsel; Amaris Benavidez, Professional Staff;
    Nekea Brown, Director of Operations; Rashage Green, Director of
    Education Policy and Counsel; Christian Haines, General
    Counsel; Rasheedah Hasan, Chief Clerk; Sheila Havenner,
    Director of Information; Jayme Holliday, Professional Staff
    Technology; Danyelle Honore, Fellow; Stephanie Lalle,
    Communications Director; Andre Lindsay, Professional Staff;
    Kota Mizutani, Deputy Communications Director; Max Moore,
    Policy Associate; Kayla Pennebecker, Staff Assistant; Veronique
    Pluviose, Staff Director; Manasi Raveendran, Director of
    Education Oversight and Counsel; Paige Schwartz, Legislative
    Director; Dhrtvan Sherman, Staff Assistant; Sam Varie, Press
    Secretary; Banyon Vassar, Deputy Director of Information
    Technology; Claire Viall, Senior Education Policy; ArRone
    Washington, Clerk/Special Assistant to the Staff Director;
    Cyrus Artz, Minority Staff Director; Cate Dillon, Minority
    Director of Operations; Mini Ganesh, Minority Staff Assistant;
    Amy Raaf Jones, Minority Director of Education and Human
    Resources Policy; David Maestas, Minority Fellow; Hannah
    Matesic, Minority Director of Member Services and Coalitions;
    Mandy Schaumburg, Minority Chief Counsel and Deputy Director of
    Education Policy; and Brad Thomas, Minority Senior Education
    Policy Advisor.
        Chairman Sablan. So, the Joint Hearing of the House
    Education and Labor Subcommittee on Early Childhood Elementary
    and Secondary Education and the House Natural Resources
    Subcommittee for the Indigenous People of the United States
    will now come to order. Welcome everyone. I note that a quorum
    is present. The Subcommittees are meeting jointly today to hear
    testimony on Examining the Policies and Practices of the Bureau
    of Indian Education (BIE).
        I note for the Subcommittee that Ms. Bonamici of Oregon is
    permitted to participate in today's hearing with the
    understanding that her questions will only come after all
    Members of the two Subcommittees on both sides of the aisle who
    are present and had an opportunity to question the witnesses.
        This is an entirely remote hearing; all microphones should
    be kept muted as a general rule to avoid unnecessary background
    noise.
        Members and witnesses will be responsible for unmuting
    themselves when they are recognized to speak, or when they wish
    to seek recognition. I also ask that Members please identify
    themselves before they speak. Members should keep their cameras
    on while in the proceeding.
        And Members shall be considered present in the proceeding
    when they are visible on camera, and they shall be considered
    not present when they are not visible on camera. The only
    exception to this is if they are experiencing technical
    difficulty and inform the Committee staff of such difficulties.
    If any Member experiences technical difficulties during the
    hearing you should stay connected on the platform, make sure
    you are muted, and use your phone to immediately call the
    Committee's IT director whose number was provided in advance.
        Should the Chair experience technical difficulty, or need
    to step away, Ms. Leger Fernandez, as Chair of the House
    Natural Resources Subcommittee for the Indigenous People of the
    United States, or another Majority Member is hereby authorized
    to assume the gavel in the Chair's absence. This is an entirely
    remote hearing, and as such, the Subcommittee's hearing room is
    officially closed.
        Members who choose to sit with their individual devices in
    the hearing room must wear headphones to avoid feedback,
    echoes, and distortion resulting from more than one person on
    the software platform sitting in the same room. Members are
    also expected to adhere to social distancing and safe
    healthcare guidelines, including the use of masks, hand
    sanitizers, and wiping down the areas both before and after
    their presence in the hearing room.
        In order to ensure the Committee's five-minute rule is
    adhered to, staff will be keeping track of time using the
    Committee's field timer. The field timer will appear on its own
    thumbnail picture and will be named 001_timer. There will be no
    one-minute remaining warning. The field timer will show a
    blinking light when time is up. Members and witnesses are asked
    to please wrap up promptly when their time has expired.
        Pursuant to Committee Rule 8(c) opening statements are
    limited to the Subcommittee Chairs and Ranking Members. This
    allows us to hear from our witnesses sooner and provides all
    Members with adequate time to ask questions. I now recognize
    myself for the purpose of making an opening statement.
        So, today we're meeting to examine the role of the Bureau
    of Indian Education in serving American Indian and Alaskan
    Native students. The Federal Government has responsibility to
    Indian tribes bound by both the United States Constitution and
    moral responsibility.
        Education is a core part of this obligation. Unfortunately,
    our commitment to faithfully educate and support American
    Indian and Alaskan Natives, or AI/AN, students have been marked
    by generations of the abuse and neglect. A report released last
    month from the Department of Interior on Federal Indian
    boarding schools from 1820 to 1969 found a history of low-
    quality education, military strategies to erase the identity of
    AI/AN students and physical, sexual, and emotional abuse.
        Tragically these actions carried out by the people
    entrusted to educate our children likely contributed to the
    deaths of at least 500 American Indians and Alaskan Native
    students. Today the Bureau of Education, or the BIE, has a key
    role to play in the Federal Government's commitment to
    providing a high-quality education to AI/AN students.
        BIE schools honor ancestor's and sustain commissions
    similar to students that they belong in school. The research
    shows that students from underrepresented backgrounds,
    including AI/AN students, have higher achievement rates when
    cultural specific elements were incorporated into their
    curriculum. Despite the importance of BIA schools, American
    Indian and Alaskan Native students are still in need of
    educational resources and support.
        A 2021 study showed that BIA students perform more than two
    grade levels below the national average. Even when compared to
    AI/AN public school students, BIA students were still roughly
    one-third of a grade level behind, and research confirms that
    AI/AN students experience higher than average rates of
    depression and suicide.
        Unfortunately, the pandemic only compounded the
    consequences of our multi-generational neglect of AI/AN
    students. During the pandemic, Native Americans lost their
    lives at higher rates compared to other demographics in the
    United States. Student achievement declined and mental health
    challenges worsened.
        The loss of tribal Members inflicted an immeasurable loss
    to Native American's traditions and languages. Now more than
    ever the education of the future of American Indian and Alaskan
    Native students and communities form the strength of BIE-funded
    schools.
        To that end over the past 2 years congressional democrats
    have secured historic investments in education, including 990
    million dollars in dedicated funding to help AI/AN students get
    back on track. BIE schools can use these funds to protect the
    health and safety of students and staff, address learning loss,
    and support students' social and emotional needs.
        However, we know these investments alone will not solve the
    underlying issues that BIE schools face. According to the
    studies conducted by the Government Accountability Office
    (GAO), poor management and accountability challenges have
    prevented BIE from repairing dilapidated school facilities,
    fully serving students with disabilities, and meeting students'
    academic and mental health needs.
        Today we have an opportunity to examine the steps BIE has
    taken to fulfill its responsibility to students. I am committed
    to securing sustained and strategic investments to ensure BIE
    can improve its operations and address the urgent challenges
    facing AI/AN students.
        For example, President Biden's budget proposal for Fiscal
    Year 2023 calls for $1.6 billion for the BIE, a 500 million
    dollar increase above the Fiscal Year 2022 enacted level,
    including more than 890 million for K-12education. These
    investments are not only critical to the education of our
    Nation's students, but to the future of American Indian and
    Alaskan Native communities and our Constitutional commitment to
    them.
        So, thank you again, Director Dearman for your services to
    your service to AIAN students, and I look forward to our
    discussions alongside Ms. Sirois of the Government
    Accountability Office. Thank you and I now recognize Ranking
    Member Mr. Owens of Utah for the purpose of making an opening
    statement. Mr. Owens, please. I think you need to unmute Mr.
    Owens. Thank you.
        [The prepared statement of Chairman Sablan follows:]

          Statement of Hon. Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, Chairman,
      Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education

        Today, we are meeting to examine the role of the Bureau of Indian
    Education in serving American Indian and Alaskan Native students.
        The Federal Government has a trust responsibility to Indian tribes
    bound by both the U.S. Constitution and moral responsibility. Education
    is a core part of this obligation. Unfortunately, our commitment to
    faithfully educate and support American Indian and Alaskan Native, or
    A-I-A-N, students has been marred by generations of abuse and neglect.
        A report released last month from the Department of Interior on
    Federal Indian boarding schools from 1820 to 1969 found:

       A history of low-quality education,

       Militarized strategies to erase the identity of A-I-A-N
            students, and

       Physical, sexual, and emotional abuse.

        Tragically, these actions, carried out by the people entrusted to
    educate our children, likely contributed to the deaths of at least 500
    American Indiana and Alaskan Native students.
        Today, the Bureau of Indian Education, or the B-I-E, has a key role
    to play in fulfilling the Federal Government's commitment to providing
    a high-quality education to A-I-A-N students.
        B-I-E schools honor ancestors and sustain traditions, signaling to
    students that they belong in school. Research shows that students from
    underrepresented backgrounds-including A-I-A-N students-have higher
    achievement rates when cultural-specific elements were incorporated
    into their curriculum.
        Despite the importance of B-I-E schools, American Indian and
    Alaskan Native students are still in need of educational resources and
    support.
        A 2021 study showed that B-I-E students performed more than two
    grade levels below the national average. Even when compared to A-I-A-N
    public school students, B-I-E students were still roughly one-third of
    a grade level behind. And research confirms that A-I-A-N students
    experience higher than average rates of depression and suicide.
        Unfortunately, the pandemic only compounded the consequences of our
    multigenerational neglect of A-I-A-N students. During the pandemic,
    Native Americans lost their lives at higher rates compared to other
    demographics in the U.S.; student achievement declined; and mental
    health challenges worsened. The loss of tribal members inflicted an
    immeasurable loss to Native Americans' traditions and languages.
        Now more than ever, the education and future of American Indian and
    Alaskan Native students and communities fall on the strength of B-I-E
    funded schools.
        To that end, over the past 2 years, congressional Democrats have
    secured historic investments in education, including $990 million in
    dedicated funding to help A-I-A-N students get back on track. B-I-E
    schools can use these funds to protect the health and safety of
    students and staff, address learning loss, and support students' social
    and emotional needs.
        However, we know these investments, alone, will not solve the
    underlying issues that B-I-E schools face.
        According to studies conducted by the Government Accountability
    Office, core management and accountability challenges have prevented B-
    I-E from repairing dilapidated school facilities, fully serving
    students with disabilities, and meeting student's academic and mental
    health needs.
        Today, we have an opportunity to examine the steps B-I-E is taking
    to fulfill its responsibility to students. I am committed to securing
    sustained and strategic investments to ensure B-I-E can improve its
    operations and address the urgent challenges facing A-I-A-N students.
    For example, President Biden's budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2023
    called for $1.6 billion for the B-I-E, a $500 million increase above
    Fiscal Year 202022 enacted level, including more than $890 million for
    K-12 education
        These investments are not only critical to the education of our
    Nation's students, but to the future of American Indian and Alaska
    Native communities and our Constitutional commitment to them.
        So, thank you, again, Director Dearman, for your service to A-I-A-N
    students, and I look forward to our discussion alongside Ms. Sirois of
    the Government Accountability Office.
                                     ______

