Why Barack Obama is Good for Indian America

This is the release by the Obama campaign on what he promises for Indian America:

BARACK OBAMA’S PRINCIPLES FOR STRONGER TRIBAL COMMUNITIES
“Perhaps more than anyone else, the Native American community faces huge challenges that have been ignored by Washington for too long. It is time to empower Native Americans in the development of the national policy agenda.” Barack Obama
The hundreds of Indian tribes in America face a unique set of challenges. Issues like sovereignty, health care, and education—issues that are central to tribes’ future prosperity and embedded in the federal government’s responsibility—are often neglected. Barack Obama is committed to tribal nation building and enforcing the federal government’s obligations to Indian people.
SOVEREIGNTY, TRIBAL-FEDERAL RELATIONS AND THE TRUST RESPONSIBILITY: Native American tribal nations are sovereign, self-governing political entities and enjoy a government-to-government relationship with the United States federal government that is recognized expressly in the U.S. Constitution.
Self-Determination: Barack Obama supports the principle of tribal self-determination, with recognition that the federal government must honor its treaty obligations and fully enable tribal self-governance.
Consultation and Inclusion: In furtherance of the government-to-government relationship, Barack Obama will include tribal leadership in the important policy determinations that impact Indian Country. Obama will appoint an American Indian policy advisor on his senior White House staff so that Indian Country has a direct interface at the highest level of the Obama Administration. In addition, Obama will host a White House “Tribal G8” – an annual meeting with Native American leaders to develop a national Indian policy agenda.
Honoring the Trust Responsibility: Barack Obama recognizes that honoring the government-to-government relationship requires fulfillment of the United States’ trust responsibility to tribes and individual Indians. More specifically, Obama is committed to meaningful reform of the broken system that manages and administers the trust lands and other trust assets belonging to tribes and individual Indians. Further, he is committed to resolving equitably with both tribes and individual Indians litigation resulting from the past failures in the administration and accounting of their trust assets.
HEALTH CARE: The Indian Health Service estimates that it receives only 55 percent of the federal funding it requires. Federal per-capita funding for Indian health care amounts to about half of the federal per capita health funding for federal prisoners. Indians are the most at-risk minority group for health problems like diabetes, which they suffer from at a rate 249 percent higher than the national average. Moreover, Indians have the nation’s highest death rates for tuberculosis and suicide. After Haiti, men on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations in South Dakota have the lowest life expectancy in the Western Hemisphere.
Indian Health Services: Barack Obama voted in the Senate to provide an additional $1 billion for IHS to address these disparities. Additionally, he was an original cosponsor of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act of 2007 which mandates modernization of the Indian health care system and strengthens urban Indian health facilities. Obama has fought against the Bush Administration’s attempt to eliminate urban health care for Indians not living in reservation communities. Obama opposed a federal land acquisition program that would
have diverted funds from the Special Diabetes Program for Indians and the Alcohol and Substance Abuse program. Obama supports sufficient funding for IHS and proper staffing and maintenance for IHS facilities.
EDUCATION: Education is the key to improving the lives of Native Americans and empowering tribal nations to build a better future. Educational policies in the 1970s attempted to reverse past federal policies aimed at eradicating Native American languages and cultures, but Native Americans still suffer from some of the lowest high school graduation and college matriculation rates in the nation. We must continue to honor our obligations to Native Americans by providing tribes with the educational resources promised by treaty and federal law.
COMMUNITIES
Indian Language Education: Tribes are struggling to preserve their languages. It is estimated that by 2050 only 20 of the over 500 Native languages once spoken will remain. Research shows that instruction in tribal language increases Native American academic performance in other areas like math and science. Barack Obama supports funding for Native language immersion and preservation programs.
No Child Left Behind: The goal of the No Child Left Behind Act is the right one – ensuring that all children meet high education standards – but the law has significant flaws that need to be addressed, including in Indian Country. Unfulfilled promises, ineffective implementation, and shortcomings in the design of the law itself have created countless obstacles for tribal educators. Barack Obama would fund No Child Left Behind and reform the law to better incorporate Title VII, the law’s Indian, Hawaiian, and Alaskan education provision. Obama’s plan would provide greater flexibility in integrating Native languages, cultures, and communities into school programs in a manner consistent with principles of tribal sovereignty.
Early Childhood Education: Research shows that half of low-income children start school up to two years behind their peers in preschool skills and that these early achievement gaps continue throughout elementary school. Barack Obama supports increasing funding for the Head Start program, including the American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start Programs, to provide American Indian preschool children with critically important learning skills. He also appreciates the role of parental involvement in the success of Head Start and has called on states to replicate the Illinois model of Preschool for All. Tribes should also be given the opportunity to implement culturally appropriate versions of this program.
Indian School Construction: Many government-funded Indian schools are dilapidated, and many are simply too small to meet the needs of growing Indian populations. A safe, comfortable place to learn is critical to receiving a proper education. Barack Obama is committed to repairing and building Indian schools.
Tribal Colleges: Tribal colleges have played a critical role in improving the lives of Native Americans. Obama supports increased funding for operations and facility construction, as well as the removal of bureaucratic impediments so tribal colleges can thrive.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND CULTURAL PROTECTION
Cultural Rights and Sacred Places Protection: Native American sacred places and site-specific ceremonies are under threat from development, pollution, and vandalism. Barack Obama supports legal protections for sacred places and cultural traditions, including Native ancestors’ burial grounds and churches.
ECONOMIC & INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT: Native Americans experience some of the most severe socioeconomic conditions in the United States. Poverty and its effects are pervasive, with more than quarter of all Native Americans living in poverty and unemployment rates reaching 80 percent on some reservations. Obama’s experience as a community organizer working in poor neighborhoods plagued by high unemployment has taught him that there is no single solution to community poverty. Therefore, he supports using a comprehensive approach that includes investment in physical, human and institutional infrastructure, increased access to capital, the removal of barriers to development, and above all, authentic government-to-government relationships between the federal government and tribes.
Minimum Wage: Barack Obama believes that people who work full time should not live in poverty. In 2007, Obama supported legislation that increased the Federal minimum wage for the first time in 10 years. Even though the minimum wage will rise to $7.25 an hour by 2009, the minimum wage’s real purchasing power will still be below what it was in 1968. As president, Obama will further raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2011, index it to inflation and increase the Earned Income Tax Credit to make sure that full-time workers can earn a living wage that allows them to raise their families and pay for basic needs such as food, transportation, and housing – things so many people take for granted.
Housing: The federal government has a moral and legal responsibility to assist tribes in providing housing. Yet, Native Americans suffer from some of the worst housing conditions in the nation. Some 14 percent of all reservation homes have no electricity, and on some reservations, as many as 20 individuals are forced to live in a single-family home. Barack Obama supports increased funding for the Indian Housing Block Grant and other Indian housing programs as well as improving the effectiveness of these programs.
Gaming: The Supreme Court has upheld the right of tribes, as sovereign entities, to operate gaming operations on Indian reservations. A total of 225 of the 558 federally recognized Indian tribes operate gaming facilities, creating 670,000 jobs nationwide and paying $11 billion to the federal and state governments through taxes and other revenue. The vast majority of Indian gaming operations are small enterprises providing jobs to tribal members. Because most tribes continue to suffer from high rates of poverty and unemployment, Barack Obama believes that gaming revenues are important tribal resources for funding education, healthcare, law enforcement, and other essential government functions.
Energy: Tribal nations have joined in America’s quest for alternative, renewable energy. Because of their rural land bases and access to natural resources, many tribes have made great strides in economic development in the energy sector. Tribes have successful operations producing gas, solar, and wind energy. In addition to harnessing and producing energy, tribes have an interest in energy rights-of-way. Barack Obama encourages energy companies and Indian tribes to negotiate in good faith to ensure tribes receive just compensation and in furtherance of carrying sustainable energy to all communities.
WOMEN’S HEALTH: Indians are often subject to unusually harsh conditions when it comes to women’s health. A recent study by Amnesty International details the alarming rates at which Native women are subject to violence. The report states that one in three American Indian women will be raped in their lifetime, and they are more than three times as likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than other women in America.
Reproductive Health: In the past, IHS has been criticized for performing forced sterilizations of Indian women. More recently, many Native women have been pushed to receive one type of contraception instead of more suitable alternatives. Although these women often have no alternative to IHS, the program often does not provide them with adequate reproductive health care, and many women are often denied equal access to birth control, and prenatal care. Barack Obama supports the reproductive health rights of American Indian women, and supports ensuring that they receive equal opportunities to make healthy reproductive choices.
Violence against Women: Violence in Indian country is committed at alarmingly high rates, and all too often Indian women are the victims. Medical facilities are few and far between, and are often not adequately prepared to deal with assault victims. Also, because of the unique jurisdictional scheme on reservations, law enforcement can be slow and difficult to come by. If the perpetrator is non-Indian, then the tribe does not have jurisdiction over the crime. This is alarming when more than 86 percent of assaults against Indian women are committed by non-Indians. State and federal law enforcement officials are often far removed from the situation, and the tribes are left without the authority to protect their people. Barack Obama will reexamine the legal framework that allows such injustices, and supports empowering tribes to combat violence against Native women irrespective of whether the perpetrators are Indian or non-Indian.
Law Enforcement: Barack Obama also supports fully funding the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program that many tribal law enforcement agencies have come to rely upon. He also recognizes the important role tribal courts play on the reservation. Obama will continue to support additional resources to strengthen tribal courts as well as correction by statute of the jurisdictional gaps that currently inhibit tribes’ ability to protect their communities..
Detention Centers: There is a demonstrable need for facility improvements and expansions of detention centers in Indian Country. Barack Obama understands that federal funding of such improvements is essential to enable tribe’s to effectively protect their communities.
METHAMPHETAMINES: In a 2006 survey, 74 percent of tribal law enforcement officials reported methamphetamines to be the leading threat to their tribes’ livelihood. The same survey reported dramatic increases in cases of domestic violence, child neglect, sex crimes, and weapons charges.
Combat Meth Act of 2005: Barack Obama supported the Combat Meth Act of 2005, major parts of which became law in 2006. The act puts federal funds into the fight against methamphetamine, provides assistance to children affected by meth abuse, and places restrictions on the sale of the ingredients used to make the drug.
Tribal empowerment: Barack Obama believes that funding tribal police programs and tribal courts and resolving longstanding jurisdiction issues will enable tribal authorities to deal more effectively with the causes and effects of this and other crime problems on Indian land.
VETERANS AFFAIRS: Native Americans serve in the armed forces at a higher rate than any other minority group in America. Native Americans have served in every war, and their special place in American military history is widely recognized. The first woman to die in combat in the Iraq war was a young Native American woman. World War II’s Codetalkers are the most celebrated examples of how Indians have been critical to the success of American efforts overseas. As a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Obama supports several Veteran measures, including the sheltering and rehabilitation of homeless veterans, securing veterans’ benefits, and easing service members’ transition back into society.
HUNTING AND FISHING: Hunting and fishing are important to many tribes’ diet, culture, and spirituality. Protecting hunting and fishing rights ensures that tribes are able to carry on those aspects of their traditional way of life.
Fishing Rights: The fishing rights of Indian tribes are guaranteed not only by 150 year-old treaties, but by the Supreme Court’s affirmation of the Boldt decision as well. It is our shared duty to uphold these obligations and protect fisheries in such a manner that allows tribal and non-tribal fishing to continue into the future.
The path to equitable fishery management is paved with good science. Barack Obama supports initiatives to improve the science and our understanding of our nation’s fish stocks. Through improved science, we can better guide decisions about how to protect the health of fish stocks, and, in turn, ensure a better, more secure and predictable future for our nation’s fishermen.
“We’ve got to make sure we are not just having a BIA that is dealing with the various Native American tribes; we’ve got to have the President of the United States meeting on a regular basis with the Native American leadership and ensuring relationships of dignity and respect.” Barack Obama, Elko, NV, January 18, 2008

