[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 32 (Monday, August 10, 1998)]
[Pages 1580-1582]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Executive Order 13096--American Indian and Alaska Native Education

August 6, 1998

    By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and 
the laws of the United States of America, in affirmation of the unique 
political and legal relationship of the Federal Government with tribal 
governments, and in recognition of the unique educational and culturally 
related academic needs of America Indian and Alaska Native students, it 
is hereby ordered as follows:
    Section 1. Goals. The Federal Government has a special, historic 
responsibility for the education of American Indian and Alaska Native 
students. Improving educational achievement and academic progress for 
American Indian and Alaska Native students is vital to the national goal 
of preparing every student for responsible citizenship, continued 
learning, and productive employment. The Federal Government is committed 
to improving the academic performance and reducing the dropout rate of 
American Indian and Alaska Native students. To help fulfill this 
commitment in a manner consistent with tribal traditions and cultures, 
Federal agencies need to focus special attention on six goals: (1) 
improving reading and mathematics; (2) increasing high school completion 
and postsecondary attendance rates; (3) reducing the influence of long-
standing factors that impede educational performance, such as poverty 
and substance abuse; (4) creating strong, safe, and drug-free school 
environ-ments; (5) improving science education; and (6) expanding the 
use of educational technology.
    Sec. 2. Strategy. In order to meet the six goals of this order, a 
comprehensive Federal response is needed to address the fragmentation of 
government services available to American Indian and Alaska Native 
students and the complexity of inter-governmental relationships 
affecting the education of those students. The purpose of the Federal 
activities described in this order is to develop a long-term, 
comprehensive Federal Indian education policy that will accomplish those 
goals.
    (a) Interagency Task Force. There is established an Interagency Task 
Force on American Indian and Alaska Native Education (Task Force) to 
oversee the planning and implementation of this order. The Task Force 
shall confer with the National Advisory Council on Indian Education 
(NACIE) in carrying out activities under this order. The Task Force 
shall consult with representatives of American Indian and Alaska Native 
tribes and organizations, including the National Indian Education 
Association (NIEA) and the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), 
to gather advice on implementation of the activities called for in this 
order.
    (b) Composition of the Task Force. (1) The membership of the Task 
Force shall include representatives of the Departments of the Treasury, 
Defense, Justice, the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health and 
Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Energy, 
and Education, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, the 
Corporation for National and Community Service, and the National Science 
Foundation. With the agreement of the Secretaries of Education and the 
Interior, other agencies may participate in the activities of the Task 
Force.
    (2) Within 30 days of the date of this order, the head of each 
participating agency shall designate a senior official who is 
responsible for management or program administration to serve as a 
member of the Task Force. The official shall report directly to the 
agency

[[Page 1581]]