        Mr. Owens. OK, sorry about that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman
    and also your witnesses here. I'm looking forward to this
    conversation. BIE has long been plagued by problems, has been
    on the Government Accountability Office, GAO high-risk status
    list since 2017. The report issued 65 recommendations for
    improvement for BIE operations and performance.
        But as of December 2020, 22 of these recommendations remain
    open. The schools funded by BIE frequently fail to provide
    students with an environment to keep them safe and healthy. For
    example, in December 2014 in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, ran
    a four-part series of BIE schools focused on the dilapidated
    State of the school buildings and argued that the decrepit
    conditions are common throughout the system and neglected by
    the Federal Government.
        A 2013 Politico report called BIE schools the worst schools
    in America citing the worst schools in America, citing one
    school on a Navajo reservation that had cracks running down the
    walls, leaky pipes in the floors, and asbestos in the basement.
    Additionally, while these schools spend more for people than
    non-BIE public schools, student's performance is consistently
    lower than that of traditional public school students,
    including that of the Navajo, the Native Americans.
        The rate of graduation in BIE schools are 53 percent, which
    is far below the national average of all Native Americans,
    which is 69 percent, and even worse compared to the national
    average of all students of 81 percent. It is clear these
    schools aren't giving students the education they deserve.
        I note BIE has undertaken multiple efforts to reform and
    reorganize to better support students, but also know these
    reforms seem to have been unsuccessful so far. I look forward
    to hearing more from our witnesses about steps the BIE is
    taking to finally address GAO's recommendations, but also steps
    the BIE is taking to address the far more important problem,
    which is way too few students are graduating with skills and
    knowledge they need to succeed. Thank you, and I yield back.
    Chairman, you're on mute.
        [The prepared statement of Mr. Owens follows:]

    Statement of Hon. Burgess Owens, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Early
                 Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education

        BIE has long been plagued by problems and has been on the
    Government Accountability Office (GAO) high-risk status list since
    2017. The report issued 65 recommendations for improving BIE operations
    and performance, but as of December 2020, 22 of those recommendations
    remained open.
        The schools funded by BIE frequently fail to provide students with
    an environment that keeps them safe and healthy. For example, in
    December 2014, the Minneapolis Star Tribune ran a four-part series on
    BIE schools focused on the dilapidated State of BIE school buildings
    and argued that decrepit conditions are common throughout the BIE
    system and neglected by the Federal Government. And a 2015 Politico
    report called BIE schools `The Worst Schools in America,' citing one
    school on the Navajo reservation that had cracks running down the
    walls, leaky pipes in the floors, and asbestos in the basement.
        Additionally, while these schools spend more per-pupil than non-BIE
    public schools, student performance is consistently lower than that of
    traditional public-school students, including that of other Native
    Americans. The rate of graduation for BIE students is 53 percent, which
    is far below the national average of all Native Americans, which is 69
    percent, and is even worse compared to the national average for all
    students of 81 percent. It is clear these schools aren't giving
    students the education they deserve.
        I know BIE has undertaken multiple efforts to reform and reorganize
    to better support students, but I also know those reforms seem to have
    been unsuccessful so far. I look forward to hearing more from our
    witnesses about steps BIE is taking to finally address GAO's
    recommendations but also steps BIE is taking to address the far more
    important problem, which is way too few students graduating with the
    skills and knowledge they need to succeed.
                                     ______

        Chairman Sablan. Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Owens. I'd
    now like to recognize the Chairwoman of the Subcommittee House
    Natural Resources Subcommittee for the Indigenous People of the
    United States, Ms. Leger Fernandez of New Mexico, for the
    purpose of making an opening statement. Ms. Leger Fernandez,
    please, thank you.
        Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you, so much, Chair Sablan, and
    thank you, Ranking Member Owens, and also I would like to thank
    SCIP Ranking Member Representative Obernolte. We are all
    gathered here with the interest of education for our Native
    American children, our Alaskan Native and Hawaiian Native
    children.
        I can tell you I visit with Native American leaders across
    my district and across this country regularly. (Inaudible)
        Chairman Sablan. Ms. Leger Fernandez, hold on.
        Ms. Leger Fernandez. Quality education that also is rooted
    in cultural values and the linguistics of the tribe. Last
    month--am I breaking up?
        Chairman Sablan. Yes, actually yes.
        Ms. Leger Fernandez. Last month I heard from one tribe in
    Washington that worked with schools, tribal students are now
    taught tribal history. And (inaudible)
        Chairman Sablan. I think we've lost Ms. Leger Fernandez. I
    think we've lost her. Can staff give me an update please?
        Mr. Vassar. Chairman Sablan, I still have Representative
    Leger Fernandez's connection to the platform, however, I think
    it is bouncing between bandwidth for video and audio. I have
    visual confirmation that Ms. Leger Fernandez is back on the
    platform however, I do not have audio confirmation, Chair.
        Ms. Leger Fernandez. Is the connection cutting out, Mr.
    Chair?
        Mr. Vassar. Yes. Chair Leger Fernandez.
        Chairman Sablan. Yes.
        Mr. Vassar. Your connection is breaking up and the video.
        Chairman Sablan. OK. Here's what we'll do. What we will do
    is Mr. Obernolte and come back to Ms. Leger Fernandez please.
    Mr. Obernolte sir, for your opening statement, thank you.
        Mr. Obernolte. Thank you, very much Chairman Sablan and
    Chair Leger Fernandez. I appreciate your rescheduling today's
    hearing, a very important hearing. It's disappointing I know
    for all of us back in May that we had some technical challenges
    that required it to be rescheduled, and unfortunately it looks
    like we're having some technical challenges with the hearing
    today.
        You know this is an oversight hearing. One of the reasons
    why it's so important to all of us, but also I think
    underscores the importance of trying to get back to a schedule
    of in-person hearings. These technical challenges I think are
    frustrating for not just us, but for our witnesses, and for the
    Members of the public that watch.
        And I think we're more effective as an oversight body when
    we're sitting in the same room. We can see either other, we can
    see the witnesses, they can see us, and so I'm hopeful that we
    can get back to a schedule of in-person hearings.
        So, today obviously we're examining the policies and
    priorities of the Bureau of Indian Education. This is something
    that is of critical importance to everyone on this Committee,
    charged as they are with providing educational support to the
    more than 30,000 students who are located in or near Indian
    reservations.
        Now I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, for including the
    Government Accountability Office in this hearing. Originally, I
    think they were not scheduled to be included, and their input
    is going to be critical to our deliberations here. As we have
    heard, the GAO in 2017 included the BIE on its biannual high-
    risk list of Federal programs that are especially vulnerable to
    waste, fraud, and abuse, and or mismanagement, or the need for
    transformative change.
        Obviously, given some of those statistics that we've seen
    quoted, this designation by the GAO was not a surprise to those
    at Indian country. The BIE has just been facing challenge after
    challenge spanning back decades. So, to be clear, we in
    Congress have an oversight responsibility toward agencies like
    the BIE. That oversight does not have to be adversarial. I
    think that we're all on the same team here. We want to empower
    the BIE to do their mission and improve the quality of the
    education that we're providing to these students.
        But there are still challenges that remain. Of those 39
    open GAO recommendations in 2017, as of the latest report in
    January of last year, there are over a dozen of them still
    outstanding, so obviously we have some work that still remains
    ahead of us, so I'm hopeful that the inclusion of the GAO in
    this hearing will enable us to work with the BIE, and to try
    and solve some of these problems.
        Before I yield back, I want to talk about how encouraging
    it is to see the bipartisan nature, the cooperation on this
    Committee, especially with respect to the GAO, and I'm hopeful
    that continues. I think the inclusion of other outside
    witnesses is very helpful to the business of the Committee, and
    it certainly improves our transparency, and I think it improves
    our ability to enhance accountability throughout the entire
    process.
        So, I'm hoping that we're going to continue to be able to
    work together on a bipartisan basis in that way. I'm looking
    forward to the hearing, and Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
        [The prepared statement of Mr. Obernolte follows:]

     Statement of Hon. Jay Obernolte, Acting Ranking Member, Subcommittee
                                      for
                    Indigenous Peoples of the United States

        Thank you, Chairman Sablan.
        I appreciate you rescheduling today's hearing. I think the
    technical challenges we had back in May underscore the need to get back
    to having all of our hearings in-person.
        Today, we will be examining the policies and priorities of the
    Bureau of Indian Education. The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), which
    is housed under the Department of the Interior's Office of Indian
    Affairs, is charged with providing education support to more than
    30,000 students located on or near Indian reservations.
        In 2017, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) included the
    BIE on its biennial high-risk list of Federal programs that are
    especially vulnerable to waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement, or
    that need transformative change. For many, this designation by the GAO
    was nothing new to those in Indian Country. The simple fact is that the
    BIE and its school system has been plagued by challenge after
    challenge, spanning decades. These challenges include inadequate
    facilities, a myriad of bureaucratic red tape, inability to recruit and
    retain qualified teachers, inability to consistently use accountability
        measures to ensure school construction project be completed on
    time, within budget and meet schools' needs, as well as many other
    challenges. At the time of the high-risk designation in 2017, there
    were 39 open GAO recommendations. Four years later, when GAO released
    its most recent report in 2021, there were still nearly a dozen open
    recommendations.
        While the bureau has made progress, much work remains.
        The COVID-19 pandemic has and continues to have a profound impact
    on native communities. Broadly, school enrollment in many states has
    been down due to the pandemic and I am curious to know how or if this
    has impacted native student populations as well.
        With $1.5 billion being allocated to the BIE to address challenges
    associated with the pandemic, I hope the agency ensures transparency
    and accountability. We must ensure we are upholding our responsibility
    to provide adequate education to native students. And with the BIE
    annually receiving more than a billion dollars annually, we must ensure
    that native students are excelling in classroom.
        Before I yield back, I do appreciate the majority inviting the GAO
    in addition to the Director of the BIE to testify today as the GAO was
    not invited to the originally scheduled hearing. I think this is a
    positive step in trying to conduct proper oversight. I do however think
    we could further benefit from the inclusion of other outside witnesses.
    Having a more robust panel sends a clear message that Congress is
    serious about attempting to address the myriad shortcomings of the BIE.
    We should discuss the real-world impacts of the BIE's failings and
    practical solutions to change the status quo for the benefit of Indian
    students across the Nation.
        It begs the question as to whether the current system is in the
    best interests of native students, or we should be looking into more
    transformative changes.
        It continues to be troubling to me that it has taken the agency so
    long to implement what I find to be basic recommendations. I'd like to
    work with both Chairs of the subcommittees to conduct continued
    oversight of Indian education system moving forward.
        Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
                                     ______

        Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Mr. Obernolte. We'll circle
    back to the Chairwoman of the Subcommittee for Indigenous
    People, Ms. Leger Fernandez please, your opening statements
    again, thank you.
        Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you so very much, and I think I
    might be breaking up again. This is an issue for anyone in
    Indian country. We don't really have great broadband. Can you
    hear me now?
        Chairman Sablan. I'm sorry. I think it says your bandwidth
    is low, so you're coming in and out. Yes, you're coming in and
    out and then your photo is, you're freezing.
        Ms. Leger Fernandez. Yes. If you can hear me, I mean the
    issue is we do not have Wi-Fi where I'm at. I'm actually in
    (inaudible) Indian country.
        Chairman Sablan. Yes I am truly, truly sorry. I do not want
    to do this at all, but like Mr. Obernolte mentioned, we already
    canceled, postponed this hearing once. I'm going to ask that
    Ms. Leger Fernandez's opening statements be included in the
    record, so we can move on and just hear from our witnesses. So,
    Ms. Leger Fernandez can you please make a statement asking that
    your statement be inserted into the record. I'd appreciate
    that.
        And now I think we have lost Teresa.
        Mr. Obernolte. Mr. Chair would it suffice for me to make a
    request for unanimous consent that the Chair's statement be
    included in the record?
        Chairman Sablan. Yes, that would be nice. Thank you. And is
    that a statement Mr. Obernolte?
        Mr. Obernolte. Yes. I request unanimous consent that
    Chairwoman Leger Fernandez's opening statement be included in
    the written record for this hearing.
        Chairman Sablan. All right. And without objection so
    ordered, thank you.
        [The prepared statement of Chair Leger Fernandez follows:]

     Statement of Hon. Leger Fernandez, Chair, Subcommittee for Indigenous
                          Peoples of the United States