Everyone's Grandmother

Elizabeth Winnie Waterman was a tall woman and she spoke almost no English. When she might have spoken English, she preferrred her native Seneca language. She was born on the Cattaraugus reservation of the Seneca Nation in 1865 at the end of the Civil War. Her father John Winnie was from Canada. Her mother Eliza Mohawk was a revered medicine person, known as a doctor because she diagnosed and developed treatments for physical ills. She was also born and grew up on the Seneca Nation at Cattaraugus, New York.

The photographs of Elizabeth in her youth reveal a handsome young woman. Those who knew her say she was forthright and clearly the leader of her family after her mother died. Elizabeth practiced midwifery until the week she died at the age of 76. She was on her way to deliver a baby when she fell in a snowstorm and could not get up. She was missed at the home she was walking to and a search ensued. Sometime after she was found she contracted pneumonia and died.

Her equally handsome husband was from Stockbridge-Munsee in Wisconsin. His father had been removed from Cattaraugus to Wisconsin by the United States with a big nudge by the U.S. Army. The Stockbridge had originated in Massachusetts, part of the enormous group of nations known as the Anishinabe. By the time the Civil War was underway, they had been removed to far away Wisconsin. So two Waterman brothers and their families, practically walked back to New York and the Seneca Nation that they had come to feel at home on. Young John Waterman and his brother married two sisters and the families settled in at Cattaraugus. Another brother moved east to Onondaga and married there. That is how the Waterman name became established in the Seneca and Onondaga Nations.

Eliza Mohawk was Seneca through and through. Her membership in one of the medicine societies signified the status of her family. Her personality shone through as sure and confident, attributes needed for a doctor. People noticed her easy laugh and the grace of her small frame. No wonder John Winnie was attracted to her. He was about ten years older than her. They settled in on the southeast corner of the reservation. They had a lot of land for two people as we can see from all that was given or left to Elizabeth and her husband John's children.

Everything went well until John joined the Union Army. Like so many other Indian men the only warrior's path that was opportunities open to him was that of his former enemy. He served diligently, but during night manuveurs he fell into a ditch and hurt himself badly.That ended his active career and he was mustered out as a veteran. For Eliza, like thousands of Indian Union widows, she was denied a pension. She spent the rest of her life trying to get the pension so she and her children could live with some security but approval never came.


More on the life of Elizabeth Waterman to come.

The Holocaust in America

Whenever a people are killed, imprisoned, or enslaved just for who they are and this is done by people who have the power to do it, that is a holocaust. Formerly used to describe an overwhelming fire, the Ha-Shoah of the Jews in World War II took the english word holocaust. It means the fire, from the Greek, originally referred to fire consumption of sacrifices.

