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SECTION III

OVERVIEW OF FEDERAL AGENCIES IN INDIAN EDUCATION

SECTION III

OVERVIEW OF FEDERAL AGENCIES IN INDIAN EDUCATION

A. INTRODUCTION

There are two major bureaucratic systems which have responsibilities for Indian education. The first and oldest of these is the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which has been running schools for Indians since its establishment in 1836. The second is the nation's educational establishment which extends from the U.S. Office of Education at the federal level, down through state school systems and local school districts. These two agencies have major responsibility for educating three types of American Indian school children: those who live on Indian reservations and have a special federal relationship; urban Indian children whose parents moved from the reservations under a special federal program; and Indian children who live in non-reservation communities, located in remote areas of the country. These children are entitled to educational benefits available through these agencies because of their unique status as American Indians and, additionally, because of their citizenship rights.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs operates schools which enroll some 50,000 of the total of 200,000 school-age Indians actually attending school. In addition, BIA administers the Johnson-O'Malley Act, under which it contracts with the states and more recently with tribes, to provide additional money to local school districts to meet special costs incurred in providing education to children of Indians living on federal reservations. BIA also provides funds to thirteen Indian-controlled schools operated on reservations.

The United States Office of Education (USOE) is responsible for the education of an additional 140,000 Indian students; 100,000 of these are in public schools which receive federal financial support for their education. This support is provided through a number of legislative authorities and is largely made available to local schools from federal funds administered by USOE and provided to state school systems for further redistribution to local school districts. However, a number of federal programs are financed by direct grants from the Office of Education to the local school districts, effectively by-passing state departments of education.

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B. UNITED STATES OFFICE OF EDUCATION

Historical Background

The Office of Education was established by Act of Congress March 2, 1867 (14 Stat. 434; 20 USC 1):

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be established, at the City of Washington, a department of education, for the purpose of collecting such ́statistics and facts as shall show the condition and progress of educating in the several states and territories, and of diffusing such information respecting the organization and management of schools and school systems, and methods of teaching, as shall aid the people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems and otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the country.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That there shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a commissioner of education who shall be intrusted with the management of the department herein established, and who shall receive a salary of four thousand dollars per annum, and who shall have authority to appoint one chief clerk of his department, who shall receive a salary of two thousand dollars per annum, and one clerk who shall receive a salary of eighteen hundred dollars per annum which said clerks shall be subject to the appointing and removing power of the commissioner of education.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the commissioner of education to present annually to Congress a report embodying the results of his investigations and labors, together with a statement of such facts and recommendations as will, in his judgment, subserve the purpose for which this department is established. In the first report made by the commissioner of education under this act, there shall be presented a statement of the several grants of land made by Congress to promote education, and the manner in which these several trusts have been managed, the amount of funds arising therefrom, and the annual proceeds of the same, as far as the same can be determined.

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SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the commissioner of public buildings is hereby authorized and directed to furnish proper offices for the use of the department herein established.

Two years after its establishment in 1869, it became a part of the Department of the Interior. Upon creation of the Federal Security Agency in 1939, the Office of Education was transferred again to that agency. Finally, it became a constituent agency of Health, Education and Welfare with the creation of that Department in 1953.

Although, as an agency, it has been in existence almost as long as BIA, involvement of the United States Office of Education in educating Indians is of relatively recent origin. With the enactment of the Federal Impact Laws (Public Law 874 and Public Law 815) in 1950, USOE emerged as a funding source for Indian education. Over the next two decades, several pieces of legislation were passed that extended that role. These were:

1953-Amendment to the Federal Impact Laws (Public Law 874, Maintenance and Operations, and Public Law 815, School Construction) due to the presence of non-taxable Indian lands that caused financial hardships to the school district. 1965-Elementary and Secondary Education Act:

Title I: Financial assistance to meet the special educational needs of educationally deprived children.

Title VII: Financial assistance to develop and carry out new and imaginative elementary and secondary programs designed to meet the special educational needs of children of limited English-speaking ability.

However, it should be noted that services to Indians under each of these was coincidental rather than the result of an explicit legislative policy. Indians were included by amendment in the Federal Impact Laws as it became apparent that lands held in trust for Indians and thereby exempted from taxation created a financial burden on the school districts in which they were situated. Indians were included in the services provided under Title I and Title VII of ESEA because they satisfied eligibility criteria rather than because they were Indian. By the end of the 1960's, numerous studies had brought attention to the failure of the contemporary education system to meet the needs of Indian people. Recognition of the scope of this failure culminated with the passage of Public Law 92-318, the Indian Education Act, which created an Office of Indian Education within USOE. The mandate of this new division was to administer supplementary elementary, secondary, and adult programs to meet the special educational needs of Indian people. For the first time in its brief involvement in Indian education, USOE was legislatively charged with responsibility to serve Indians as Indians, rather than as members of a broadly defined target population.

Organization of USOE

Although the purpose and structure of USOE may have changed as it was transferred among the Department of Interior, Federal Security Agency and the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, its present administrative structure has been defined by recent legislation. As a result of P.L. 92-318 (Education Amendments of 1972, 86 Stat. 327; 20 U.S.C. 1221e) the Office of Education is an administrative entity within the Division of Education. As such, it is under the direct supervision of the Assistant Secretary for Education who reports to the Secretary of HEW and is responsible for the coordination and general supervision of education activities of the department. (See Figure 1.)

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