        Thank you to Chair Sablan and Ranking Member Owens, thank you to
    SCIP Ranking Member Rep. Obernolte and to the full committee Chairs
    Grijalva and Scott for holding this joint oversight hearing on the
    Bureau of Indian Education.
        When I visit with Native American leaders across my district and
    this country, we talk about lots of issues. But without fail, tribal
    leaders will bring up education and the importance of delivering
    quality education that also promotes the cultural values and
    linguistics of the Tribe.
        Last month, I heard from one Tribe in Washington that has worked
    with the schools so that the tribal students are now taught tribal
    history and their tribal language. The Tribe had one living speaker of
    their language before this effort. Now the tribe has successfully
    rescued their language from extinction.
        Earlier this year, we held a hearing on Rep. Sharice Davids' bill,
    the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in
    the United States Act. The tragic origin of Federal Indian education a
    century ago was to destroy the Indian in the children--to commit
    cultural genocide. Today, we see the reverse. Our Bureau of Indian
    Education is committed to the opposite--to foster a quality education
    that values and builds on the cultural and linguistic strengths of our
    Native students.
        Currently, there are 183 BIE-funded schools on 64 reservations
    across 23 states. BIE schools support approximately 46,000 American
    Indian and Alaska Native students.
        Unfortunately, like many Federal programs for Tribes, the BIE has
    been subject to decades of chronic underfunding.
        Although funding is a concern for many public schools across the
    country, the Federal underfunding of BIE has had drastic results in
    educational, health, and safety outcomes among its students.
        On the House Committee on Natural Resources' Subcommittee for
    Indigenous Peoples of the United States, we have held multiple
    oversight hearings on these topics including: the State of BIE school
    facilities, the Department of the Interior's COVID-19 return-to-learn
    plans, and as noted the history of Federal Indian boarding schools.
        From these proceedings, it's clear that Congress must uphold its
    obligations to Indian Country by fully funding BIE and addressing many
    of the agency's safety and infrastructure concerns, especially those
    relating to facilities and technology.
        Supporting BIE is a priority for the Subcommittee. We know the
    importance of providing comprehensive education to American Indians and
    Alaska Natives. We also know that this type of education is unique and
    the experiences of American Indian and Alaska Native students can vary
    among each Tribe and location.
        I hosted a Native Education roundtable in my district earlier this
    year. We listened to education leaders discuss innovative approaches to
    including education as an integral component of a thriving community--
    not isolated from the community but a pillar in the community. For
    example, the Pueblo of Jemez discussed their Coordinated School Health
    Model that connects their schools to community and tribal programs.
        But I've also heard of the difficulties many Tribes have in getting
    their voices heard at BIE schools. Our Bureau-funded schools face
    numerous struggles from staffing shortages to road access locations
    where school buses cannot travel over unsafe bridges.
        That is why I'm pleased to be at this hearing today, as it
    represents a joint-Committee approach to better support this important
    Bureau.
        I will also share that in the Education and Labor Committee markup
    of the Reopen and Rebuild America's Schools Act, I pressed for
    increasing the set aside for BIE schools, which has historically been
    0.5 percent. This percentage freezes in a historic underfunding--and it
    doesn't reflect the $4.5 billion need to rebuild the BIE schools in
    poor condition.
        The Federal Government alone is responsible for maintaining and
    building the schools that serve most of our indigenous children. These
    children live in some of the areas of highest poverty.
        Over the last 30 years, child poverty among Native Americans has
    consistently exceeded 40 percent. I've spent considerable time in BIE
    schools working to replace buildings that were condemnable--sitting on
    priority lists for years and decades. I've witnessed the leaking roofs,
    falling plaster, broken bathrooms.
        While these children live in areas of poverty, they and their
    families have high aspirations for their future. They are rich in
    culture and dreams. Our job is to remove obstacles to their ability to
    achieve their goals and aspirations. Improving educational
    opportunities and infrastructure is key to that. I want to thank
    Chairman Scott for his guidance in addressing the disparity and his
    willingness to work to increase the BIE school construction percentage.
        I look forward to hearing from Director Dearman and learning how we
    can help BIE better achieve its educational mission.
                                     ______

        Chairman Sablan. So, let's now proceed to our witnesses.
    And without objection all Members, all other Members who wish
    to insert written statements into the record may do so by
    submitting them to the Committee Clerk and electronically in
    Microsoft Word format by 5 p.m. on July 12.
        I will now introduce the witnesses. Mr. Tony L. Dearman is
    the Director of the Bureau of Indian Education, a role he has
    held since November 2016. Mr. Dearman is a Member of the
    Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and brings more than two decades of
    experience as a teacher, coach, and administrator in BIE
    operated and tribally controlled schools, including
    implementing much needed reforms.
        He began his career in education in 1993 at Sequoia High
    School, a boarding school operated by the Cherokee Nation of
    Oklahoma.
        Ms. Beth Sirois has been an Assistant Director in GAO's
    Educational Workforce and Income Security team since 2011. For
    the past 10 years she's worked on issues regarding the Bureau
    of Indian Education Schools producing numerous reports on
    topics ranging from school health and safety to special
    education services.
        She has also written several studies on higher education
    and the Department of Education K-12programs. Before joining
    the Education and Workforce team, she worked for 7 years as an
    advisor in GAO's Office of congressional Relations.
        We appreciate the witnesses for participating today and
    look forward to your testimony. Let me remind you that we have
    read your written statements, and they will appear in full in
    the hearing record. Pursuant to Committee Rule 8(b) and
    Committee practice, you are asked to limit your oral
    presentation to a five-minute summary of your written
    statement.
        Before you begin your testimony, please remember to unmute
    your microphone. During the testimony staff will be keeping
    track of time, and a light will blink when time is up. Please
    be attentive to the time. Wrap up when time is over and re-mute
    your microphone.
        If you experience technical difficulties during your
    testimony, or later in the hearing, you should stay connected
    on the platform, and make sure you are muted, and unmute your
    phone to immediately call the Committee's IT director, whose
    number was provided to you in advance. After the witnesses make
    their presentations, we will move to Member questions.
        When answering a question please remember to unmute your
    microphone. The witnesses are aware of their responsibility to
    provide accurate information to the Subcommittees, and
    therefore we will proceed with your testimony. Assistant
    Director Sirois, please you have five minutes, thank you very
    much.

        STATEMENT OF MS. BETH SIROIS, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, U.S.
                    GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

        Ms. Sirois. Chairman Sablan, Chair Leger Fernandez,
    Republican leader Owens, acting Ranking Member Obernolte, and
    Members of the Subcommittees. Thank you for inviting me here
    today to discuss the Bureau of Indian Education and GAO's high-
    risk list.
        In 2017, we designated improving Federal management of
    programs that serve tribes and their Members as a high-risk
    area. One component of this area is BIE's administration of
    schools. We included this area due to the agency's significant
    management weaknesses in supporting and overseeing schools
    serving American Indian students.
        Our high-risk program is intended to help inform
    congressional oversight and improve government performance.
    Since 1990, 67 different areas have appeared on our high-risk
    list. Of these, 27 areas have been removed. On average, these
    areas have been on the list for 9 years.
        An agency must meet five criteria to be removed from our
    high-risk list. The criteria focus on leadership commitment,
    agency capacity, action plans, monitoring and the agency
    demonstrating progress to fix the high-risk area. We have made
    32 high-risk recommendations related to BIE's administration of
    schools dating back to 2013.
        These recommendations involve a variety of management
    issues, such as the need to improve school health and safety,
    fiscal oversight, school construction, provision of special
    education services, and distance learning. Currently ten of
    these recommendations remain open, including one priority
    recommendation on BIE's provision of special education
    services.
        However, implementing our recommendations alone will not
    result in BIE's automatic removal from the high-risk list
    because the conditions that led to the recommendations are
    indicative of systemic management grievances.
        Since we've last reported on BIE's high-risk status in
    March 2021, the agency has fully met two of the five criteria
    for removing its high-risk designation. Specifically the
    criteria for leadership commitment and having action plans in
    place. Senior leaders have demonstrated a strong commitment to
    address the management weaknesses we have identified and
    provided continued support to fix those issues.
        Also, BIE has developed corrective action plans to address
    a range of management challenges, including a long-term capital
    asset plan to guide its school construction projects. In
    addition, the BIE has developed a plan to build schools'
    capacity to address building safety issues, including at its
    dormitories. BIE needs to do more work to fully address its
    remaining management weaknesses.
        As in our March 2021 high-risk report, we continue to rate
    BIE as partially meeting the remaining three high-risk
    criteria: agency capacity, monitoring, and demonstrated
    progress. In terms of capacity, the agency continues to have an
    overall staff vacancy rate of about 33 percent, the same rate
    we reported in 2021. Further, BIE's school operations division,
    which provides vital administrative support to schools,
    currently has a vacancy rate of about 45 percent. We believe
    these staff vacancies continue to hamper BIE's ability to
    support and oversee schools.
        BIE has also struggled with monitoring. For example, it has
    not fully implemented our 2020 recommendation to conduct risk
    space monitoring of schools' use of Federal special education
    funds. Furthermore, BIE needs to demonstrate additional
    progress by implementing our 10 open recommendations and
    improving overall management of its schools.
        In conclusion, we believe that BIE has demonstrated
    leadership commitment and an ability to formulate action plans
    to address key management weaknesses. However, it will need
    sustained focus and concerted actions to fully meet the three
    remaining criteria for removal from our high-risk list,
    especially in the area of increasing staff capacity.
        This concludes my statement. I would be happy to respond to
    any questions. Thank you.
        [The Statement of Ms. Sirois follows:]

                       Prepared Statement of Beth Sirois

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Ms. Sirois. Director Dearman,
    welcome back to us again, thank you for coming back since we
    had postponed our last hearing for some technical issues.
    Welcome back and please you have five minutes for your opening
    statement. Thank you.