Elie Wiesel, the so-called "Nazi hunter," was a champion of defining the Jewish holocaust, but he was also an outspoken critic who said the Nazi killing of Gypsies, Catholics, and others should not be considered as part of the holocaust. In that way, the holocaust became a numbers game and an exclusionary attempt to make the Jewish holocaust the primary and only example of wide scale genocide in the world. For a long time he got away with it, but now, because genocidal practices are still going on and because other genocide has not been recognized and acknowledged, his arguments are losing credibility in world opinion. Wiesel's writing and influence, along with others made holocaust a singular term and conferred on it the status of "Holocaust" with a capital "H" meant to mean only the genocide against the Jews in World War II.

I have been studying the origins of the war between Minnesota Europeans and the Dakota people in 1862. The antecedents of this war go back a hundred years, more if the French incursions are considered before the 1754-1763 "French Indian War." At the onset of that war, when Wabasha I, who was born at Mille Lacs, went to Canadian territory to meet with the British, an alliance was formed. Meanwhile, the French had already recruited the Ojibwe to the French cause. 100 years later, the Americans and British, having settled their differences, left the Dakota poor and hungry. Is this not a holocaust? Death by war, perhaps not, but death by usurpation, death by starvation, and death by trickery, and death by squeezing the Dakota off their land. That was a holocaust.

I believe the Dakota people are owed an apology, not just by the United States, but also by the United Kingdom and the French government. There is still a long way to go in understanding what happened to the Dakota and their allies who lived along the Mississippi and its connecting rivers. France claimed the Dakota and other Native National lands. The Louisiana Purchase of 1806 by the U.S. contained a provision in Article VI in which the United States agreed to make compacts with the tribes in the sale territory. But the treacherous United States Congress reneged on the Dakota agreements, lied about what it promised, and in the end hanged the largest number of men and boys in the history of the country. It is a record that still stands.

It is a record of infamy. In the Nuremberg trials after World War II, the defense tried to say that little was known about the killings of Jews and of those who did know, little was known about the number killed. The prosecution response was that the number killed was not the point. It was the intent. So Americans can say that 38 is not such a big number, but we know it was the intent.

Are there other holocausts? Assuredly there were and still are in countries such as Brazil. I do think it is the responsibility of the countries who are guilty to admit their guilt and apologize, amend, and commemorate these holocausts. But I think it is the role of we the Indian people to tell these histories and let the world know what really happened in this country and the entire Western Hemisphere. We are the authentic voice and we must be heard.

JUDGING CHARACTER BY WHAT WE SEE NOT WHAT WE KNOW

We have had a lot of news and comment about Somali cab drivers who won't pick up blind persons with seeing eye dogs. And the constant drumbeat about who is better qualified in school and who is making most of the trouble in public schools is also a topic of extensive comment.

We see comments about this or that group, which comes from seeing what is in front of us rather than an understanding of who the people are.

I do think we have a tendency to look at who is here and assume that means the entire group is defined by those smaller numbers. It certainly was true that the European immigrants of the last 23 million (1880s to 1920s) contrasted in that Jews were not representative of all Jews but Italians were representative of southern Italy.

Now we have Asians and Africans. At some point we will sort that out, too, but it is my unscientific observation that the Hmong immigrants are more representative of the spectrum of their group at home than other Asians who are here might be. The Hmong come in for some unfair comparison criticism as a result.

With American Indians you have the spectrum for sure except that so many were killed or died from European diseases, those who are left may not be as representative as one would hope. It is a population in recovery.

And with Mexicans and Central Americans - this group is highly representative of survivors of either earlier invasions and disease or more recent military actions in their home countries. Who we have here as far as representation is unknown, I think.

With African Americans, we have a preponderance of surviving members from certain areas, not all of Africa, so we should not try to draw broad conclusions. This population has become a truly American group but with a history of brutal killings and diseases suffered that went unchecked. It is a population in recovery.

You might say Africans on the whole represent the world's greatest diversity and American Indians on the whole represent a high degree of relatedness. Both groups have shown tremendous resilience and once allowed to recover their numbers sufficiently (post Civil War and post Great Depression) are now producing many examples of successful individuals who work in every walk of the American power and professional classes.

With Somali and other refugees from East Africa, I think it is hard to know and the taxi, pork handling, dog issues may be more local based on who is here than on Somali attitudes across the U.S. or in Somalia for that matter.

So I am just saying it is hard to talk of minorities and immigrants with a broad brush. We don't know really how representative the groups that live here are or whether they reflect the full population of their homelands.

Mr. Mork speaks of the earlier Europeans to the American continent. It seems clear from the record that those numbers were highly selective at either end of the spectrum from educated professionals to indentured servants. That very imbalance made it relatively easy for the elites to decide on the shape and content of the American government. No storming of the Bastille for them. From that juncture we derive an understanding of accomplished democracy when that was never the fact. It is a process that is yet unfolding.

That's not such a bad idea. We have to keep working on inclusion, day and night. The more the Western European group loses its demographic advantage in the democratic process, the more we will experience the joys of an unstratified society. I look forward to it.

MINNEAPOLIS LIBRARIES COULD COLLABORATE

Definitions
･ Coordination: The organization of efforts of different parties to reach a common goal. High-stakes issues are not often involved, and parties need not carry a relationship beyond the accomplishment of the task at hand. The goal is static.
Cooperation: A means to an end that involves gains and losses on the part of each participant. This can sometimes foster a competitive environment, and parties need not carry a relationship beyond the accomplishment of the task at hand. The goal is static.
Definitions
Collaboration: All parties work together and build consensus to reach a decision or create a product, the result of which benefits all parties. Competition is a nearly-insurmountable roadblock to collaboration, and the relationship among parties must continue beyond the accomplishment of the task in order to assure its viability. The goal is dynamic.
COLLABORATION
Cross institutional collaboration is an important and often undervalued and overlooked means of extending the reach and capacities of any given institution.
-Wikipedia
Comparison
The general definition of a team is an interdependent group, which suggests that collaborative groups are teams, coordinated groups are not, and cooperative groups may or may not be. Where do teams, partnerships, and joint ventures fit in this schema? Partnerships and joint ventures are both primarily cooperative undertakings, whose objectives evolve over time.
COMPARING PURPOSES

Coordination: Avoid gaps & overlap in individuals' assigned work
Cooperation: Obtain mutual benefit by sharing or partitioning work
Collaboration: Achieve combined results that the participants would be incapable of accomplishing by working alone
EXAMPLES
Coordination: Project to implement an IT application across the MPLS system or city
Cooperation: Summer reading program in the library, parks, school libraries
Collaboration: Discovery of a dramatically better way to deliver services; Co-creation
THE ENVIRONMENT
Collaboration is future directed
It comes about in a reform environment
It can link institutions and governments in new ways
It holds the promise of preventing dismantlement in hard times
It brings people to the table to create new solutions
MINNESOTA TRENDS
In 2003, the Association of Minnesota Counties retained the public affairs firm of Himle-Horner to assess critical issues for county government in Minnesota and assist in the formulation of recommendations for the future direction of county government.
Survey
Survey/Poll Himle Horner contracted with the Twin Cities survey firm Decision Resources, Ltd. to conduct a scientific random-sample statewide telephone survey of 800 Minnesotans. Decision Resources conducted the survey fieldwork/interviewing and compiled the data tables.
FINDINGS OF INTEREST TO MPLS
When asked to generally evaluate Minnesota's tax climate, only 23% supported an increase in taxes to improve government services, compared with 47% who felt Minnesota taxes were already too high. Asked to look specifically at property taxes raised by counties, only 10% preferred having counties increase property taxes in reaction to their current budget situations, compared to 16% who want services reduced and 59% who want counties to find new ways to deliver services.
Public Supports FindingNew Ways to Deliver Services
Public Focused on Reform Rather than Cuts
Public wants changes in service delivery, not cuts in services.
Support exists for reprioritizing county functions within current budget
New Minnesota model is service reform
Public’s attitude is not a California tax revolution (for now).
Attitudes on Taxes Differ Geographically

