[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 20 (Monday, January 31, 2000)]
[Unknown Section]
[Pages 4623-4624]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-2035]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs


Education Facilities Replacement Construction Priorities List as 
of FY 2000

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Indian Affairs is publishing the Education 
Facilities Replacement Construction Priority List as of FY 2000 in the 
Federal Register as required by statute. Construction funding is not 
yet currently available for all projects on the list. The Bureau will 
use this list to determine the order in which Congressional 
appropriations are requested for funding education facilities 
replacement construction projects.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions regarding the Education 
Facilities Construction Priority List may be addressed to Dr. Kenneth 
G. Ross, Assistant Director, Office of Indian Education Programs, 201 
Third St. NW, Suite 510, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102, (505) 346-6544/
5/6, Fax (505) 346-6553.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Publication of the Education Facilities 
Replacement Construction Priority List (Priority List) in the Federal 
Register is required by 25 U.S.C. 2005(c) at the time any budget 
request for school construction is presented. In a Senate Report 
accompanying an early version of the FY 2000 Interior and Related 
Agencies Appropriations Act, S. Rept. No. 106-99, p. 55 (1999), the 
Committee on Appropriations stated that it anticipates the release of a 
new replacement list during the FY 2001 appropriations process. In 
1998, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA or Bureau) had begun 
preparations for developing a new Priority List, including the 
acceptance of applications from tribes who wished to have schools 
placed on the Priority List.
    Schools placed on the ``Education Facilities Construction Priority 
List as of FY 1993'' that are not yet fully funded for construction, 
project Nos. 13, 15 and 16, did not have to submit applications for 
ranking on the new Priority List and are retained, in order, at the top 
of the FY 2000 list as project Nos. 1 through 3. The FY 1993 Priority 
List was published in the Federal Register on January 6, 1993 (58 FR 
579). Education Facilities Replacement Construction projects will be 
funded for construction in the order in which they are ranked as 
appropriations become available, unless a school is not ready for the 
next phase of funding. In accordance with Congressional directives, the 
projects do not provide for new school starts nor grade level 
expansions.

[[Page 4624]]

    The Conference Report for the FY 1992 Interior Related Agencies 
Appropriations Act, H. Conf. Rept. No. 102-256, p. 46 (1991), indicated 
that Congress wanted the Department to revise the priority ranking 
process for new school construction. The Bureau revised the process and 
developed draft revised instructions and criteria, complying with the 
1991 Conference Report requirements that the BIA should emphasize 
tribal consultation and improve the objectivity of the ranking process, 
provide continuity to the priority ranking list, and provide procedures 
for handling emergency needs.
    The Bureau published a Notice in the Federal Register on November 
17, 1998 (63 FR 63942), requesting comments on the draft revised 
instructions and criteria, entitled ``Instructions and Application for 
Replacement School Construction, 1999.'' The new instructions governed 
the priority ranking process for construction of replacement education 
facilities and the criteria used in ranking applications. Comments were 
received relating to administrative requirements and responsibilities; 
definitions of ranking criteria; evaluation of applications; and cost-
sharing. The comments were reviewed and incorporated into the final 
instructions and criteria as appropriate by a team comprised of tribal 
representatives and BIA employees from the Office of Indian Education 
Programs and the Office of Facilities Management and Construction. The 
Bureau proceeded with using the final revised application instructions 
and criteria on February 26, 1999.
    Copies of the final revised instructions and criteria were sent to 
all BIA schools and schools that receive BIA funds under contract or 
grant (Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Number: 15.062 
``Replacement and Repair of Indian Schools''), and the Bureau held 
tribal consultation meetings on the revised process. BIA's Office of 
Indian Education Programs Education Line Officers offered training to 
applicants at all schools under their administrative jurisdiction on 
how to complete applications using the revised instructions and ranking 
criteria. Tribes and BIA-funded school boards received advance, written 
notice of training session dates, times and locations for tribes and 
schools under their respective jurisdictions. The Bureau published 
another Notice in the Federal Register on March 29, 1999 (64 FR 14936), 
calling for applications based on the revised instructions and ranking 
criteria. The Bureau accepted applications beginning June 28, 1999 and 
used the criteria in the revised instructions to review and evaluate 
all applications that were received on or before the deadline of July 
16, 1999. These applications were ranked according to the new criteria 
and 10 schools were placed on the FY 2000 Priority List.
    The Committee on Appropriations also recommended that the BIA 
establish a demonstration project to allow tribes with schools on the 
replacement list to apply for Federal funding with the guarantee of a 
cost share from the tribe, S. Rept. No. 106-99, p. 54 (1999). 
Accordingly, in the priority ranking process for the Education 
Facilities Replacement Construction Priority List as of FY 2000, 
applicants indicated whether they would cost share. Congress further 
stated that tribes may share the cost of construction of their school, 
identify non-Bureau funding to match or supplement Bureau funding, or 
pay future operations costs in exchange for the full funding of school 
construction costs earlier than they might hope to receive it under the 
Priority List.
    Use of the term ``cost share'' after the name of an education 
facility replacement construction project on the FY 2000 Priority List 
means that a tribe has submitted a tribal council resolution supporting 
a long-term commitment to cost sharing, and has specified the exact 
nature of its monetary commitment or contribution by completing Section 
II of the application form, which commits the tribe to share in the 
costs of school facility replacement in order to expedite construction.
    This notice is published under authority delegated by the Secretary 
of the Interior to the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs in the 
Departmental Manual at 209 DM 8.

Education Facilities Replacement Construction Priority List as of 
FY 2000

1. Tuba City Boarding School
2. Second Mesa Day School
3. Zia Day School
4. Baca/Thoreau (Dlo'ay Azhi) Consolidated Community School
5. Lummi Tribal School
6. Wingate Elementary School
7. Polacca Day School
8. Holbrook Dormitory
9. Santa Fe Indian School (Cost Share*)
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    \*\ Tribe or tribal organization commits to cost share.
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10. Ojibwa Indian School
11. Conehatta Elementary School (Cost Share*)
12. Paschal Sherman Indian School
13. Kayenta Boarding School

    Dated: January 24, 2000.
Kevin Gover,
Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. 00-2035 Filed 1-28-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-02-P