    STATEMENT OF TONY DEARMAN, DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF INDIAN EDUCATION

        Mr. Dearman. Thank you. Good morning, Chairman Sablan,
    Chairwoman Leger Fernandez, Ranking Members Owens and
    Obernolte, and Members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for
    inviting me to appear on behalf of the Bureau of Indian
    Education.
        Chairman Sablan. Yes. Director, could you turn your video
    on?
        Mr. Dearman. I apologize. OK. Done. Thank you for inviting
    me to appear today on behalf of the Bureau of Indian Education.
    I am Tony Dearman, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, and
    Director of the BIE. Today I am joining you from one of our
    off-reservation residential schools, Sherman Indian High
    School.
        I'm onsite for a Principal Leadership Academy. It is an
    innovative way that we're reaching our school leadership teams
    to discuss important issues facing our students and sharing
    best practices to accelerate learning outcomes. I've been an
    educator for 29 years, as a science teacher, coach, principal,
    and administrator.
        I've invested my entire career in Indian education. For 16
    years for the BIE at both the school and administrative levels.
    The BIE serves approximately 47,000 Native students from 574
    federally recognized tribes. I apologize Chairman, my video
    keeps timing out.
        BIE serves approximately 47,000 Native students from 574
    federally recognized tribes. We educate our students in 183
    elementary and secondary schools and dormitories. Of these
    schools, the BIE directly operates 54, while the tribal
    governments operate the remaining 129 schools through grants or
    contracts.
        The BIE works to respond to the challenges we face in
    providing high-quality education for BIE students across 23
    states. As we work to include local service delivery, the BIE
    focuses its attention on using our resources to create the most
    impact for our students.
        We are working to achieve the agency's full mission and
    increase accountability throughout the BIE. Five years ago, in
    February 2017, the GAO listed the BIE in its high-risk report.
    At that time the GAO highlighted a number of challenges that
    limited the BIE from achieving its mission to serve Native
    students.
        A few of these include school safety, construction, and the
    obstacles we face in recruiting and retaining a highly skilled
    workforce. As noted by the GAO in its most recent high-risk
    report, the BIE has made progress. To date, the BIE has
    successfully addressed and closed a total of 23 of 39 GAO
    recommendations contained in ten separate reports, including 22
    of 32 recommendations identified as being high-risk.
        Although challenges remain, I am certain that we will
    continue to make significant progress toward all the GAO's
    remaining recommendations. BIE is actively working on
    implementing the GAO's recommendations while we navigate the
    unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our students
    and Native communities.
        In the face of new and evolving challenges, BIE pivots how
    services are delivered to Bureau operated schools, and how
    support is provided to our tribal controlled schools.
    Throughout the last 2 years the BIE team focused on providing
    services essential to the health and well-being of students and
    their families. Achieving each of these goals requires creative
    solutions.
        For example, many BIE student homes do not have
    electricity, much less access to adequate internet suitable to
    shift to online learning. During the summer of 2020, the BIE
    initiated and executed a comprehensive school reopening plan.
    The Bureau-wide effort resulted in successfully procuring and
    issuing more than 10,000 laptops and 7,000 Wi-Fi devices to
    students.
        Throughout our response, the BIE team established and
    maintained two-way communication with BIE partners, tribal
    leaders, and stakeholders. This is both through formal and
    informal paths, including a series of consultations, listening
    sessions, and other forms of strategic direction. The BIE also
    established collective working relationships with the Centers
    for Disease Control (CDC), Indian Health Service, and White
    House leadership.
        Overall, the BIE received approximately 1.5 billion dollars
    in COVID-19 assistance. These funds have served a critical role
    in BIE's ability to address the challenges of providing
    educational services in the COVID-19 environment. For example,
    the BIE also used COVID-19 supplementary funds to establish its
    first ever educational learning management system.
        This effort empowers the BIE to invest in IT
    infrastructure. We've used this funding also to provide
    professional development for teachers and school leaders. The
    BIE is also using COVID-19 supplementary funding to support the
    physical and mental health of our students that is in addition
    to procuring and distributing millions of masks, and hundreds
    of thousands of COVID-19 testing kids.
        Thank you for your public service. I am wanting to answer
    any questions you may have.
        [The Statement of Mr. Dearman follows:]