Federal Indian Education

1. The Snyder Act Public Law 67-85 25 U.S.C 13 November 2nd, 1921, Under Section 13. Expenditure of appropriations by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, this law enables the Bureau of Indian Affairs to “expend such moneys as Congress may from time to time appropriate, for the benefit, care, and assistance of the Indians throughout the United States for the following purposes: General support and civilization, including education.”
Two important amendments to this law are: any “institution of higher education” administered by the Secretary of the Interior is eligible for funds authorized by the Higher Education Act of 1965. (25 U.S.C. 13); and, Section 8 of Public Law 93-638 (enacted January 4, 1975) 88 Stat. 2206, adds that any funds appropriated for any fiscal year which are not obligated and expanded shall remain available for obligation and expenditure during a succeeding year.
2. The Johnson O'Malley Act of 1934, as amended. Provides federal funding for formula-based supplemental education programs to tribes and state public schools for the special educational needs of Indian students. Requires local Indian education committees to review applications and be involved in operations. Tribes receive preference when applying for JOM funding through the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
3. The Impact Aid Laws of 1950, Public Laws 81-874 and 81-815, as amended. Provide federal subsidies to state public school districts to construct facilities ('815) and educate children residing on federal lands including Indian country ('874). Amendments were passed in 1978 based on the government-to-government relationship between the United States and Indian tribes. These amendments require school districts to have policies and procedures which ensure that Indian parents and tribes have an opportunity to comment on the funding application process and are consulted in the development of school programs. Indian tribes may also file complaints with the Secretary of Education against school districts for violation of Impact Aid policies and procedures.
4. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Public Law 89-10, as amended. Provides supplemental federal funding for a variety of education programs including those that are known today as Chapter 1 and Bilingual Education. Both Chapter 1 and Bilingual Education funding may be provided to state public schools, Bureau of Indian Affairs schools, and to tribal contract or grant schools.
Chapter 1 formula-based funding provides supplemental educational services and programs, usually to develop basic academic skills, for disadvantaged youth including Native Americans. Bilingual Education competitive, discretionary funding provides supplemental bilingual education services and programs for limited English proficient youth including Indians. Both programs have a parent advisory committee requirement to provide schools with advice in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of their programs and services. This requirement may be waived and the elected school board may serve as a PAC in tribal contract and grant schools.
5. The Head Start Program Act of 1965, as amended. Provides formula-based federal funding for comprehensive health, educational, nutritional, social, and other services to economically disadvantaged preschool children including children on federally recognized Indian reservations. Federally recognized Indian tribes may directly receive Head Start funding and operate Head Start programs for Indian children on their reservations.
6. The Indian Elementary and Secondary School Assistance Act of 1972, Public Law 92-318, as amended. Provides formula-based federal funding for supplemental programs known as Title V. These programs are designed to meet the special educational or culturally related academic needs of Indian students. Title V formula funds may be provided to state public schools, Bureau of Indian Affairs schools, and tribal contract and grant schools. Indian parent advisory committees must approve Title V programs and be involved in program administration in the state public schools.
This Act also makes tribes eligible for certain competitive, discretionary grants for elementary and secondary school demonstration and pilot projects, special teacher training programs, Indian controlled schools projects, and adult education programs.
7. The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975, Public Law 93-638, as amended. Allows Indian tribes to contract for the operation of schools that were formerly operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs or that were funded by the BIA and privately operated. Authorizes direct funding to tribal schools for programs and operations that are regulated under the Education Amendments of 1978, Public Law 95-561.
8. The Education Amendments of 1978, Public Law 95-561, as amended provide broad statutory guidance to schools that are operated or funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Provides for Indian school boards in BIA operated schools. Requires the BIA to actively consult with tribes in all matters that relate to Bureau schools. Allows the Secretary of the Interior to implement cooperative agreements between tribes, school boards of Bureau schools, and state public school districts. Establishes formula-based funding for all BIA operated schools and BIA funded tribal schools. Requires that such schools be accredited or meet standards that are equal to or exceed those accreditation requirements. Allows tribes to set academic standards for BIA operated or funded schools that take into account the specific needs of Indian children.
9. The Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act of 1978, Public Law 98-192, as amended. Provides federal funding for post-secondary institutions controlled by Indian tribes. Tribal governments now operate 24 tribally controlled colleges. Two of these colleges are four-year institutions.
10. The Indian Education Act of 1988, Public Law 100-297, as amended. Allows tribes to operate BIA funded schools as grant schools rather than as contract schools. Grant school funding allows tribal schools to receive funding on a more timely basis, to invest those funds under certain restrictions, and to use the interest gained for further educational costs in their schools. This Act also authorizes federal funding for tribal early childhood programs and tribal departments of education. To date no money has been appropriated for tribal departments of education.
11. The Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act of 1990, Public Law 101-392. Provides funding for competitive, discretionary project grants that will provide vocational education opportunities for Indians. Allows tribes and tribal organizations to plan, conduct, and administer vocational education programs that will provide Indian students with skills related to jobs or further post-secondary training. Also allows tribal post-secondary institutions to compete for post-secondary vocational education grants.
12. The Native American Languages Act of 1990, Public Law 101-477. Recognizes the right of Indian tribes to use their native languages to conduct tribal business and as a medium of instruction in all Bureau of Indian Affairs funded schools. Directs federal agencies to consult with tribes in evaluating the agencies' policies and procedures and bringing these in compliance with the Act.
13. The Goals 2000: Educate America Act, Public Law 103-227. Provides funds and a framework for schools to meet the National Education Goals. Includes American Indian and Alaska Native students in public schools and allots set-aside funds for schools operated or funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to establish a plan to develop a reform and improvement plan for BIA education and to conduct a cost analysis of BIA academic and home living/residential standards. Specifically mentions Indian education in the activities of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), including placing the Director of BIA Education on the National Educational Research Policy and Priorities Board and the inclusion of American Indian and Alaska Native students in OERI research institutes/activities.
14. The Improving America's School Act of 1994, Public Law 103-382. Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, including Title I (formerly Chapter 1), Bilingual Education, Impact Act, and Title IX. This Act also amends the Education Amendments of 1978, which pertain to Bureau of Indian Affairs schools and programs. This Act also provides land-grant status to tribal colleges in accordance with the provisions of the Act of July 2, 1962.
15. The No Child Left Behind Act, Public Law No. 107-110, 115 Stat. 1907 (2001). The statutory policy provisions for this program were amended to state that it is the policy of the United States to fulfill the federal government's unique and continuing trust relationship with and responsibility to the Indian people for the education of Indian children, and the federal government will continue to work with the public school districts, Indian tribes and organizations, post-secondary institutions, and other entities toward the goal of ensuring that programs that serve Indian children are of the highest quality and provide for not only the basic elementary and secondary educational needs, but also the unique educational and culturally related academic needs of these children.
The primary objective of this program is to provide federal financial assistance to support public school districts, BIA funded schools, and, in some instances, tribes, in their efforts to meet the unique educational and culturally related academic needs of American Indian and Alaska Native students. 20 U.S.C. 7402(a).
Funds under this program must be used for the establishment, maintenance, and operation of supplementary comprehensive programs that are specifically designed to meet the needs of Indian students, including language and culture needs, and to assist Indian students in meeting state content and student academic performance standards. 20 U.S.C. §§7424(b) and 7425.
Programs and projects must be designed in response to a locally conducted needs assessment and with the full cooperation and involvement of an elected Indian parent committee. 20 U.S.C. §7424(c)Programs, projects, and activities may include culturally related activities, early childhood and family programs for school readiness, enrichment programs that directly support the attainment of state academic content and achievement standards, career preparation activities, substance abuse prevention activities, culturally responsive teaching activities, and tribal curriculum. 20 U.S.C. §7425(b).

