Members of Congress questioned Bureau of Indian Education officials and tribal leaders on the state of BIE schools this week after a Government Accountability Office report showed a lack of proper oversight over funding, limited staff and unsafe conditions for students. BIE-managed schools have been struggling to maintain infrastructure and graduate students for years.
On Thursday, the House Education and Workforce Committee heard testimony from William Mendoza, executive director of the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education and Dr. Charles “Monty” Roessel, director of the Bureau of Indian Education. Roessel was questioned by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee on Wednesday.
BIE school students score lower in math and reading than Native American peers attending public schools. During the 2011–12 school year, the graduation rate for BIE students was only 53 percent compared to 67 percent for Native American students attending public schools. At least 40 percent of students are from low-income households, according to the GAO report, making all BIE schools eligible for Title I funding.
How did we get here?
The way schools are managed is fragmented and complicated, making it difficult for school administrators to figure out which office to contact when they make a request for supplies.
Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R) asked if BIE could be moved from the Department of Interior to the Department of Education, but William Mendoza, executive director of the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education said the idea was rejected by tribal leaders, according to PoliticoPro.
On Wednesday, Montana Sen. Steve Daines (R) asked Roessel and Melissa Emrey-Arras, director of education, workforce and security issues at the GAO why it took so long for students to get necessary supplies, mentioning the case of a school where students and teachers went without hot water for a year because their request for a water heater got “lost in the shuffle.” He asked why people in offices in Washington DC and Albuquerque, where a Bureau of Indian Education human resources office is located.
When asked why these delays happen, Emrey-Arras said there is a lot of confusion on which office to contact for requests like this.
“Schools often don’t know who to contact when they need repairs. Something as basic as a directory for BIE has not been updated since 2011, and we have mentioned this in prior testimonies, and it has not been updated yet,” Emrey-Arras said.
“What was root cause of that situation where children went a year without hot water?” Daines asked.
Emrey-Arras responded, “The folks in charge of those repairs were not aware of request had been made about a year before until we actually visited the school and brought it the attention of Indian Affairs and then it was about a month until the water heater was brought in … It was only $7,500 so it was a minor purchase.”
The GAO report also cited problems with staff who did not have the proper expertise and did not know education laws very well, which sometimes led to problems such as violating parts of the Individuals with Disabilities Act and making decisions that could endanger students, such as placing a dishwasher next to a voltage electrical panel, which could cause electrocution. As much as 40 percent of regional facility positions, such as engineers and architects, were vacant.
Infrastructure problems
Carrie Jones, chairwoman of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, testified to these problems before the committee.
“The current facility is … originally meant to house an auto mechanic and bus garage, not a high school. This facility has severe structural and mechanical deficiencies does not meet safety, fire and security standards,” Jones said. “Students can’t use computers at same time for fear of electrical overload. We have exposed wiring. Students and employees health are put in jeopardy by poor air quality from mold and fungus … The facility has leaks, rodents, sewer problems lack of handicap access.”
In December of 2011, a committee of tribal representatives and federal representatives from the Office of Regulatory Affairs and Collaborative Action, Office of Facilities Construction and Management Bureau of Indian Education and Office of the Solicitor for the Division of Indian Affairs released a report in accordance with No Child Left Behind, which included provisions to improve Native American children’s education.
The report, called “Broken Promises, Broken Schools,” reported on the ways in which underfunding was influencing quality of education. For instance, the report recommended that funding keep pace with the deterioration of the buildings, which would require $1.3 billion to bring to acceptable condition. In 60 school buildings, there were 2,575 backlogs, which amounted to $461 million in costs. The average age of buildings in poor conditions was 50 years.
The report shows that 46 percent of schools’ operations were underfunded in 2006, rising each following year to 52 percent in 2010, and that schools were forced to use money for operations on things like building maintenance.
The report also alleged that the Department of Interior didn’t distribute funds that were appropriated by Congress for building and maintaining schools in a “transparent manner,” and that tribal communities were frustrated with the DOI’s allocation decisions.
Tribal independence
ThinkProgress spoke with Dr. Roger Bordeaux, superintendent of the Todd County School District in Mission, South Dakota, which serves the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. Bordeaux also serves as the executive director of the Association of Community Tribal Schools.
“There has to be a significant commitment for the bureau to advocate for funds for facilities, and the second thing is that they have to work with tribal governments and schools to figure out what is best for each community, so you can’t say this is what is best,” Bordeaux says. “They’re making decisions based on the needs of these kids, and they’re sitting 1,000 or 2,000 miles away from the school.”
The Navajo Nation wants to take control of its schools, especially given the issues it had faced with oversight over funding at some of its schools. Tommy Lewis, Jr. superintendent of schools for the department of dine education for the Navajo Nation testified to those concerns.
“One Navajo school was cited as having $1.2 million in federal funds sent to offshore bank account. It also missed three federal audits. It has now been taken over by Department of Education and is now in compliance with federal law … There is no uniformity on overseeing accountability,” Lewis said. “We’re embarking on a monumental task in assuming authority. It’s never done by an Indian tribe. The Navajo, if successful, will be first tribe to assume control of its schools.”
The loss of the $1.2 million was attributed to cyber-crimes by computer hackers. One third of BIE schools serve the Navajo Nation, according to the report. The
Roessel said he’s working on better coordination with tribes during yesterday’s hearing.
“I have had meetings with 20 different tribes as this implementation process takes hold,” Russell says. “When we have large scale consultation, there is only 15 minutes for tribes to speak, but these meetings have been 10 hours with specific tribes. We can’t improve BIE unless tribes are with us. Now tribes are being asked to sit at the table, so this is not something that is done to them but with them.”
Oversight of funding at BIE
The bureau says funding is an important part of reforming a broken system, but lawmakers question how they can advocate for more funding when financial oversight is so poor. GAO reports over the years show that data has been insufficient to track how funds are spent and where they doing the most good. For instance, a 2013 GAO report, “Better Management and Accountability Needed to Improve Indian Education” found that during the 2011–2012 school year, 21 schools failed to administer their academic assessments for adequate yearly progress as the law requires and instead used an alternative assessment that had not been approved. BIE made the decision on its own instead of communicating with the Department of Interior or the Department of Education.
North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D) pressed Roessel on the issue of financial accountability Wednesday.
“We can’t fix this problem without resources but if we don’t root out waste and abuse and fraud, it’s difficult to convince people to put more money into this problem, so that’s the impasse … Can you tell me now that you’ve had over a year [as director of the Bureau of Indian Education], what have you been your worst frustrations can you share some of those ideas with us?”
Roessel responded by saying BIE needs $1.3 billion to build schools. BIE elementary and secondary schools receive almost all funding from the Department of Interior and Department of Education, receiving $830 million in fiscal year 2014. Adjusting for inflation, funding from fiscal year 2009 to 2014 fell by about 1 percent. BIE did receive $149 million in 200 and 2010 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
“Some of the cynics say ‘How we know it won’t be wasted?’”
“Well I don’t think you can ever guarantee it, but if you have lines of authority and you have people who want to do the right thing … We need to change the way we view the problem. I’m concerned that we’re in love with the problem, but we should be in love with solutions,” Roessel said.
Earlier in the hearing, Montana Sen. Jon Tester (D) made it clear that he considered the bureau of education underfunded.
“We need to have a serious discussion about what is reasonable with the BIE budget. Budgets are a reflection of our priorities and we can’t continue to let our native students lose out. We can’t expect the department to meet the needs of infrastructure in Indian country, if we don’t appropriate the amount of money to get that done,” Tester said.