                       Prepared Statement of Tony Dearman

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        Chairman Sablan. OK, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Dearman. I
    just would like to take note of the difficulties that we are
    having with Chairman Teresa Leger Fernandez staying on the
    hearing, and a little bit also with Mr. Dearman, shows some of
    the connectivity issues we may be having in parts of the
    Nation. Although I'm happy to say that I am having no such
    issues where it's 1:30 in the morning here tomorrow, and where
    Ms. Radewagen is at 4:30 in the morning yesterday, so everyone,
    we're getting there a little at a time, but we're certainly
    getting there, and we'd like to have no connectivity issues
    with our Bureau of Indian Education students as well.
        Under Committee Rule 9(a) we will now question the
    witnesses under the five-minute rule. After the Chairs and
    Ranking Members, I will recognize Members of both Subcommittees
    in the order of their seniority on the full Committee. Again,
    to ensure that the Member's five-minute rule is adhered to,
    staff will be keeping track of time, and a blinking light will
    show when time has expired.
        Please be attentive to the time, wrap up when your time is
    over, and re-mute your microphone. As Chair, I now recognize
    myself for five minutes.
        Director Dearman, In it's 2017 report, the Government
    Accountability Office has said it was adding the Bureau of
    Indian Education's Administration on Oversight to its high-risk
    list because of evidence of unsafe school conditions,
    inconsistent school health and safety inspection, lack of
    workplace planning, and poor oversight of school spending of
    Federal funds.
        In the subsequent reports, GAO also cited other high-risk
    issues such as the BIE's oversight of special education at
    schools. So, the costs that the BIE has addressed, or is
    addressing these high-risk issues, are there high-risk areas
    that continue to be a challenge for the BIE to address?
        How can we as legislators support your efforts to address
    areas of high-risk, and what actions have been taken to provide
    leadership and support to address GAO's recommendations under
    BIE's high-risk status? If you can answer all of that I would
    appreciate it.
        Mr. Dearman. Well, thank you, Chairman. Thank you for the
    question. I became Director in November 2016, and we were
    placed on the high-risk list in 2017. And we gathered our
    leadership team immediately to address the GAO recommendations.
    And we will continue to address the GAO recommendations.
        As we have stated in our opening remarks, we have closed 23
    of the 39 recommendations, and we feel comfortable and
    confident that we will continue to work hard to close the
    remaining recommendations. We have a lot of the recommendations
    in, getting close to packaging, closer packages for some of the
    recommendations, and we continue to work collaboratively with
    GAO.
        GAO has been a great partner, and as I have stated in
    previous hearings Chairman, we will continue to work with GAO
    and use their recommendations as a road map to continue to make
    BIE better. We need the assistance. We feel like we totally
    agree with what GAO is saying, and we are proud of our
    leadership team at BIE because we are the most consistent
    leadership team that the BIE has had in the history of the
    organization.
        And we will continue to do our part to implement the
    recommendations Chairman.
        Chairman Sablan. Thank you for that. Because in my life I
    am aware of educational jurisdictions that are in high-risks,
    some of whom have been in high-risk for 20 years, and I
    understand maybe 30 years, and it's costing the local
    jurisdictions a lot of money, so thank you for that, Mr.
    Dearman.
        Director Sirois, based on the recommendations that are
    still open, do you believe will have the greatest overall
    impact if addressed. What do you believe is a reasonable time
    for BIE to implement these recommendations?
        Ms. Sirois. Yes. We have one priority recommendation that
    is still open, which is for BIE to improve its delivery of
    special education and related services, specifically we
    recommended in 2020 that BIE develop a plan to make up missed
    special education services on a consistent basis across all BIE
    schools.
        We found in our report that BIE was not providing
    consistent services when their providers were out sick or
    absent for other reasons. That is the most important of the
    recommendations we feel for BIE to implement.
        Chairman Sablan. And so, what do you believe BIE will have
    to take immediately to be able to achieve this target, and how
    has GAO been working with BIE to help achieve this timeline?
        Ms. Sirois. As Director Dearman testified, we do have very
    collaborative relationships with BIE, and with Mr. Dearman and
    his leadership team. They have reported they're working to
    address our ten open recommendations, including the one I just
    mentioned, to develop a consistent policy to make up missed
    special education services.
        Director Dearman would probably have a better idea of the
    timeframe for their implementation of these outstanding
    recommendations.
        Chairman Sablan. Thank you very much. I now turn to Ranking
    Member Owens for his five minutes of questioning. Mr. Owens,
    please.
        Mr. Owens. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Dearman,
    your testimony provided a good update on BIE progress and
    addressing the recommendations made by GAO over the last
    several years. You also discussed the challenges BIE schools
    have faced under COVID. What I didn't see any testimony on, was
    in your discussion about the low academic performance of BIE
    schools.
        Are there steps that BIE is taking to increase the learning
    outcomes of students in any of these schools? Mr. Dearman?
        Mr. Dearman. Thank you, Congressman. We have a lot of first
    ever's in the Bureau of Indian Education, and we have our first
    ever own standards, assessment, and accountability system that
    we've been working to implement. This past year is the first
    year that we've actually been able to collect the school data,
    and we'll be collecting school data from the assessments.
        Our plan is, Congressman, is to look at the data and make
    sure that we're filling in the gaps, providing resources based
    on data to fill in the learning gaps that we've experienced
    through the learning loss, through the pandemic. I can tell you
    this Congressman, it is hard for me and my leadership team to
    hear the opening statements with the statistics that's been
    read, and that's been the history of BIE.
        But I am proud to say that we are changing that, and we
    felt we went out for consultation, we listened to our
    stakeholders, our tribal leaders, and it was important that we
    have our own standards, assessment, and accountability system
    so that we can have our own data, and have control of that data
    versus having to work with the multiple states that our schools
    reside in.
        As I testified Congressman, we have schools in 23 different
    states who are having to try to work with 23 states in
    collecting that testing data. So that is the plan moving
    forward. But also with our new standards, assessment, and
    accountability system we will have benchmarks, so we can start
    measuring where our students are, and what we need to do to
    make sure that we address the new learning gaps, or any
    deficiencies that may be identified through the assessments.
        Mr. Owens. Thank you. I want to pose my next question to
    one of the GAO reports you highlight in your testimony. In May
    2020, GAO released a report highlighting BIE's failure to
    provide special education student services they were entitled
    to under Federal law. That was a report that was requested by
    Republicans on the Education and Labor Committee.
        From your testimony it appears that in the last, in the 2-
    years since the report was released, none of the GAO's
    recommendations have been fully addressed. You mentioned a new
    special education policy handbook that are forthcoming that you
    anticipate will fully address GAO's recommendations.
        Can you tell us more about what will be the policy and
    handbook, and how they will address GAO's recommendations?
        Mr. Dearman. Thank you, Congressman. Our anticipation, we
    anticipate having the policy and handbook this summer, and
    ready to go out to our schools and start training. What we will
    have in our policy is guidance and expectations, and special
    education as far as servicing our students.
        The one key thing that the GAO did recommend that we made
    sure that we ensure is in the policy in the handbook is
    compensatory services because we have to make sure that we--
    during the pandemic we had to shift to a virtual setting, and
    sometimes we had to shift to packets. And making sure that we
    are meeting the needs of our students that have individual
    education plans is critical.
        Since my tenure as a director, Congressman, the one thing
    that we have experienced in the Bureau of Indian Education is
    the lack of policies. And it's important that we put policies
    in place so that we can make sure that regardless of who is in
    the leadership position, our schools have guidance that they
    can follow, and it's written to where they can pull that off
    the shelf and make sure that our special education services are
    provided.
        Mr. Owens. OK. I have just less than a minute here. Ms.
    Sirois, I want to ask you about the same report. How would you
    describe BIE's progress in implementing the recommendations
    from that report?
        Ms. Sirois. As I mentioned in my statement, BIE has not
    closed any of the seven recommendations we had in our May 2020
    special education report. As Mr. Dearman testified, BIE told us
    they are working hard to develop policies to implement our
    recommendations. One thing that BIE did do shortly after our
    report was issued though, was they rescinded the policy at
    their largest division of tribally controlled schools not to
    inspect 100 percent of documents on provision of special
    education services to students.
        At the time we did our work, the assistant, the Office of
    Tribally Controlled Schools was only looking at I believe it
    was a third of all students' special education service
    delivery. So that's one positive thing that BIE did very
    shortly after our report was issued.
        Mr. Owens. OK. Thank you. Thank you so much, and Chairman I
    yield my time back.
        Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Mr. Owens. Now we welcome back
    of course the always hard-working and wonderful person to work
    with, the Chairwoman, Teresa Leger Fernandez. You have five
    minutes of questioning please. Thank you.
        Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you, so much, Mr. Chairman, and
    to everybody on this hearing. My apologies. I was actually--I
    am actually in a Navajo meeting on health issues, and so as we
    all know we have a major issue without sufficient internet, and
    I had to come back into Gallup.
        So I wanted to address some of the issues with regards to
    underfunding. You know we did in the markup on the bill with
    regards to school construction, talk about the manner in which
    school construction is incredibly underfunded, and we look
    forward to working with the Chairman and the Committee to
    increase the percentage that goes toward the Native American
    schools for construction.
        But I want to talk a little bit about the concept that we
    spend more on BIE students than others. From the data that I'm
    aware of, it's actually the opposite. And Assistant Director
    Sirois, as you know we have amazing schools like the Santa Fe
    Indian School of New Mexico, my congressional district, which
    has tremendous success in student outcomes.
        It's also Pueblo-governed. But we know that there are so
    many other schools that are not as successful, and that they're
    significantly underfunded. I saw that the Department of
    Education reported that AI/AN students are funded at 6,048,
    less than half of actual funds expended to educate non-Indian
    schools at 12,500 for Fiscal Year 2022.
        So how would the President's proposed 5-million-dollar
    funding increase for BIE in Fiscal Year 2023 help address the
    issues of inadequate funding of tribally controlled schools?
        Ms. Sirois. This is a question for me?
        Ms. Leger Fernandez. Yes, or whichever.
        Ms. Sirois. I'll defer to Director Dearman.
        Ms. Leger Fernandez. OK.
        Mr. Dearman. Thank you, Congresswoman for the question. You
    know we are definitely pleased with the President's 1923
    proposed budget because we do have increases. You know I'll
    throw some figures at you that will definitely show you the
    need of our system. In facilities alone, our budget is 420
    million, and we have a deferred maintenance of approximately
    915 million.
        We have 60 schools that are listed in poor condition that
    have not been funded yet, as of now, and with that we're
    looking at with approximately 5.1 billion to replace the
    schools in poor condition. But again, we are pleased that we
    have an increase in the President's proposed budget, and we
    look forward to collaboratively, you know, to working closely
    with this Committee and other committees in supporting our
    schools.
        Ms. Leger Fernandez. Also, the BIE educators, and being
    able to retain and keep them when they are paid higher you
    know. New Mexico, I think we just put more money into our
    schools. We recently did have a salary increase of $10,000.00
    per teacher.
        How do you--what strategies are you going to use, and what
    do we maybe need to do at the Federal level to make sure that
    when states, surrounding states, increase wages for their
    teachers, there isn't you know a transfer of talent out of our
    BIE and tribally controlled schools?
        Mr. Dearman. Great question and thank you so much. Because
    that has been a focus of ours in the Bureau of Indian
    Education. Currently Congresswoman, we have two states that
    they hire at more than the Bureau of Indian Education pays, and
    that is Oregon and California. We are aware that New Mexico
    increased their pay rates.
        And so what we have done in our Bureau operated schools is
    we have also increased ours to make sure that we are very
    competitive. One of the things that we've done also in the
    Bureau of Indian Education is coming in as a leadership team we
    realized immediately that we had higher credentials or
    qualifications, and it was more difficult for teachers and
    applicants to qualify for teacher positions in BIE.
        So, we adjusted to match the State qualifications of the 23
    states that our schools reside in, which really helped us
    increase our applicant pool, and make us more competitive. We
    have also been creative in making sure that we are offering
    incentives and providing trainings to our school leadership so
    that they can understand what funding pots that they have
    available to recruit and retain teachers.
        As far as staff that assist using the technical--provides
    technical assistance to our schools, we've been created in that
    way as well by actually looking at remote positions. Because in
    BIE, the one thing that we have found out is that we can
    recruit locally and have people that know our culture, our
    traditions, know our communities, we have less turnover.
        And it really impacts, has a positive impact on our
    students and our communities. So, what we've started doing too
    is when we can we classify a position that could be advertised
    remote, guess what? We don't have to pull individuals from our
    tribal communities and have them report to an office somewhere
    that they don't want to live; we can actually set them up in
    their communities, and have them as a remote employee, and
    actually bring in people that know our communities, our
    cultures, our traditions, and know our tribes.
        And we're excited about that, and we look forward to that.
        Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you. We will need to also make
    sure we get broadband to them, so they can actually work in
    Indian country as we just discovered. I have some more
    questions, and we will submit those in writing, especially in
    my opening statement I had really emphasized the importance of
    language, and being able to have the fluency in language, and
    including that in the school curriculum. I will submit those in
    writing. Mr. Chairman, I yield back. Thank you ever so much for
    your patience.
        Chairman Sablan. No, thank you. Thank you, and you would
    think that connectivity will become a problem to where Amata
    and I are at the end of the world where it drops off, but we're
    going fine, so I hope things will get better for all of us,
    especially for our Native American schools. Now Mr. Obernolte
    of California, sir, thank you also for your patience. You have
    five minutes.
        Mr. Obernolte. Thank you, Chairman Sablan, and thank you to
    our witnesses. Mr. Dearman, I would like to direct a couple
    questions to you. Thank you very much for being here. It was
    very comforting to me to hear you talk about the transparency
    at the department, and the fact that you agree with the
    recommendations that were made by the GAO, and that you're
    working diligently to fix them.
        You were having a conversation with Chairman Sablan about
    the status of those remaining recommendations. Can you talk