American Indian Education

Demographics & Education Status

Indian education sprang from the misguided notion that assimilated Indians would be happy Indians. They would not be Indians at all, in fact. That was the goal of government and the religious community. For two hundred years, the federal government and the states have had great difficulty reconciling a free country with free nations located within the boundaries of that country. The Declaration of Independence itself stated an unreasonable and unfounded fear when it described the American Indian in this way: "HE {the King} has excited domestic Insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction of all Ages, Sexes and Conditions."

The belief that when Indians are educated, the courses provided should be in the mechanical and domestic areas operationally persisted well into the 1960s. Strong undertones of racism larded reports that identified Indians as "good with their hands," or possessing "natural" artistic abilities. An entire school of art was developed and taught to Indians early in this century, leading to Indian "genre" art expression in painting and sculpture.

Understanding the losses sustained by the tribes begins with looking at the loss of homelands. The land area of the United States is 2,423,884,160 acres. Excluding Indian lands and other trust areas, federal lands total 549,473,923 acres, or about 23% of all land belonging to states. Federal land areas vary throughout the states, from 63% of Utah to less than .5% of Iowa.


American Indians and Alaska Natives currently hold 100,015,221 acres of tribal lands in 33 States (excluding Hawaii), or a little over 4% of their original land base. There is very little room to grow.
Over 2.3 million people identify themselves as American Indians, an increase of 38% over the previous decade. However, to be identified as an Indian and recognized as such by the United States, an individual must be a confirmed citizen of a tribe. That number is thought to be around 1.9 million. Conflicting numbers arise when counts are attempted for reservation and urban dwellers.
It is generally estimated that 80% of the Indian population lives away from tribal homelands. This is in part due to the former U.S. government policy of removing Indians to distant cities and in part to the inability of the mostly rural and thus isolated Indian nations to sustain growing populations.


From a base that incorporates the U.S. Constitution mandate with respect to Indian nations and the many hundreds of treaties and laws, the United States has undertaken its charge as trustee. The federal agency charged with the responsibility of executing the trust responsibility of the United States is the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). There are twelve geographic area offices of the BIA.
Below is the 1995 BIA estimate of Indians living on or near tribal lands in the service areas, showing the population subset of children under 16 years of age. The BIA is careful to caution that these numbers have not been finalized and will be tested by the 2000 Census.The Census Bureau puts the median age for all Indians at 27, ten years younger than the median for the white population.
The average representation of the under 16s is 34%, with a high of 40% for Anadarko (Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and a part of Nebraska), and a low of 29% for Sacramento (California). However, Anadarko does not have the highest population. Muskogee has a much higher population and thus has more children under the age of 16.


TOTAL

CHILDREN UNDER 16

ABERDEEN AREA OFFICE

128,412

41,813

33%

ALBUQUERQUE AREA OFFICE

59,598

18,668

31%

ANADARKO AREA OFFICE

45,535

18,224

40%

BILLINGS AREA OFFICE

42,427

15,943

38%

EASTERN AREA OFFICE

50,272

16,187

32%

JUNEAU AREA OFFICE

85,259

28,040

33%

MINNEAPOLIS AREA OFFICE –

76,883

23,963

31%

MUSKOGEE AREA OFFICE

284,740

91,426

32%

NAVAJO AREA OFFICE

225,668

87,736

39%

PHOENIX AREA OFFICE

100,854

33,366

33%

PORTLAND AREA OFFICE

104,841

37,951

36%

SACRAMENTO AREA OFFICE

55,717

16,284

29%



1,260,206

429,601

34%



Generally, American Indians have a poverty rate of nearly one-third (compared to 13% national poverty rate, a high school dropout rate of 34%, and a four-year college degree attainment rate of 9.4%. The number of families are 450,000, 34.2% of which are single parent households. These characteristics vary considerably from one geographic area to another, but as averages, they describe a population under stress.


Tribes have control of tribal schools and aspects of federal schools, however, not every tribe operates a school system or has a federal school nearby. Eighty seven percent of all Indian elementary and secondary students go to state public schools, even on reservations. Under current federal law, tribes have yet to define their rights and roles in relation to state public schools, according to the Native American Rights Fund.


The U.S. National Center for Education Statistics, reports that in 1995, 131.3 thousand Indians were enrolled in college, of which number 120.7 thousand were undergraduates, 8.5 thousand were graduates, and 2.1 thousand were first professionals (law, medicine, etc.).


In terms of degrees earned, distribution for the Indian population is very small compared to other groups. For example, for 1994, 4,975 earned associate’s degrees, 6,189 earned bachelor’s degrees, 1,697 earned master’s degrees, 134 earned doctor’s degrees and 371 earned professional degrees. No other group is even close to this low attainment record. Of 41,610 doctorates conferred in 1995, 77.1% went to whites, 4.6% to Blacks, 13.5% to Asians, 3.3% to Hispanics and 1.6% to persons of unknown background. Only 0.5 went to Indians. This includes zero for Indians in Earth Sciences and Computer Sciences, two very important academic fields with high worker demands.


The significance of these figures to Indian education can be found among the 5,260,000 instructional faculty in the U.S. Of the total, 2,820,000 (54%) are between 46 and 60 years of age. This group will retire in ever increasing numbers starting in 2003. The numbers retiring now are already said to be larger than the replacement rate. Indians are only 3,000 of the faculty now. If low numbers continue for master’s and doctoral programs, the effect will be extremely negative on future quality of Indian education.


With 429,60l Indian children under the age of 16 (table above), the potential is there to raise the number of Indian earned doctorate and professional degrees considerably in the next decade. But, there are many factors working against this outcome.
Indian Education’s Bitter Legacy


It is extremely difficult for today’s tribes to overcome the history of educational experiments on Indians and the terrible effect this had on generations of people. The inability of the federal government to conduct successful social programs is nowhere better exemplified than in its record regarding Indian education.


From the provision in the U.S. Constitution reserving the federal right to transact with Indians to the end of treaty-making in 1871, the federal government in its various administrative departments along with Congress, attempted to address a range of social issues facing Indian people. This included education. After pushing Indians onto lands that could not support them, government then had to bring in food for distribution.


From the beginning, corruption was evident in the system. The federal practice of tribal allocations was operated under the worst set of colonialist attitudes imaginable. This included theft, inferior goods, services not rendered, immorality, and inhumane cruelty. Right up until 1952, tribes were actually charged for the provisions they received—recorded as "offsets" of lease payments and sales of minerals, land, timber and other natural resources. This despite the wording of treaties and the presumed reluctance of the government to give back the land ceded by the tribes.