head on the agency's activities under this order.
    (3) The Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education 
of the Department of Education and the Assistant Secretary for Indian 
Affairs of the Department of the Interior shall co-chair the Task Force.
    (c) Interagency plan. The Task Force shall, within 90 days of the 
date of this order, develop a Federal interagency plan with 
recommendations identifying initiatives, strategies, and ideas for 
future interagency action supportive of the goals of this order.
    (d) Agency participation. To the extent consistent with law and 
agency priorities, each participating agency shall adopt and implement 
strategies to maximize the availability of the agency's education-
related programs, activities, resources, information, and technical 
assistance to American Indian and Alaska Native students. In keeping 
with the spirit of the Executive Memorandum of April 29, 1994, on 
Government-to-Government Relations with Native American Tribal 
Governments and Executive Order 13084 of May 14, 1998, each 
participating agency shall consult with tribal governments on their 
education-related needs and priorities, and on how the agency can better 
accomplish the goals of this order. Within 6 months, each participating 
agency shall report to the Task Force regarding the strategies it has 
developed to ensure such consultation.
    (e) Interagency resource guide. The Task Force shall identify, 
within participating Federal agencies, all education-related programs 
and resources that support the goals of this order. Within 12 months, 
the Task Force, in conjunction with the Department of Education, shall 
develop, publish, and widely distribute a guide that describes those 
programs and resources and how American Indians and Alaska Natives can 
benefit from them.
    (f) Research. The Secretary of Education, through the Office of 
Educational Research and Improvement and the Office of Indian Education, 
and in consultation with NACIE and participating agencies, shall develop 
and implement a comprehensive Federal research agenda to:
    (1) establish baseline data on academic achievement and retention of 
American Indian and Alaska Native students in order to monitor 
improvements;
    (2) evaluate promising practices used with those students; and
    (3) evaluate the role of native language and culture in the 
development of educational strategies. Within 1 year, the Secretary of 
Education shall submit the research agenda, including proposed 
timelines, to the Task Force.
    (g) Comprehensive Federal Indian education policy.
    (1) The Task Force shall, within 2 years of the date of this order, 
develop a comprehensive Federal Indian education policy to support the 
accomplishment of the goals of this order. The policy shall be designed 
to:
    (A) improve Federal interagency cooperation;
    (B) promote intergovernmental collaboration; and
    (C) assist tribal governments in meeting the unique educational 
needs of their children, including the need to preserve, revitalize, and 
use native languages and cultural traditions.
    (2) In developing the policy, the Task Force shall consider ideas in 
the Comprehensive Federal Indian Education Policy Statement proposal 
developed by the NIEA and the NCAI.
    (3) The Task Force shall develop recommendations to implement the 
policy, including ideas for future interagency action.
    (4) As appropriate, participating agencies may develop memoranda of 
agreement with one another to enable and enhance the ability of tribes 
and schools to provide, and to coordinate the delivery of, Federal, 
tribal, State, and local resources and services, including social and 
health-related services, to meet the educational needs of American 
Indian and Alaska Native students.
    (h) Reports. The task Force co-chairs shall submit the comprehensive 
Federal Indian education policy, and report annually on the agencies' 
activities, accomplishments, and progress toward meeting the goals of 
this order, to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
    Sec. 3. Regional partnership forums. The Departments of Education 
and the Interior,

[[Page 1582]]

in collaboration with the Task Force and Federal, tribal, State, and 
local government representatives, shall jointly convene, within 18 
months, a series of regional forums to identify promising practices and 
approaches on how to share information, provide assistance to schools, 
develop partnerships, and coordinate intergovernmental strategies 
supportive of accomplishing the goals of this order. The Departments of 
Education and the Interior shall submit a report on the forums to the 
Task force, which may include recommendations relating to 
intergovernmental relations.
    Sec. 4. School pilot sites. The Departments of Education and the 
Interior shall identify a reasonable number of schools funded by the 
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and public schools that can serve as a 
model for schools with American Indian and Alaska Native students, and 
provide them with comprehensive technical assistance in support of the 
goals of this order. A special team of technical assistance providers, 
including Federal staff, shall provide assistance to these schools. 
Special attention shall be given, where appropriate, to assistance in 
implementing comprehensive school reform demonstration programs that 
meet the criteria for those programs established by the Departments of 
Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies 
Appropriations Act, 1998 (Public Law 105-78), and to providing 
comprehensive service delivery that connects and uses diverse Federal 
agency resources. The team shall disseminate effective and promising 
practices of the school pilot sites to other local educational agencies. 
The team shall report to the Task Force on its accomplishments and its 
recommendations for improving technical support to local educational 
agencies and schools funded by the BIA.
    Sec. 5. Administration. The Department of Education shall provide 
appropriate administrative services and staff support to the Task Force. 
With the consent of the Department of Education, other participating 
agencies may provide administrative support to the Task Force, 
consistent with their statutory authority, and may detail agency 
employees to the Department of Education, to the extent permitted by 
law.
    Sec. 6. Termination. The Task Force established under section 2 of 
this order shall terminate not later than 5 years from the date of this 
order.
    Sec. 7. General provisions. This order is intended only to improve 
the internal management of the executive branch and is not intended to, 
and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, 
enforceable at law or equity by a party against the United States, its 
agencies or instrumen-talities, its officers or employees, or any other 
person. This order is not intended to preclude, supersede, replace, or 
otherwise dilute any other Executive order relating to American Indian 
and Alaska Native education.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
August 6, 1998.

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., August 10, 
1998]

Note: This Executive order will be published in the Federal Register on 
August 11.