    about the timeline on which the department proposes to have
    those remaining recommendations implemented?
        Mr. Dearman. Thank you, Congressman. What we can do is
    actually go back and break them down, because there are ten
    separate reports. And I think it would be--I would appreciate
    if we could respond in writing with each recommendation with an
    estimated timeline.
        Mr. Obernolte. OK. Well, that would be great. I'll tell you
    what. We'll talk about what is the recommendation with the
    furthest time horizon, and what is that horizon?
        Mr. Dearman. There is one that we have you know, again,
    understanding how unique the Bureau of Indian Education is, we
    have to work with other departments across Indian Affairs, and
    there is one that we've been working on with Indian Affairs
    that's pretty much out of our control, but we are working hand
    in hand to make sure that we assist, and I believe that is
    recommendation 17-247. 447, 447. So there is a recommendation
    there.
        That one is the one that it would be hard to list a
    timeline, but we will definitely continue working with the
    Division of Facility Management and Construction around getting
    that implemented.
        Mr. Obernolte. OK. So, one of the disturbing pieces of
    testimony, and from my point of view that we've heard today is
    when GAO has said that merely crossing off all of these
    recommendations off the list will not be necessarily sufficient
    to remove the department from the risk, the high-risk list.
        And specifically, the GAO is saying two things. First of
    all, that the staff vacancy rates are alarmingly high, which
    the statistics they included, I would certainly agree with
    them. Also, though they said that the BIE is failing in some of
    their risk management responsibilities. So, I'd like to talk
    about those two items because obviously everyone here on the
    Committee would like to see the BIE get off of the high-risk
    list.
        The staff vacancy rate, you were just having a discussion
    with Chairman Leger Fernandez about this. You know if you're
    paying competitive salaries, and you've got a great applicant
    pool, and you're implementing remote work, why are these
    vacancy rates so high, and what is the department's plan to
    bring them down?
        Mr. Dearman. Great question. This is like you said
    Congressman, this has definitely been a focus of the Bureau of
    Indian Education. In addressing, you know, we have different
    levels. We have what we call a Title V category, which there
    are employees that are here to provide technical assistance to
    the school.
        And currently we have a 68 percent of our positions are
    filled. 32 percent are vacant. At the school level we have 91
    percent of our positions totally filled with 9 percent vacant.
    As a total, and BIE as a whole with approximately 3,500
    employees, we are at 89 percent filled, with an 11 percent
    vacancy rate.
        We hire based off of Indian preference, and we find that
    I'll give you an example of that Congressman. We just closed a
    position where we had close to 70 applicants. By the time we
    apply the Indian preference to the applicant pool, we were down
    to seven. By the time we go in and we look at the
    qualifications to meet the qualifications of that position, we
    were at one. So when we hire Indian preference, we have to do a
    better job of getting out in the communities, getting to job
    fairs, to show our tribes that there is a great opportunity to
    come into the Bureau of Indian Education as well as other
    departments within Indian Affairs.
        I really feel like Congressman, we have increased this. We
    have actually hired two talent recruiters within the Bureau of
    Indian Education to actually go out and recruit from the
    colleges and universities that have teacher ed programs, but
    more importantly as I stated earlier, getting community Members
    that know our communities, to look at BIE as an opportunity to
    come in for employment.
        Because we want, and we need our tribal leaders at the
    table with recommendations of how we can get better, but also
    bringing in some of our community Members, our tribal Members,
    in our school system. So we have--we've been creative in
    addressing our vacancies, and we'll continue to be creative in
    addressing our vacancies.
        Mr. Obernolte. OK. Well, thank you. That's going to be
    critical to getting off the GAO's list, high-risk list. I see
    I'm out of time here. I've got some other questions related to
    risk management that I'll submit in writing, but as I close let
    me just make a point that we see the No. 1 statistic that bears
    on the job that the BIE is doing is that of student
    achievement.
        And it's been troubling to me that some of the statistics
    that the BIE have been prioritizing and collecting, you were
    talking about collecting data, are not the ones related to
    student achievement, but ones relating to other things like
    absences.
        So we would really like to see you focus on student
    achievement. I'll submit the other questions in writing, but
    thank you for your testimony. Mr. Chair, I yield back.
        Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Mr. Obernolte. I now would like
    to recognize Mr. Soto. Sir, you will have five minutes please.
        Mr. Soto. Thank you, Chairman. We're here today because we
    need to make sure we're continuing to conduct our oversight
    duties and maintain confidence for the American people,
    particularly our Native American families. I do want to
    announce on the onset, we've come a long way.
        Those of us who sat through excruciating hearings about
    abuse in the past in education institutions, and in health
    institutions that were run by the Federal Government long ago,
    know how terrible a sin the country has committed, and even
    going back to historic times early on, with the Nation.
        But our job here is to right injustices--historic
    injustices and to make sure that we never go backward again. So
    when we see concerns about the Government Accountability Office
    discussing that the Bureau of Indian Education is listed as a
    high-risk agency, when there are concerns about COVID-19
    pandemic funds, which happen to local governments too by the
    way.
        And oversight of COVID relief funds, addressing learning
    loss, mental health issues, staff shortages, students with
    disabilities, infrastructure. It's important for us to continue
    to conduct our oversight duties. This is about families. This
    is about children in Native American tribal sovereign lands.
        Director Dearman, in a 2017 report, the GAO found that 19
    of the Bureau's school construction projects were completed
    between 2003 to 2016, and took three or four more years than
    expected, and were about 20 percent over budget. This spanned
    several administrations.
        We understand that four new campuses opened to its students
    in 2021, and another three are to be completed in 2022, with
    more planned. What is the current State of school facilities,
    and the status replacing those in poor condition?
        Mr. Dearman. Thank you, Congressman. This is something that
    I feel like in 2006, when we became our own bureau, the Bureau
    of Indian Education became its own bureau in 2006. The one
    thing that was missing in that process was service level
    agreements to establish clear roles and responsibilities of who
    is responsible for what in our facilities department.
        Since then, I am proud to report that we have been working
    closely with Division Facilities Management Construction, as
    well as the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to make sure that we have
    the service level agreements in place. We worked with the
    agency because we do what we call quarterly facility condition
    index report.
        And this is how critical our maximo system, which is a
    system that we go in and we train our schools to enter all the
    deferred maintenance issues within the school. And in our
    tenure, we will have observed an increased in deferred
    maintenance because again, it's important for us to make sure
    that we have accurate data to show, to provide to our tribes,
    as well as Congress, so that we can identify the areas that we
    need support in the systems with.
        Mr. Soto. Oh, please continue.
        Mr. Dearman. We continue to work with the agency and the
    Bureau of Indian Affairs to address the deferred maintenance
    issues. We have a list of schools actually listed as far as FCI
    scores, and that hasn't been done in years. So, I feel like we
    are standing things up, working collaboratively with
    departments across Indian Affairs to address our facilities
    issue throughout our system.
        Mr. Soto. Thank you, Director Dearman. My second question
    is how has the COVID-19 pandemic affected progress on these
    school replacements, and more generally construction and
    repairs?
        Mr. Dearman. Thank you, Congressman. Great question. As
    stated earlier in some of the opening remarks, our tribal
    nations were hit extremely hard by the pandemic. And I am proud
    to say, and I'm proud of my BIE leadership team, and the field
    staff. We've been able to support all the tribes that we have
    worked closely with. So if we had construction, the first thing
    we would do is pull in our tribal leadership to make sure that
    we are aligned with their executive orders that they have in
    place, whether it be shelter in place, but we work with our
    tribes.
        And Congressman, I will need to go back to the department,
    but I'm not aware of projects that were being held up and that
    were postponed due to the pandemic, but I'll verify that and
    provide that in writing.
        Mr. Soto. Thank you, Director Dearman, I appreciate you
    supplementing your answers today, and giving us greater
    confidence that we're streamlining these processes for more
    efficiency, and I yield back.
        Chairman Sablan. All right. Thank you, Mr. Soto. I now
    would like to recognize Mr. Allen please. Mr. Allen you have
    five minutes sir, thank you.
        Mr. Allen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Can you hear me OK?
        Chairman Sablan. Yes, sir.
        Mr. Allen. Good, good. Well, listen I want to thank Mr.
    Chairman, you and Ranking Member Owens for this hearing today.
    You know I'm a firm believer that parents should play a role in
    our children's education. And of course, parent involvement in
    education has been a major topic this year.
        And of course, piggybacking on Mr. Obernolte's question as
    well, I guess my first question with regard to teachers. What
    is the starting salary for a teacher? You said you had 70
    apply. What's the starting salary for a teacher? Mr. Dearman?
        Mr. Dearman. Thank you, Congressman Allen. You know I don't
    have that figure right now in front of me, but I can definitely
    provide that.
        Mr. Allen. OK.
        Mr. Dearman. As I stated we have been monitoring the states
    that pay more than the BIE because we want to make sure that we
    are very competitive.
        Mr. Allen. Right.
        Mr. Dearman. The issue is that we are looking at as well is
    in recruiting staff from public schools, in the government,
    they can only bring in 5 years of retirement. And so what we
    are finding out is that we're going to get staff at the very
    beginning of their education teaching profession, or at the
    very end because Congressman, it's hard to pull State teachers
    that have been invested in the State retirement 15 years, and
    recruit them to where they can only bring 5 into the BIE. So,
    there are some things that----
        Mr. Allen. And because these schools are located on the
    reservation they cannot participate in State retirement
    programs?
        Mr. Dearman. They are Federal--we are a Federal system, or
    a tribal system, depending on how the schools are operated.
        Mr. Allen. Right.
        Mr. Dearman. Congressman, I need to say this too. The one
    thing that really impacts our recruitment of teacher is also
    our quarters because we have to make sure that we have quarters
    to recruit teachers to. And right now our quarter situation,
    that is something we're working across the department to make
    sure that we address because some of our quarters Congressman,
    make it hard to recruit teachers.
        Mr. Allen. Well, give me an example of those?
        Mr. Dearman. We have 1,988 quarters across 87 sites, and I
    feel like that throughout this process of separating the Bureau
    of Indian Education, no clear lanes of responsibility, some of
    the quarters, they're in poor condition. And moving forward, I
    am proud to say that we've been working across Indian Affairs.
        We have these service level agreements in place and working
    with the tribes to where we can actually, we have plans moving
    forward to address the quarters situation. But that is one
    thing Congressman that has impacted our recruitment, especially
    our isolated areas where there is no other housing around, is
    the quarters.
        And I want to make sure that I'm on record as saying that
    that does impact for recruitment.
        Mr. Allen. Right. So a teacher has to live on the
    reservation as a requirement of employment?
        Mr. Dearman. No sir. That's not it. Some of our locations
    are so far from the nearest city or town that it's hard for
    them to drive an hour and a half, 2 hours, sometimes even three
    or four every day one way to the school site.
        Mr. Allen. Right. So you operate totally independent from
    the State in which you reside, is that correct?
        Mr. Dearman. As far as benefits and pay, yes.
        Mr. Allen. OK. All right. So as far as parental involvement
    in education, have any of your parents of the children
    requested the opportunity for their child to be educated off
    the reservation? In other words let the money follow the
    student to give them a better chance of accomplishing their
    goals?
        Mr. Dearman. I'm not aware of parental requests at this
    time, Congressman, but that's something we can definitely put
    out a data request to see if we have parents that are
    requesting that.
        Mr. Allen. Right.
        Mr. Dearman. We do have schools and sites where there are
    no other options, but then we also have a lot of schools where
    the parents do have options to send their children.
        Mr. Allen. I think it would be good to listen to your
    parents, and their needs, and give every student the
    opportunity to succeed, and that's why you know I'm so positive
    about school choice, and all across this country. All right.
    Well I'm out of time. Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
        Chairman Sablan. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Allen. I now--I
    think this is going to go faster than we thought, so I would
    now like to yield, and wake up Ms. Radewagen who is all the way
    home in American Samoa. Alofa, Ms. Radewagen you have five
    minutes, please?
        Ms. Radewagen. Alofa.
        Chairman Sablan. Alofa.
        Ms. Radewagen. Thank you, to Chairs Leger Fernandez and
    Sablan, Ranking Members Obernolte and Owens for holding this
    joint hearing today. And thank you to the panel. A couple
    questions here for you Director Dearman. How has the Bureau of
    Indian Education provided instruction to students enrolled at
    boarding schools during the pandemic?
        And have all boarding schools reopened for in-person
    learning?
        Mr. Dearman. Great question. Our residential settings have
    been
        Mr. Allen. they're really a problem.
        Mr. Dearman. Feedback, I apologize. That was a challenge.
    We currently have 44 residential settings within our system,
    and 22 of those are operated by the tribes, and 22 we directly
    operate.
        And again, I am proud of my teams because we work closely
    with the tribes. And if the tribes put in executive orders, or
    shelters in place, or they wanted us to go remote, we would go
    to remote, to support our tribal leadership, and protect our
    vital community Members.
        At certain locations, depending on the community's access
    to the internet, depending on the IT equipment that was located
    at the school, we had to take a lot of things into account to
    determine how we were going to make sure that we shifted and
    provided a virtual education to our students. So it's going to
    vary throughout our system, and again, just looking at the
    different scenarios and situations with IT equipment,
    broadband.
        We can talk about this for hours because it's unique, and
    it's so different across our 64 reservations that we have
    schools located in. But moving forward, I will say this. We had
    weekly meetings with Indian Health Service, CDC, because we
    wanted to make sure that we provided the safest structure,
    working along with the local health authorities and tribal
    leadership in all of our settings, not just residential, but
    all of our settings to make sure that they were safe and
    returning our students and our staff.
        And I feel confident that we accomplished that.
        Ms. Radewagen. Thank you, Director Dearman. my time is very
    short, and I've got another question. Inflation and rising fuel
    prices are sure to impact the Bureau being able to support
    transportation for these students. How much additional funding
    will be needed to maintain current level of service because of
    these rising costs?
        Mr. Dearman. Thank you for that Congresswoman. I am happy
    to say that you know again we have increases within our budget
    that we anticipate will assist with this. That's yet to be
    determined because of the gas prices in different locations,