Education followed a similar misguided and corrupt pattern. From the beginning, the intent of the U.S. government was to make Indians into white people. Only European education was considered. All of Indian life: culture, education, social and political systems, norms and religion were disregarded.


There was no uniform agreement among tribes that European education was desirable. Some embraced it in a desire to be progressive, others refuted it for teaching the wrong skills for the Indian environment. Treaties from 1794 (with the Oneidas), included education provisions, but not all treaties contained them. A national Indian education policy did not develop until 1802, when Congress provided that thereafter there would be an annual appropriation "...for teaching their children reading, writing, and arithmetic, and for performing such other duties as may be enjoined according to such instructions and rules as the President may give and prescribe for the regulation of their conduct..."


In a blatant transgression of the separation of church and state, the President handed over the job of educating Indians to Christian religious groups. This top-down policy having no regulation or monitoring, resulted in widespread corruption, extreme cruelty to the children, and it started to produce generations of children forced into long separations from their families. Meanwhile, other Indian policies were forcing families into poverty and dependency.
Not all tribes capitulated. The Choctaw (1805) and Cherokee (1841) ran public school systems for their citizens even before an American system developed.


Interestingly, most of the money for the misbegotten federal school system did not come from Congress. For example, from 1845 to 1855, Congress spent $102,000, the tribes spent $400,000, private donations paid $830,000, and $824,000 came from treaty funds (funds owed Indians from land and other sales). The money, regardless of source, was issued without controls on the missionary operators of the schools.


A secular approach to Indian education came about after the Civil War. In 1878, the United States Indian Training and Industrial School at Carlisle, Pennsylvania was authorized. On October 6, 1879, Lieutenant General Richard Henry Pratt, after months of recruiting in the Black Hills, brought 82 innocent children to Carlisle. It was the middle of the night and the BIA had not delivered the promised provisions and furnishings for the children. That was the ominous beginning of the federal boarding school system which still exists today.


Although secular, Pratt said of his mission, "In Indian civilization I am a Baptist, because I believe in immersing the Indians in our civilization and when we get them under, holding them there until they are thoroughly soaked."


His goal, Pratt said, was to "Convert him in all ways but color into a white man and in fact the Indian would be exterminated, but humanely, and as beneficiary of the greatest gift at the command of the white man - his own civilization."


It made no difference that Pratt was not an educator, or that he summarily cut the hair of the children (an act reserved for the death of a loved one) and put them in itchy woolen uniforms. He practiced military drill as a means of discipline and control. Carlisle stayed open until 1917. No Indian child who entered the school was ever allowed to speak his or her birth language.


Pratt thought Indians should be schooled in the practical arts. No academics for them. Training was the model. He went so far as to take squadrons of students and put them on exhibit at the (Chicago) Columbian Exposition in 1891. Rows of Indian children marched, holding the implements of farming, cooking, sewing, and mechanics.


In a letter home, published in the school newspaper (and thus approved) Harry Shirley, a young Caddo boy, wrote to his father: "And I am coming home in two years from now if Captain Pratt will let me and how are you getting along with the big house and will you tell me in your letter when you write and we get at Carlisle on Thursday and when we got here I did not like the place but since I have being here two or three days I have got used to the place and I like it very well but when we got I felt very home sick and be sure and send my bow and some spike arrows. And we go to church every Sunday. And I have a blue suit to where and there was one Shyenne boy shot himself with a pistol..."


The fear felt by this little boy comes through clearly, despite the cheerful prose. He asks for his bow and arrows twice in the letter and earlier mentions the death of a "Negro boy" in a railroad mishap.
As with other types of boarding schools, putting large numbers of children together invited infectious disease and contagion. Large numbers of children succumbed to illness. The cemetery at Carlisle and at all federal boarding schools, grew as the years went by.
Pratt was able to convince Indian leaders to send their sons and daughters to the school, although it is highly unlikely he told them what he told the white public about his motives. The children of American Horse, Spotted Tail, Two Strike and even Red Cloud’s grandson were sent to Carlisle. Spotted Tail was clear about why he wanted his children to go to school: he wanted to deal more effectively with an untrustworthy government. Treaty violations and encroachment into the Black Hills was commonplace only three years after the defeat of Custer.


Contact

Feedback | Survey

Donate

Organizational Information

Annual Reports | Board of Directors | Funders | History | Scholarships | Staff

Academic Enrichment

Side By Side | Language of Hope

Employment Opportunites




Essays by Laura Waterman Wittstock

"Seeing Whiteness" Essay | "American Democracy: An Invention or a Discovery?" | "Calling the Color Question" | "American Indian Alcoholism's Dark Past & Uncertain Future" | "Native Women and American Feminism" | "Press Coverage of American Indians" | "Minnesota Tribal Sovereignty" | "Rural American Indian Education: A Review of Issues"
Rural American Indian Education: A Review of Issues--Continued
Go Back to Page [1]

There seemed to be no end to the federal Indian education policy. No one feared reprisal for the wrongs committed and public opinion, although divided, was not greatly divided. Confident Indian commissioners sent in reports describing their work and popular writers expressed the sentiments of many.


Charles M. Harvey, writing in the Atlantic in 1906 stated, "To tempt the Indian into individual ownership Congress in 1862 passed an act to protect him in the enjoyment of his property if he would abandon his tribe and live the white man's life. As a further incentive Congress in 1875 passed a law to give him a share of his tribe's property if he would give up the tribe and settle on a quarter section of land under the free homes law signed by Lincoln in 1862. In 1877 an act was passed making appropriations to educate Indians for citizenship, and in 1887 one granting citizenship to all Indians who, separated from their tribes, accepted lands in severalty, and adopted civilized life. This act was extended to the Five Tribes of the Indian Territory in 1901, and thus covered all the red men in the United States."


"What use is the Indian making of his opportunities? Let these facts answer. Outside of those in the Five Tribes, in New York, and in Alaska, 30,000 Indians are attending school, or one out of every six of the population. Of these, 26,000 are in the government's 257 schools, and 4000 are in schools supported by churches or by contracts with the government. Civilized clothes are worn wholly by 116,000 Indians, and are worn partly by 44,000; nearly all of these reside in dwelling-houses; 70,000 talk English enough for ordinary purposes, and most of them can read it; and 40,000 are members of churches."


Harvey proudly states, "Only 26,000 blanket Indians are left in the United States."


Then in a marvelous string of prose, Harvey paints an overwrought picture of the dying Indian culture for his readers:
"Down in the foothills of the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma the Comanches' Epictetus, the aged Quanah Parker, discourses philosophy and stoically awaits the end. Like the Moorish king Abu Abdallah, looking mournfully backward at his lost Granada, Geronimo, from Fort Sill, gazes westward across prairies and hills to the Arizona of his great days, which he will not see again. Up at Pine Ridge agency the Sioux nonogenarian Red Cloud, the most famous of living Indian warriors, who could tell as many marvels as Aeneas told to Dido, refuses to accept the government's offer of an allotment of land, and goes down, like Dickens's Steerforth in the storm at Yarmouth, waving his hand defiantly in the face of destiny."
Ninety two years later, if Harvey were alive today, he would be astounded at the status of American Indians. What the tribes lost in education, they won in sovereignty protection in the courts. Had they not won, perhaps Harvey’s predictions could have come true. The reality is quite different. Now, from a position of strengthened sovereign status as recognized by the federal courts, all manner of treaty-based, trust responsibility mandates are on the books in support of Indian education.


