[Joint House and Senate 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 [email protected].
    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.]

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