    but we will definitely work closely with our schools to pull
    that data.
        And you know we work with our schools. If they are
    experiencing shortages, or problems, that's our job is to come
    in and provide technical assistance and be creative in finding
    solutions to help our schools. As of right now, I don't have
    the data that you've asked for as far as gas impacts on our
    school operations, but that is definitely something our school
    operations teams working with the schools, will definitely keep
    an eye on.
        Ms. Radewagen. Thank you. Thank you Chairs. I yield back
    the balance of my time.
        Chairman Sablan. All right. Thank you, Ms. Radewagen, and
    thank you for making the effort to join us at such an early
    time for you as well. I'd now like to recognize Mr. Grothman.
    Mr. Grothman I see a video picture of, but let me see. If Mr.
    Grothman is not in, let's see who else is here. Mr. Bentz, Mr.
    Bentz of Oregon. Sir, you have five minutes please.
        Mr. Bentz. Well, thank you, Mr. Chair, and I have a
    question, a number of questions for the Director, Mr. Dearman.
    I served on a private Catholic school board for 6 years, and I
    served on a public school board for three. One of the things
    that was appalling when I went to visit my schools--not the
    private school so much, but the public schools, was the
    incredible lack of enthusiasm expressed by many of the middle
    school students.
        You should understand that I live in one of the poorest, if
    not the poorest counties in Oregon, and our buildings are old
    and dilapidated, and I work with my community to finally after
    31 years get a bond passed to add to our high school and
    improve our middle school. But still, much, much, much to be
    done.
        And so I have sympathy for anybody who doesn't have good
    buildings, but I also understand how it takes a community to
    try to make that situation better. It also I think takes a
    community to try to make your kids enthusiastic about learning,
    and what I figured out along with a number of other people is
    that you had to do something in these communities to make the
    kids enthusiastic about learning.
        So Mr. Dearman, I ask you what makes the children in the
    Indian country enthusiastic about learning?
        Mr. Dearman. Thank you, Congressman. It sounds like you've
    been in the classroom. You know my belief in education has
    always been we have to make sure that we take care of our
    students emotionally, physically, before they're ready to
    learn.
        In addressing that situation, especially coming out of the
    pandemic, is going to be critical.
        Mr. Bentz. Mr. Dearman, I need to have the answer to the
    question.
        Mr. Dearman. Yes.
        Mr. Bentz. What I'm asking you is what makes your kids
    enthusiastic about showing up at school and actually learning?
    What is it that prompts them to want to learn? I just need a
    very short concise answer and tell me where you got the answer.
        Mr. Dearman. Connecting what the students are learning to
    what they know in their world, they're tribal. That's why I say
    we need to hear from tribal leaders, and this is where I'm
    getting this from, Congressman, is our tribal leaders want to
    be at the table. They are at the table, they're making sure
    that we're teaching the culture, the traditions and the
    languages of their tribe, so that our students can connect.
        Our job is to connect what's in that textbook and apply it
    to their everyday life to make it mean something to our
    students, yes, to 101.
        Mr. Bentz. Well, then let me follow that up with what is
    your truancy rate? How many kids aren't showing up?
        Mr. Dearman. You know Congressman that's going to be
    something we're definitely going to have to go back and track
    because through the pandemic we've had so many schools that
    have shifted to remote, to hybrid, and that's going to be
    something that we will have to go back and pull the data from.
        Mr. Bentz. Why don't you, Mr. Director, you're not
    answering any of my questions, and I find that unsettling.
    Would you tell me how the truancy rate was prior to the
    pandemic? You've been there 3 years prior, so tell me about
    that.
        Mr. Dearman. Truancy rate prior to the pandemic I don't
    have the exact figures in front of us, but we could definitely
    provide that to you. And it's going to vary on location because
    of the situations that we have in some of our tribal nations.
        Mr. Bentz. Well, I'm looking forward to you supplying those
    numbers there, they're extremely interesting to me. And I think
    everybody else because all I hear about is we need more money.
    I haven't heard a word about how many of the kids are actually
    showing up to work. And to that end, Director Dearman, does the
    BIE have an employee performance appraisal plan?
        Mr. Dearman. Yes sir, we do.
        Mr. Bentz. And I need to see a copy of it.
        Mr. Dearman. Absolutely.
        Mr. Bentz. And then Mr. Dearman it's been more than 2 years
    since the beginning of the pandemic, has BIE developed and
    distributed guidance for schools on developing and implementing
    the distant learning programs that you've kind of alluded to a
    few minutes ago?
        Mr. Dearman. Yes. We're in the process of developing a
    distance learning handbook. As I stated in my opening remarks,
    Congressman, we're implementing an educational learning
    management system, something that we need within our system,
    and we will be providing the guidance through an official
    document for all of our schools to follow. Our tribal----
        Mr. Bentz. And if I may, thank you for providing that. And
    my last question is the one I started out with. What in your
    opinion, and tell me where you've got a chance to refine it,
    makes your children--our children, on these Indian country
    spaces, enthusiastic about learning. I have not heard the
    answer.
        Mr. Dearman. Enthusiastic about learning in our tribal
    nations is connecting what's in that textbook to their everyday
    life and including culture and traditions.
        Mr. Bentz. And where do you get that? Have you talked to
    the kids about this?
        Mr. Dearman. I'm hearing that from our tribal leaders, and
    also any time we implement programs around culture, traditions,
    and language within our tribal schools, the interest and
    involvement increases.
        Mr. Bentz. Thank you, Mr. Director, and with that Mr.
    Chair, I yield back.
        Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Mr. Bentz. Let me hold on
    please, thank you. Let me see. Mr. Keller, Mr. Keller you have
    five minutes of questioning before I move on to Mr. Cawthorn.
        Mr. Keller. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Dearman, thank you
    for being here today. You indicated that BIE is working on a
    policy and handbook to address GAO recommendations related to
    the Johnson O'Malley program. Could you please tell us more
    about the plan, and how it will address the GAO's
    recommendations and improve the program?
        Mr. Dearman. Thank you, Congressman. This has been a long
    process through tribal consultation, listening sessions, and
    it's something we wanted to hear from our stakeholders. Out of
    the GAO's five recommendations over the Johnson O'Malley
    program, we have closed two, and we have three that are
    remaining.
        And the policy and handbook we feel will definitely
    implement these recommendations. Congressman, the issue that
    we've encountered in BIE is the lack of policies within BIE,
    and that is something our team is working hard to establish,
    and we feel like this is a document that's need it, and when
    this policy and handbook is published, we feel like it's going
    to assist our contractors, and give them the information that
    they've been asking for.
        Mr. Keller. OK. Just a quick followup. So, you closed two
    of the recommendations, and three are remaining. Is that
    correct?
        Mr. Dearman. Yes.
        Mr. Keller. When did you get the GAO recommendations?
        Mr. Dearman. These are 2020 recommendations.
        Mr. Keller. OK. So, it's been 2 years. And maybe this isn't
    for this meeting. Maybe there would be a timeframe on when you
    expect to have the three remaining closed?
        Mr. Dearman. Yes. We can provide that. I'd like to take
    that back to the department and give them to my team, and
    actually reach out to GAO and we can provide a timeline of the
    expectation of those three closures.
        Mr. Keller. Well, I would think that if education is that
    important we'd already have that timeline, and a plan to make
    sure we're meeting those milestones, and to get to those
    metrics. But I want to keep on a couple other things here if I
    may. Mr. Dearman, as part of the BIE's response to one of GAO's
    reports, you discussed the Bureau of Indian Education's effort
    to assess its use of strategic data and reform the way the
    agency collects and uses its data.
        What steps does BIE have in place or is BIE implementing--
    so what was being implemented to protect the security of that
    data, and what technical assistance and oversight does BIE
    provide to its schools to ensure compliance with the Family
    Education Rights and Privacy Act.
        Mr. Dearman. Thank you, Congressman. I felt like there's
    two parts to that question. I want to talk briefly about we are
    standing up the chief performance office that's collecting and
    monitoring our schools, and that's something we've been working
    closely with GAO around.
        The data--I'm going to shift to virtual now. The reason I
    feel like we're protective with our student data and our PII is
    because we work within the Department of Interior. All of our
    IT functions are supported by the Office of Information
    Technology and Management, which is part of the Department of
    Interior.
        All of our 53 BIE operated schools have to meet those
    qualifications, and they have a hand in everything that we're
    doing, in any of our programs that deal with the student data,
    or the staff data.
        Mr. Keller. OK. The other thing I wanted to touch on was a
    little bit, you mentioned that BIE is continuing to work with
    the Bureau of Indian Affairs to implement improvements to the
    distance learning in the BIE funded schools. Can you describe
    more specifically how the plans to resolve those
    recommendations from GAO?
        Mr. Dearman. The recommendations on that one Congressman,
    we are anticipating having closure on those with the
    implementation of a handbook for education learning management
    system. BIA, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, involvement with
    implementing the IT infrastructure would be around the area of
    facilities improvement.
        The Office of Information Management and Technology is
    another part of Indian Affairs. they will have a hand in making
    sure that the switches, all the needs, the infrastructure
    needs, as far as IT are met. So we've had three different
    agencies, or sections of Indian Affairs at school locations
    making sure that we have the support that our schools need.
        Mr. Keller. OK. Just a question that I have really. How do
    you interact with the U.S. Department of Education? Is there
    any functions that they provide you with that might be best
    practices that would be helpful?
        Mr. Dearman. We have regular scheduled meetings with the
    Department of Education. And so we do have some--I feel that we
    have a strong rapport with the Department of Education.
        Mr. Keller. How do you. Just how does the Department of
    Education, their interactions with you differ from that of
    states or other governments?
        Mr. Dearman. Great question, Congressman. The Department of
    Education, we submit reports. In some areas the Department of
    Education considers our own State. The states that our schools
    reside in we've started reaching out and wanting to make sure
    that we have communication with the states that are schools
    reside in because it's important that we work together to
    support our schools.
        And some of our states, we actually have cooperative
    agreements with the state's education department that our
    schools reside in. So it's going to vary, Congressman,
    depending.
        Mr. Keller. I think if we're concerned about education
    across the board, I would think that we would treat everybody
    the same working with the U.S. Department of Education, the
    State departments of education, regardless of whether you're a
    public school that's not you know, part of the Bureau of Indian
    Education, and you know, the schools within the jurisdiction.
        So I think there's some work to make sure everybody gets
    the same, and the best practices. Thank you so much.
        Chairman Sablan. You're welcome, Mr. Keller. Now let me
    recognize Mr. Cawthorn. You have five minutes sir, thank you.
        Mr. Cawthorn. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It really means a
    lot. Ms. Sirois, how does the GAO monitor BIE's implementation
    of its recommendations? And is it monitoring more extensively
    than normal because the BIE is on the high-risk list?
        Ms. Sirois. Yes. We do monitor BIE's implementation of its
    recommendations much more closely than agencies that are not on
    our high-risk list. We have usually quarterly meetings with
    Director Dearman and his staff to talk about the progress
    meeting our recommendations.
        So we really try to track where they are with our
    recommendations, and when they're planning to close them.
        Mr. Cawthorn. Wonderful. And would you say in your
    experience the BIE has been generally cooperative with your
    organization?
        Ms. Sirois. Yes. Ever since Director Dearman came onboard
    in November 2016, we've established an excellent relationship
    with him and his management team. A relationship that was not
    as positive prior to Mr. Dearman coming onboard.
        Mr. Cawthorn. Excellent, excellent. So one followup
    question please, Ms. Sirois. What are the obstacles to
    completing the list of recommendations in your opinion?
        Ms. Sirois. Well, we have ten as I said, we have ten open
    high-risk recommendations, excuse me. I think one of the
    biggest--one of the problems in terms of implementing them as I
    talked about earlier is I think their very high vacancy rate,
    which is now 45 percent agency-wide, excuse me 33 percent
    agency-wide.
        But with that high vacancy rate they do not have staff
    available, enough staff available, to implement, I think, a lot
    of our recommendations.
        Mr. Cawthorn. Interesting. I will. Thank you very much Ms.
    Sirois for your comments. Mr. Director, if you don't mind, I'm
    very proud that I get to represent the Qualla Boundary and the
    Eastern Band of Cherokee and the reservation. The Eastern Band
    from what I understand, supports legislation that would create
    a Truth and Healing Commission to study the Federal boarding
    schools that many Indian children were forced to attend.
        What are you doing to support efforts to study the legacy
    of Indian boarding schools?
        Mr. Dearman. Thank you, Congressman, and I do want to make
    sure that I go on the record as saying the residential schools
    of today are not the boarding schools of the past. We are
    working with tribal leaders. And you're going to hear me say
    over and over that I'm very proud of my team across the Bureau
    of Indian Education because we have schools in 64 reservations,
    and we want our tribes at the table.
        But we have implemented language programs. We've
    implemented culture classes. We need our tribes at the table.
    We are also working alongside the department, and I know that
    Secretary Haaland is going out for some listening sessions, her
    and Assistant Secretary Newland, and we will be attending those
    in the locations of our residential settings to listen if
    there's any ideas that we can grab ahold of and make our system
    better.
        But I will say that you know I would welcome any of the
    Members, any time you're close to any of our schools, drop in
    and see us. And drop in and see how we're doing with taking
    care of our kids. Congressman, we have 44 residential settings
    across our system, 22 that we directly operate, and 22 that the
    tribes operate. And I'm proud of our residential staff because
    think about being a parent, a guardian to hundreds of kids in a
    dorm.
        It's definitely a unique situation. Congressman, to close
    that out with you, you know my daughter graduated from one of
    our residential boarding schools.
        Mr. Cawthorn. Well, that's excellent. I'm really glad that
    you know from your testimony that it sounds like the boarding
    schools are doing excellent now. Mr. Director, my question, if
    you don't mind me rephrasing it, is there any efforts to try
    and study the legacy and the long-lasting, whether it's harms
    or benefits, that have happened from the reservation boarding
    schools of the past?
        Mr. Dearman. Thank you, Congressman. You know I feel like
    you know a lot of our tribal--let me answer yes. We have been
    in our communities, depending on the location of the schools,
    we have boarding school survivors that have you know they may
    be on our school boards, they may be on our parent committees,
    they're involved in a lot of our locations in the operations of
    our schools.
        So we do have involvement with them. Throughout this
    process of the investigation, again Congressman, the BIE will
    stand in support, and we will continue to learn how we can get
    better. We identified Congressman, through our strategic
    direction which was a first ever for the Bureau of Indian
