American Indian Leaders Are Optimistic about Clinton's Education Proposal Story-Date: 10:19 a.m. PST Tuesday , February 2, 1999 ------------------------------------------------------------ American Indian Leaders Are Optimistic about Clinton's Education Proposal By Liz Hill, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Feb. 1--WASHINGTON, D.C.--Two days after President Clinton's State of the Union Address, the president and the first lady unveiled several new education initiatives for FY 2000 that would promote more accountability in schools receiving federal money. They would bring thousands of new highly qualified teachers into the nation's classrooms, in particular, American Indian and Alaska Native schools. The vice president also announced an administration proposal to help states build and renovate public schools nationwide. The vice president called on Congress to approve the plan which would have the Secretary of Interior allocate $400 million in School Modernization Bonds to tribes or tribal organizations for construction and renovation of Bureau of Indian Affairs schools. The $400 million would be spread over two fiscal years -- $200 million in fiscal year 2000 and $200 million in fiscal 2001, according to BIA spokesman Rex Hackler. Kelsey Begay, newly inaugurated president of the 250,000-member Navajo Nation, and Samuel Penney, chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee, governing body of the tribe, were present at the White House ceremony and were formally recognized by the president. "I felt very reassured as the president spoke on building education facilities," Begay said. "As Navajos, we can relate to conditions where some children are schooled in trailers." The initiatives announced Jan. 21 in Washington include: -- A second installment on the president's class-size reduction initiative, which increases funding by $200 million and enables local schools to hire an additional 8,000 teachers; -- $35 million in funding -- an increase from $7.5 million in the fiscal year 1999 budget -- to provide scholarships to 7,000 outstanding students who commit to teach in high-poverty public schools, -- And an $18 million initiative to extend the Troops-to Teachers program to train and place more than 3,000 retired or almost-retired military personnel as new teachers in public schools, especially in high-poverty schools. A new $10 million initiative will help recruit and train 1,000 Native American teachers who commit to teach in schools with high concentrations of American Indian and Alaska Native students. "This is part of an overall effort to get well-qualified teachers into the classrooms," said William Cohen, special assistant to the president on education policy. The president's initiative to get more Native American teachers into Indian schools responds to the need in Indian country's schools where only two-thirds of American Indian students successfully complete high school. Currently, only 1 percent or 18,000 of the country's more than 2 million elementary and secondary school teachers are American Indians or Alaska Natives, according to the recent Interagency Plan for the Education of American Indians and Alaska Natives. The plan was developed following signing of President Clinton's Executive Order on American Indian and Alaska Native Education last August. "This 1 percent is even more significant when you consider that many of those Native American teachers who make up this 1 percent teach outside Indian communities," said David Beaulieu, director of the office of Indian education at the U.S. Department of Education. "This initiative is specifically targeting Indian teachers for Indian classrooms who are well trained in the latest teaching strategies and methods which will be effective with Indian students and their specific needs -- linguistically, culturally and developmentally." Cohen said the White House has worked closely with American Indian communities, and particularly with the nation's tribal colleges and the National Advisory Council on Indian Education. He reaffirmed President Clinton's support for Indian education, specifically referencing two recent executive orders, one on tribal colleges in 1997 and the other recent one signed in August. All the president's education initiatives still have to pass through this year's Congressional appropriations process. If approved, funding for the programs would become available after Oct. 1. Many details need to be finalized, according to Cohen. "The next steps involve getting these proposals through Congress and the appropriations process," cautioned Lorraine Edmo, national Indian education executive director. "A bill must be first be introduced into Congress for the bond initiative, which will be more difficult considering this has been attempted before without much success. "The teacher training initiative has the best chance to get funding, as there is such a dire need for teachers on reservations," Edmo said. Yet, it is with the spirit of the president's belief that more financial resources are needed to bring excellence to the nation's schools -- especially Indian country's schools -- that these initiatives are going forward so quickly. "The time is right to focus on Indian education again," Native American Rights Fund attorney Melody McCoy said. Responding to the proposed $10 million to train Native American teachers and the other initiatives -particularly BIA school repair and construction, McCoy said, "There has never been funding at these levels before, and although they still must go through the appropriations process, it is good news all the same." McCoy and others said this initiative is the direct result of the August executive order which "affirms the political and legal relationship of the federal government with tribal governments and recognizes the federal government's responsibility for the education of American Indian and Alaska Natives." The order outlined six goals for American Indian and Alaska Native education: -- Improve reading and mathematics; -- Increase high school completion and post-secondary attendance rates; -- Reduce the influence of long-standing factors that impede educational performance, such as poverty and substance abuse; -- Create strong, safe and drug-free environments; -- Improve science education, -- And expand the use of educational technology. A proposal to train 1,000 new American Indian teachers was a centerpiece initiative of the executive order, along with continued support for the significant backlog of Bureau of Indian Affairs school construction and repair. According to the interagency plan, two-thirds of BIA schools are more than 30 years old and one-quarter of them are more than 50 years old. They generally are in much poorer condition -- unsafe physically and environmentally -- than other schools. "It is remarkable that dollars are being proposed for these centerpiece issues, which came about as a direct result of the executive order and the interagency plan that followed it," McCoy said. The plan, completed in November, was developed by a special task force created by the executive order and included consultation with tribal governments and reviews by the National Indian Education Association, the National Congress of American Indians and the National Advisory Council on Indian Education. Sherry Red Owl, director of education for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, applauds the administration for its new initiatives on Indian Education and said that she is excited by the changes that are taking place in the field. She also serves as chairwoman of the 15-member National Advisory Council on Indian Education appointed by the president. "We have made an impact on Indian education with the executive order," she said. "The White House is doing a good job getting what Indian country wants done. "It is also important that tribes and national Indian organizations keep pushing Congress for more funding," Red Owl said. "At Rosebud, we are thrilled that we will have the opportunity to request money to improve our facilities," Red Owl said. "We have a number of Bureau of Indian Affairs day schools which were built in the 1930s, which are environmentally unsafe and too crowded, which is the situation throughout Indian country." "Federal funds for education needs make a real difference," said Judy Allen, spokesperson for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma . The Nation received school construction funds in the past to help make major improvements in its schools. It is able to supplement federal money for education programs with its own funds, "which has put us well on our way to meeting our goals and objectives in education. " Collins Oakgrove, new education coordinator for the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians in northern Minnesota, said his tribe welcomes more Native American teachers. Until January he was a teacher in Red Lake. "It will help if more Native American teachers come into our school system," he said. "There is a culture clash that occurs between the Indian community values and the values of those from outside the reservation," Oakgrove said. "There is a high turnover of teachers from the outside," Red Owl said. According to the interagency plan, that turnover is 35 percent and "many non-Indian teachers often come to rural reservations ill prepared for their life in rural, isolated areas and are poorly trained to be successful with linguistically and culturally unique learning problems. "We need well-trained teachers who are aware of our cultures," Red Owl said. "I happen to believe that restoration of our Native languages is the key." For those who have witnessed the progression of events leading up to the president's Indian education initiatives, there is much praise for the White House and hope for funding to be realized in fiscal year 2000. "It is indeed remarkable that there has been this kind of commitment on the part of the president to recognize the needs of our Indian students and Indian education," Beaulieu said. ----- Visit Indian Country Today on the World Wide Web at http://www.indiancountry.com/ (c) 1999, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. ------------------------------------------------------------