Indian Education’s Great Potential

One hundred years ago, through the benevolence of some benefactors a few Indians became doctors, engineers and received other advanced degrees. But by the 1920s, the norm was more of the numbing curriculum of animal husbandry, mechanics, and "domestic science," very much like that designed by General Pratt. The only change was the relentless attacks on Indian culture had begun to ease. After Pratt resigned from Carlisle in 1904, Indian culture found some acceptability. Without the strength of will of individuals like Pratt, crushing Indian culture became less of a priority.


Now, the old ideas are gone, culture has made a dramatic comeback, languages are being studied and preserved, but educational practice is still stuck in the 1950s, when industrial and manufacturing jobs were plentiful. The overwhelming majority of Indian students are not educated to go on to higher education and professions. Support is there, for the few. But if the numbers were 50% higher, the strain on resources would be tremendous.


The BIA offers the following programs:
The Higher Education Grant Program is available to an individual who is a member of a Federally recognized Indian tribe. The program provides financial aid to eligible students, based on demonstrated financial need, who have plans to attend an accredited institution of higher education.


Graduate Funding: Funding is provided under a contract with the American Indian Graduate Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to individuals wishing to do postbaccalaureate studies. All fields of study are given consideration with priority given to business, engineering, Health, Law, and Natural Resources.


Tribally Controlled Colleges: Currently, the BIA provides grants for the operation of 24 tribally controlled community colleges. The number of Indian students enrolled in these colleges in school year 1995-96 was about 25,000 with a total funding of about $28 million.
BIA Post-Secondary Schools: The BIA operates two post-secondary schools: Haskell Indian Native University in Lawrence, Kansas, and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico. These schools have a total enrollment of 1,346 students. For the 1995-96 school year they were funded at about $11.4 million.


There are four parts to the puzzle that must fit together if Indian education is to realize the success it is capable of achieving: responsible tribal control, a continuing trust responsibility, cooperation from states and local government, and the partnership and support of the private/philanthropic sectors. Each of these puzzle pieces has its own set of complex internal issues which present challenges to success. Any one missing from the picture will leave behind a barrier to success.


Tribal control: The complexity of tribal conditions and history make general statements difficult. In addition, federal tinkering created the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. It was well-intentioned but incomplete. The idea was to create democratic government on reservations along with a legislative/administrative body to carry out the business of the tribe. Not all tribes signed on as IRA governments, but the majority did. Since the 1970s the tribes have had to break free from this model by adding judiciary branches, longer terms of elected office and business operations. This progress did not occur in a vacuum. As tribes were democratizing, so was America. Civil rights and recognition of imbalances were opening up the country. Congress hungered to bring individual freedoms and rights to the reservations. It was difficult in that environment to understand that tribes are not democracies, nor should they become them just because it is such a good idea. The trend was so strong that only a few tribes politely told Congress they did not need the white man’s measures of equality

Today there are Indian nations with balanced governments, developing infrastructure, good schools, and thriving business enterprises. The percentages of their high school and college graduates are up and climbing. There are other tribes who are rich in children, but little else. It is fair to say that tribes have uniformly recognized the value of educating their citizens. Only a few, however, have the power and steady control necessary to carry out their educational goals.


In the middle, there are a great number of tribes with internal problems: everything from political corruption to widespread poverty, poor infrastructure, and undulating stability, which make them susceptible to damage from downtrends. Bad economic times in town often spell disaster on reservations. To work with these realities, planning must happen in an organized and sustained way, from one tribal administration to the next.


Continuing trust responsibility: Every decade or so, there is some congressional or administrative shift that makes life hard for the tribes. The curse of the 1950s was termination of the trust responsibility. It started as a congressional resolution, but before it was stopped, the policy led to the destruction of several tribes. That termination trend was reversed in the 1970s and throughout the 1980s to the present time, new tribal recognition has taken place.
But there are congressional representatives who think the trust responsibility is something dispensable. Because the United States has never subjected itself to the authority of the World Court, tribes have been frustrated in attempts to have their issues with the United States heard in a court of international law. Thus, the power game goes on, year after year, and as is the case now, a bill is introduced that would wipe out the trust responsibility of government to the tribes.


Balancing these political outbursts has been the record of law and the interpretations and findings of the federal courts. Given no collusion between judiciary and the legislative bodies, the trust responsibility will go on. The level of support is another question. For years, funds for school construction, administrative support and repairs have been withheld. Release of these funds alone will go far to increase the quality of education of several reservations dramatically. An increase in funding would be miraculous.


Cooperation from states and local government: The Native American Rights Fund (NARF) has compiled a state by state record of laws and regulations relating to Indian education. An analysis of this record will probably show variations based on the general political leanings of the state, the number of reservations located in the state, the relations between the state and the tribe(s), and the level of racism generally expressed and tolerated in the state. Few tribes overcome a sustained environment of hostility.


But some do. An outstanding example of this is the Choctaw Nation located in Philadelphia, Mississippi. While the high school graduation rate is 52.9% and only 2.5% of the population have bachelor’s degrees or higher, unemployment has dropped to 20% and the tribe takes in an estimated $100 million a year from gambling alone. It is building its infrastructure and it probably resembles a "developing nation" in many respects. All of this was done in a hostile state environment where removal of the Choctaws was tried twice and tribal members were reduced to being fugitives or sharecroppers to survive after leaving their land and going into hiding. Education is high on the priority list for the tribe. Given its economic base, success is likely.


For the tribes with gambling operations, there is varying hostility from states. Some states want to tax tribes, others deny services. The uneven see-saw effect of this changing public policy and practice make tribes wary of dealing with states. Unfortunately, it is a state by state struggle, with no blanket solutions.
The partnership and support of the private/philanthropic sectors: American Indian nonprofits, the tribal colleges, and in some cases the tribes themselves, have been successful in convincing corporations and philanthropy to put money into tribal futures. However, the level of support is still a small fraction of overall support from these sources as well as a small fraction of the support needed.


To encourage greater participation and support, understanding of sovereignty and Indian education issues is needed on the one hand and overcoming fear of exploitation is needed on the other. Partnership models should be developed as well as illustrations from some successful cases.
Recommendations


The NARF review of state laws addressing Indian education included a conference on education reform. Following are some NARF observations and recommendations regarding Indian education.
These laws form the basis of Indian education today:


1. The Johnson O'Malley Act of 1934, as amended. Provides federal funding for formula-based supplemental education programs to tribes and state public schools for the special educational needs of Indian students. Requires local Indian education committees to review applications and be involved in operations. Tribes receive preference when applying for JOM funding through the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Recommendation: Tribal Education Departments could administer JOM funds with other supplemental and categorical funds to provide more coordination and focus on education issues.


2. The Impact Aid Laws of 1950, Public Laws 81-874 and 81-815, as amended. Provide federal subsidies to state public school districts to construct facilities ('815) and educate children residing on federal lands including Indian country ('874). Amendments were passed in 1978 based on the government-to-government relationship between the United States and Indian tribes. These amendments require school districts to have policies and procedures which ensure that Indian parents and tribes have an opportunity to comment on the funding application process and are consulted in the development of school programs. Indian tribes may also file complaints with the Secretary of Education against school districts for violation of Impact Aid policies and procedures.
Recommendation: If Impact Aid funds went through the tribes, they would have more responsibility for program operation and results.


3. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Public Law 89-10, as amended. Provides supplemental federal funding for a variety of education programs including those that are known today as Chapter 1 and Bilingual Education. Both Chapter 1 and Bilingual Education funding may be provided to state public schools, Bureau of Indian Affairs schools, and to tribal contract or grant schools.
Chapter 1 formula-based funding provides supplemental educational services and programs, usually to develop basic academic skills, for disadvantaged youth including Native Americans. Bilingual Education competitive, discretionary funding provides supplemental bilingual education services and programs for limited English proficient youth including Indians. Both programs have a parent advisory committee requirement to provide schools with advice in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of their programs and services. This requirement may be waived and the elected school board may serve as a PAC in tribal contract and grant schools.
Recommendation: If Chapter 1 and Bilingual Education funds were administered through tribal education departments, the tribe could assist in providing more coordination and focus on education issues.


4. The Head Start Program Act of 1965, as amended. Provides formula-based federal funding for comprehensive health, educational, nutritional, social, and other services to economically disadvantaged preschool children including children on federally recognized Indian reservations. Federally recognized Indian tribes may directly receive Head Start funding and operate Head Start programs for Indian children on their reservations.
Recommendation: If the tribal education department administered Head Start funds, there could be better coordination and transition from preschool into elementary school with fewer political complications.


5. The Indian Elementary and Secondary School Assistance Act of 1972, Public Law 92-318, as amended. Provides formula-based federal funding for supplemental programs known as Title V. These programs are designed to meet the special educational or culturally related academic needs of Indian students. Title V formula funds may be provided to state public schools, Bureau of Indian Affairs schools, and tribal contract and grant schools. Indian parent advisory committees must approve Title V programs and be involved in program administration in the state public schools.
This Act also makes tribes eligible for certain competitive, discretionary grants for elementary and secondary school demonstration and pilot projects, special teacher training programs, Indian controlled schools projects, and adult education programs.
Recommendation: Tribes could administer Title V funds with other supplemental and categorical funds to provide more coordination and focus on education issues.


6. The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975, Public Law 93-638, as amended. Allows Indian tribes to contract for the operation of schools that were formerly operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs or that were funded by the BIA and privately operated. Authorizes direct funding to tribal schools for programs and operations that are regulated under the Education Amendments of 1978, Public Law 95-561.
Recommendation: Tribal education departments could work with contract and grant schools to coordinate tribal education standards, implement tribal education policies, and promote education goals that perpetuate the tribe.


7. The Education Amendments of 1978, Public Law 95-561, as amended provide broad statutory guidance to schools that are operated or funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Provides for Indian school boards in BIA operated schools. Requires the BIA to actively consult with tribes in all matters that relate to Bureau schools. Allows the Secretary of the Interior to implement cooperative agreements between tribes, school boards of Bureau schools, and state public school districts. Establishes formula-based funding for all BIA operated schools and BIA funded tribal schools. Requires that such schools be accredited or meet standards that are equal to or exceed those accreditation requirements. Allows tribes to set academic standards for BIA operated or funded schools that take into account the specific needs of Indian children.
Recommendation: Tribal education departments could assist BIA operated or funded schools in lobbying for or obtaining the resources needed to implement the 95-561 requirements.


8. The Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act of 1978, Public Law 98-192, as amended. Provides federal funding for post-secondary institutions controlled by Indian tribes. Tribal governments now operate 24 tribally controlled colleges. Two of these colleges are four-year institutions.
Recommendation: Tribal education departments could assist tribal colleges in trying to gain needed resources, and tribal education departments could gain assistance from tribal colleges in solving Indian education problems.


9. The Indian Education Act of 1988, Public Law 100-297, as amended. Allows tribes to operate BIA funded schools as grant schools rather than as contract schools. Grant school funding allows tribal schools to receive funding on a more timely basis, to invest those funds under certain restrictions, and to use the interest gained for further educational costs in their schools.
This Act also authorizes federal funding for tribal early childhood programs and tribal departments of education. To date no money has been appropriated for tribal departments of education.
Recommendation: Tribal education departments could be funded through this law when appropriations match authorizations.


10. The Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act of 1990, Public Law 101-392. Provides funding for competitive, discretionary project grants that will provide vocational education opportunities for Indians. Allows tribes and tribal organizations to plan, conduct, and administer vocational education programs that will provide Indian students with skills related to jobs or further post-secondary training. Also allows tribal post-secondary institutions to compete for post-secondary vocational education grants.
Recommendation: Tribal education departments could assist vocational education programs and post-secondary institutions in focusing their training on employment areas relevant to the tribe.


11. The Native American Languages Act of 1990, Public Law 101-477. Recognizes the right of Indian tribes to use their native languages to conduct tribal business and as a medium of instruction in all Bureau of Indian Affairs funded schools. Directs federal agencies to consult with tribes in evaluating the agencies' policies and procedures and bringing these in compliance with the Act.
Recommendation: Tribal education departments could assist BIA funded schools and tribal councils in making the transition to greater use of tribal language to increase in student cultural awareness and self-esteem.


12. The Goals 2000: Educate America Act, Public Law 103-227. Provides funds and a framework for schools to meet the National Education Goals. Includes American Indian and Alaska Native students in public schools and allots set-aside funds for schools operated or funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to establish a plan to develop a reform and improvement plan for BIA education and to conduct a cost analysis of BIA academic and home living/residential standards. Specifically mentions Indian education in the activities of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), including placing the Director of BIA Education on the National Educational Research Policy and Priorities Board and the inclusion of American Indian and Alaska Native students in OERI research institutes/activities.
Recommendation: Tribal education departments could assist BIA funded and operated schools and public schools in complying with the National Education Goals. Tribal education departments could also help the OERI with Indian education research.


13. The Improving America's School Act of 1994, Public Law 103-382. Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, including Title I (formerly Chapter 1), Bilingual Education, Impact Act, and Title IX. This Act also amends the Education Amendments of 1978, which pertain to Bureau of Indian Affairs schools and programs. This Act also provides land-grant status to tribal colleges in accordance with the provisions of the Act of July 2, 1962.
Final Observations


A major question for tribes will be how to serve tribal members who do not live on the homelands. These citizens currently have limited access to services and frequently have no right to vote on tribal matters. If 80% of the potential workforce is estranged from the tribe, how will it make up for the loss?


Tribal governments may also have to do the heavy lifting in developing comprehensive educational policies and plans. NARF gives the example of the Rosebud Sioux in South Dakota. The Tribal Education Code, enacted in 1991, was developed and enacted after the Tribe went through an extensive self-assessment of where it was and where it wanted to be in education. The Code establishes a tribal education department. It regulates all schools on the reservation including the state public schools. It establishes guidelines and regulations in curriculum and education standards, staffing, alcohol and drug abuse education, and parental and community involvement.


Since enactment of the Code, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe has reached an agreement with the state public school district on its reservation regarding Impact Aid funding. The school district and the Tribe are equal partners in the Impact Aid funding application process and expenditure planning. And the district and the Tribe work jointly to monitor and improve student performance. With federal law changes and further tribal / state cooperation, this model could be extended to other reservations and Indian communities.


Government has to learn the lesson of sovereignty. For the Feds, that’s the trust responsibility and adequate financing of the authorizations. It will require the BIA to take its foot off the brakes and put it on the gas, instead.


State governments will have to find a benefit in having a better educated citizenry and a partner tribe that knows its way around Indian education issues.

And all outsiders must understand that Indian culture was once ripped away from the people. They won’t let it happen a second time.