    Education, behavior health wellness needs across our system.
        We identified that actually before the pandemic, working
    with tribal leaders and stakeholders, and we feel confident
    that we have things in place to address any of the situations
    that may arise in our boarding school, our tribal communities,
    our base schools. But we feel like we were ahead of the game by
    addressing in our strategic direction the needs, behavior
    health and wellness needs, of our tribal communities.
        Mr. Cawthorn. Thank you. Mr. Director, thank you very much,
    thank you Ms. Sirois, I really appreciate your testimony.
    Chairman, I yield back.
        Chairman Sablan. Thank you, thank you. I'm now going to
    Representative Stansbury. Ms. Stansbury you have five minutes
    please, thank you.
        Ms. Stansbury. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to
    both of our Chairpersons and our Ranking Members for holding
    this hearing today. And I want to say thank you to all of our
    educators who serve on these committees, and to all of the
    educators out there who are listening in, thank you for serving
    our communities. Thank you for serving this vital role and
    helping lift up our children and help prepare them for their
    futures.
        I have one message this morning, which is please fund BIE
    schools. The Federal Government has a treaty, trust, and moral
    responsibility to fund these schools. We signed hundreds of
    treaties as a nation with tribal nations. We made commitments
    over the last 150 years that we would ensure that our Native
    children had not only an adequate education, but the brilliant
    education that would help to prepare them for their futures,
    and we need to fund these schools.
        It is Congress's responsibility in partnership with the
    administration to ensure that we are doing that. And that is
    why myself, and 25 colleagues sent a letter to the
    Appropriations Committee asking the Committee to fully fund our
    schools, the construction backlog, and to provide support for
    tribal colleges and universities (TCUs).
        I know this is an oversight of the administration's role in
    BIE, but we in Congress also have a fundamental, moral
    responsibility, and a fundamental tribal trust responsibility
    as well. And so it's not only on our BIE colleagues who are
    here today, but on us. And so I really want to emphasize that
    this morning.
        I want to thank you Director Dearman for being willing to
    step up, and to play this role as the director of these
    programs. During the Obama administration, I worked at OMB, and
    was on the panel of individuals that was helping to bring
    forward some of the reforms for the BIE. It's a long road, and
    I know that we will be working on these issues for many years.
        I'm grateful for your leadership and your dedication to
    these schools. As we've been talking this morning, these BIE
    schools provide vital education to over 40,000 Native students
    across the country. I want to emphasize especially for my
    colleagues this morning, who have been asking questions about
    school choice, some of these schools are in places where this
    is the only school that is available for hours of driving.
        These schools are historic, they are in communities, they
    provide tribally and culturally and linguistically appropriate
    education, and we need to be making sure that we are not only
    providing the administrative supports for these schools, but
    that they have adequate funding to replace decrepit buildings
    and maintenance issues, that they're able to hire these
    teachers that are from these communities, and that there is the
    proper bureaucratic structures in place to partner with tribes,
    to consult with tribes, to ensure that we're meeting the needs
    of those students in those schools, and that ultimately, if
    tribal communities want to take control of these schools, that
    they are able to.
        And so, all of that takes strong leadership in addressing
    many of the issues that have been identified. I want to take
    just a moment here to emphasize the needs in my district. We
    have a number of tribally controlled schools and BIE schools
    across New Mexico. In my district, the To'Hajiilee Chapter of
    the Navajo Nation has a school that desperately needs to be
    replaced.
        It was built in a flood plain as a boarding school. It is
    no longer adequate. These kids have been sent home. There is
    not sufficient Wi-Fi for these kids to be learning, and so
    Director Dearman, in my plea to you, and my ask of you this
    morning, is will you commit today to make sure that we are
    meeting the needs of To'Hajiilee community school, and we are
    prioritizing that school to get it rebuilt in a safe way so
    that our kids can go back to school?
        Mr. Dearman. Yes. I'll commit to that, and thank you for
    your support.
        Ms. Stansbury. Thank you. Thank you ,Director. And I know
    that these are a priority, obviously for you, for your staff. I
    want to thank your staff for their incredible commitment. We
    also have Pueblo schools across New Mexico that need facility
    support, that need help getting staffing and teachers there,
    but again, before I sign-off here with my time, I just want to
    emphasize, we must fund these schools adequately.
        This is not about school choice. This is not about having
    schools that do not--that invest too much money. This is about
    underinvestment of funds. This is about the history of how the
    United States historically made commitments to tribal
    communities that we would provide sufficient funding to educate
    Native children, and about ensuring that we make good on those
    promises, that we provide the funding that the U.S. Government
    promised that it would do so, and ensure that we are investing
    in those schools, and all of the supports that our students
    need.
        So, with that Mr. Chairman, I thank you for the opportunity
    to speak this morning, and for holding this important hearing.
        Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Ms. Stansbury. I can see a
    video stream of a Chair apparently in Mr. Grothman's office. I
    can't see Mr. Grothman. So, I'm going to assume that all
    Members have asked their questions, and without objection move
    now to ask the gentlelady from Oregon, Ms. Bonamici, to ask her
    questions for five minutes please.
        Ms. Bonamici. Thank you, so much, Chair Sablan. Thank you
    to the Chairs and Ranking Members for holding this important
    hearing. And thank you Director Dearman, and Assistant Director
    Sirois for being here.
        The Chemawa Indian School in Salem, Oregon, opened in 1880.
    It's the oldest continuously operated residential boarding
    school for indigenous students in the United States. Chemawa
    has a complex and painful history, including recent concerns
    related to student health and safety, academic shortcomings,
    treatment of employees, questionable hiring practices, and a
    lack of financial transparency and oversight.
        I've been working since 2015 to obtain accurate, timely
    information from Chemawa leadership, BIA, and BIE, and I
    continue to be concerned about the outcomes and safety of
    Native youth, especially at Chemawa and whether they're
    receiving a high-quality trauma-informed, culturally relevant
    education.
        I appreciate the GAO report, and the conversation today
    about it. I also want to highlight the Department of Interiors
    investigation into Indian boarding schools and thank Secretary
    Haaland for her leadership. Our nation has not yet fully
    reckoned with the painful history of Federal Indian boarding
    schools like Chemawa.
        Director Dearman, nice to see you. We've met and discussed
    issues regarding Chemawa many times. Although there have been
    attempts to improve the conditions at Chemawa, and you talked
    about that today, and I appreciate that, we know that there's
    still more that needs to be done.
        So, what work has the Bureau of Indian Education done to
    specifically improve oversight at Chemawa, and also, what is
    your progress in implementing the recommendations found in
    Volume One of the Interior Department's Federal Indian Boarding
    School Initiative, and where do you need additional support
    from Congress?
        Mr. Dearman. Great to see you, Congresswoman.
        Ms. Bonamici. Thank you.
        Mr. Dearman. You know at Chemawa, and thank you for
    recognizing that we have met multiple times to address
    concerns. The oversight at Chemawa right now we do have an OIG.
    The OIG was requested to go in and really look at the
    expenditures of Chemawa Indian School.
        And once we received those recommendations, we have been
    meeting with OIG around that. But once we received those
    recommendations, we'll definitely look at implementing those to
    make us stronger, and make sure that our oversight has
    improved.
        As I stated earlier, you know I'm proud to say that we are
    standing up a Chief Performance Office within BIE that will
    also have oversight over expenditures, of the monitoring
    visits, and that's something we've been working closely with
    GAO. School operations is another way that we are confident
    that we are going to provide more oversight.
        We've actually established funding lines to identify
    different funding streams that are schools are utilizing for
    expenditures and providing trainings around allowable
    expenditures from our division of performance and
    accountability, as well as our school operations.
        So Congresswoman, I feel like I'm confident that we are
    implementing and making improvements throughout BIE, that it
    won't just have a positive impact, and as far as oversight at
    Chemawa, but other areas across our system.
        Ms. Bonamici. And, Director Dearman, what about the Federal
    Indian Board's Initiative? There were several recommendations
    made in that. How is that going?
        Mr. Dearman. What we will do is you know we definitely
    first of all we appreciate Secretary Haaland and the Assistant
    Secretary Newland's leadership in that area. You know volume
    one lays out the groundwork moving forward. I will say that we
    will be attending the listening sessions that Secretary Haaland
    is going to be going out conducting because we need to hear
    from our former students at the residential boarding schools,
    of the residential schools, so that we can take--not wait on
    the report, but start taking what we are hearing from our
    survivors, our people that are former students, and actually
    looking at how we can implement recommendations immediately,
    and not wait on a final report.
        So we will, we plan on having staff at each location for
    listening sessions.
        Ms. Bonamici. And I do want to try to get another question
    in. We know that even before the COVID-19 pandemic American
    Indian and Alaskan Native students needed access to mental
    health services. We've had that conversation.
        Native youth have a higher than average rates of depression
    and dying by suicide. These issues have only become more acute
    during the pandemic, and the Department of Interior's report I
    think is an important step toward identifying, addressing some
    of these systemic issues. So Assistant Secretary Newland, in
    the report recommended that the department continue its
    investigations to uncover the full scope of the atrocities of
    the Indian boarding school system, historically.
        So last year my colleague, Representative Sharice Davids,
    introduced the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding
    Schools Policies Act, which would establish a commission to
    investigate the Indian boarding school system. So how could
    this commission compliment the continued efforts of the
    department to investigate, and ultimately improve the Indian
    boarding school system?
        Mr. Dearman. Thank you, Congresswoman. I feel like the
    commission, this is something we have been having
    conversations, especially within the department. By bringing in
    different stakeholders to be a part of the commission could
    definitely benefit. We need to hear the voices of former
    students. We need to hear--we need our congressional staff on
    there.
        But I am actually a Member of this commission, and I look
    forward to that collaboration because, again, it's important
    that we have our tribal leaders, our stakeholders from our
    tribes and our communities in these communities of our
    residential schools to be a part.
        We need to hear what they went through, their experiences,
    and what we need to avoid moving forward.
        Ms. Bonamici. Thank you, Director, and in my remaining two
    seconds I just want to again thank you for working to improve
    conditions at Chemawa. One of the things that we've spoken
    about over the years is the need for more Native educators, and
    I know that has been a challenge. I hope progress is being made
    in that regard.
        You mentioned Oregon is one of the states where the teacher
    pay at the State level is higher than at the Indian boarding
    school. I hope you can resolve that issue, and you can continue
    to recruit, not only excellent teachers, but excellent Native
    teachers.
        It really does make a difference for the students there.
    And I'm now out of time and I yield back. Thank you, Mr.
    Chairman.
        Chairman Sablan. Thank you very much, Ms. Bonamici. I now
    would like to remind my colleagues that pursuant to Committee
    practice, materials for submission for the hearing record must
    be submitted to the Committee Clerk within 14 days following
    the last day of the hearing, so by close of business on July
    12, preferably in Microsoft Word format.
        The material submitted must address the subject matter of
    the hearing. Only a Member of the Committee or an invited
    witness may submit materials for inclusion in the hearing
    record. Documents are limited to 50 pages each. Documents
    longer than 50 pages will be incorporated into the record via
    an internet link that you must provide to the Committee Clerk
    within the required timeframe.
        But please recognize that in the future that link may no
    longer work. Pursuant to House rules and regulations, items for
    the record shall be submitted to the Clerk electronically by
    emailing submissions to edandlabor.hearings@mail.house.gov.
        Again, I want to thank the witnesses for their
    participation today. Members of the Subcommittees may have some
    additional questions for you, and we ask you to please respond
    to those questions in writing. The hearing record will be open
    for 14 days in order to receive those responses.
        I remind my colleagues that pursuant to Committee practice,
    witness questions for the hearing record must be submitted to
    the Majority Committee Staff or Committee Clerk within 7 days.
    The questions submitted must address the subject matter of the
    hearing.
        I now would like to recognize Mr. Obernolte for his closing
    statement please.
        Mr. Obernolte. Thank you very much, Chairman Sablan. I want
    to thank you very much Director Dearman and Ms. Sirois from the
    GAO. It's been a very productive hearing, and I want to
    continue having these hearings as we work toward getting the
    BIE off of the high-risk list of the GAO, but also as we help
    the BIE in fulfilling their critically important role in
    providing education to the nearly 40,000 students that they're
    responsible for.
        So I think we're all on the same page about that in that
    sense, and so I want to thank everyone for their dedication
    toward reaching that goal. Thank you, Mr. Chair, I yield back.
        Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Mr. Obernolte, Ranking Member
    Obernolte. I now recognize myself for the purpose of making my
    closing statement. Thank you again for our witnesses for your
    time and testimony. I want to thank all our Members for the
    opportunity today for joining us in this hearing.
        Today we reflected on the important role of the Bureau of
    Indian Education schools play in providing a high-quality
    education for American Indians and Alaskan Native students that
    honors and preserves their heritage.
        Unfortunately, as our witnesses made clear, even before the
    pandemic, BIE students did not have the resources they needed
    to excel. And now the pandemic has compounded the consequences
    of multi-generational neglect and left BIE students further
    behind. While Congress delivered historic resources to protect
    the health and safety of students and educators, and to make up
    for lost time, these investments alone will not solve the
    persistent problems BIE schools and students face.
        Together we must deliver sustained support to ensure we
    uphold the Constitutional commitment and moral responsibility
    to educate American Indian and Alaskan Native students. I would
    like to think that we will come back, and we will continue to
    review this to keep our eyes on this issue, on BIE education.
    And also come back in at some future time to another oversight
    hearing to see how much movement we have progressed toward the
    future.
        So, for now I thank you Director Dearman, and Ms. Sirois.
    And I look forward to working with my colleagues to fulfill
    this commitment. Thank you again to our witnesses. If there is
    no further business, without objection the Committee stands
    adjourned, and thank you.
        [Questions submitted for the record and the response by the
    Bureau
    of Indian Education follow:]

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        [Whereupon, at 12:48 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]

                                     [all]