Out of the 183 BIE schools, 78 have been assessed to be in poor condition. That means that they are 50 years old or older, and that 75 percent of students or more are taught in portables. Out of these 78 schools, 10 were chosen according to criteria created by the School Facilities and Construction Negotiated Rulemaking Committee that was set up under the No Child Left Behind Act.

On April 5, having just completed construction on the ten schools chosen for replacement in 2004, the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) published a new list of ten more eligible schools. 

Out of the 183 BIE schools, 78 have been assessed to be in poor condition. That means that they are 50 years old or older, and that 75 percent of students or more are taught in portables. Out of these 78 schools, 10 were chosen according to criteria created by the School Facilities and Construction Negotiated Rulemaking Committee that was set up under the No Child Left Behind Act. See the 2011 report, Broken Promises, Broken Schools, pages 36 to 41.

Schools were chosen on the basis of the overall condition of the school and the degree to which it was ready to begin construction (“shovel readiness.”) Some of the schools chosen for reconstruction already have architect’s renderings of their “dream school” posted on their websites. Others don’t even have websites, and list lack of internet connectivity as one of the deficits they hope to correct. 

If these schools are replaced at the rate of the last list of schools —10 schools in 12 years – BIE won’t be able to replace all of the poor schools until the end of this century. That prospect is not acceptable to Larry Roberts, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Indian Education, and it wasn’t acceptable to several members of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs when they heard Roberts’ testimony on April 6. Members asked for, and Roberts gave assurance, that BIE would work with the Office of Management and Budget to develop a plan to bring all 78 poor schools up to the “good” standard over the next five years. Roberts promised a report in 60 days. 

Roberts emphasized the BIE has in hand sufficient funds to assist tribes and schools with the planning phase for these replacements, but Congress must provide the funds for construction. 

The Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School

The Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School One school that has been the poster child for BIE schools in deplorable condition is the Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig (Hole in the Day) high school in Minnesota. The high school, which operates in a pole barn that was never meant to be used as a school facility, shares a campus with an elementary school, which is in relatively better condition. The school replacement funds have been designated only for the replacement of entire school campuses – so the Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig high school never qualified for help.

Now, the Department of the Interior has agreed to provide $11.9 million from a separate fund that was established to replace individual buildings. These funds were appropriated in the big “budget deal” at the end of 2015.

The List

The schools that were selected are almost all in Arizona and New Mexico, with one outlier in the State of Washington.

In Arizona:

• Blackwater Community School in the Gila River Indian Community in Coolidge
• Greasewood Springs Community School on the Navajo Reservation in the Northeast corner of Arizona
• Lukachukai Community School, also on the Navajo Reservation, far in the Northeast corner of Arizona
• T’iis Nazbas Community School, on the Navajo Reservation, right at the four corners between Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado
• Tonalea Redlake Elementary School, on the Navajo Reservation in the North central part of Arizona

In New Mexico:

• Chichiltah-Jones Ranch Community School on the Navajo Reservation in the Northwest corner of the state right by the border with Arizona
• Crystal Boarding School, on the Navajo Reservation in the Northwest corner of the state also right by the border with Arizona
• Dzilth-Na-O-Dith-Hle (the Mountain that Turns) Community School, on the Navajo reservation in the Northwest part of the state and close the Mountain, which is sacred to the Navajo people
• Laguna Elementary School, serving the Laguna Pueblo community near Albuquerque
• And in Washington, the Quileute Tribal School, serving the Quileute Nation, right on the ocean, near the tip of the peninsula across from Vancouver Island, Canada.

Context

Meanwhile, the Department of Defense is the only other federal agency managing a school system. It is completing the replacement of 10 of its schools and has worked out plans and funding through Military Construction appropriations to bring 134 other schools up to a satisfactory quality level over the next five years. Cost $3.7 billion.

As of 2011, the cost estimate to replace all BIE schools rated in ‘poor’ condition at that time was $3.1 billion. BIE and the Office of Management and Budget should have new cost figures by the end of June. As of yet, no appropriations committee has committed to find the funds to cover the cost of repair or replacement of these schools.

Next steps: full funding for construction of at least these ten schools, and a commitment to bring the other 68 up to standard.